Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 04:13, 3 February 2013

This article does not cite any sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "A426 road" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

A426
Route information
Length	29 mi (47 km)
Major junctions
North end	Leicester
Major intersections	M6 J1 A563 A4303 A5 A428 A4071 A423
South end	Southam
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Lutterworth Rugby
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A426 road is a road in England which runs from the city of Leicester to the market town of Southam in Warwickshire via the towns of Lutterworth and Rugby.

History

Until the M1 motorway was completed in the 1960s this route formed the main route between Rugby and Leicester, now much quieter as all but local traffic uses the motorway. However, the local traffic has expanded as Magna Park, the warehouse capital of the east midlands, has grown in Lutterworth. Broughton Astley, a couple of miles north-west-ish of Dunton Bassett (half way between Blaby and Lutterworth) is also infested with lorries that gum up the traffic flow en route to Magna Park, the M1 motorway or the M6 Motorway. At rush hours the road can become congested and reduced to less than 40 mph, particularly when agricultural tractors-and-trailers crawl along it. The 13 miles from Blaby to Rugby can take 40 minutes between 8.00 am and 9.00.

The A426 crosses the route of the former A45 in Dunchurch, this would have formed one of the main routes between the Midlands and South East. Dunchurch is now bypassed to the South by the M45 motorway, and the A426 no longer meets the A45

Route

The A426 starts on the Leicester Inner Ring Road, heading South through the suburbs of the City, crossing the Outer Ring Road and bypassing the village of Blaby. It crosses over the M1 which it runs parallel to for the next 10 miles (16 km) or so. The road becomes rural in nature until entering the small town of Lutterworth and crossing the A4303 Southern Bypass. A further 2 miles (3.2 km) south and it crosses the A5 Watling Street at a roundabout and eventually the M6 junction 1. It starts a descent into Rugby as a dual carriageway with 5 local access roundabouts. Approaching the Town Centre the road becomes single carriageway again and crosses under the West Coast Main Line. It passes the main Town Centre to the West and heads Southwards out of the town towards Dunchurch. The road passes over the M45 and once again becomes a rural road for its final length to terminate on the A423 Southam bypass.

Former Routes

The A426, compared to other routes is a relatively untouched road, with only a single bypass:

• The road used to travel through the village of Blaby, now bypassed

v t e A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme
	A4 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48 A49
	A400 A403 A404 A405 A406 A412 A413 A414 A415 A417 A418 A419 A420 A421 A422 A423 A426 A427 A428 A429 A431 A432 A433 A441 A442 A444 A445 A446 A448 A449 A452 A453 A454 A456 A458 A461 A465 A466 A468 A469 A470 A473 A474 A475 A476 A477 A478 A479 A482 A483 A485 A486 A487 A489 A490 A491 A493 A494 A496 A498 A499
	A4005 A4006 A4008 A4010 A4018 A4032 A4042 A4050 A4053 A4054 A4055 A4059 A4060 A4061 A4063 A4069 A4074 A4076 A4080 A4085 A4086 A4103 A4107 A4109 A4110 A4113 A4117 A4118 A4119 A4123 A4130 A4133 A4135 A4136 A4138 A4142 A4144 A4146 A4148 A4150 A4155 A4160 A4161 A4174 A4200 A4202 A4204 A4214 A4216 A4221 A4226 A4230 A4232 A4234 A4240 A4241 A4260 A4361 A4400 A4536 A4540
List of A roads in Zone 4 List of B roads in Zone 4

52°26′19″N 1°12′07″W / 52.43851°N 1.20197°W / 52.43851; -1.20197

• Use dmy dates from February 2013
• Roads in England
• Transport in Leicestershire
• Transport in Leicester
• Transport in Warwickshire