Image:Marble.arch.london.arp.jpg, the start of the A5 road.]]
The '''A5''' is a major road in the United_Kingdom. It runs from London to Holyhead, following in part the route of the Roman Watling_Street. It was re-constructed many times but most notably by Thomas_Telford in the late Eighteenth_century: large stretches of the road in Wales remain much as it was originally built, with many of the Toll_houses still present. It was designed to allow stage coaches to carry post between London and Holyhead, and thence to Ireland: throughout its length the gradient never exceeds 5%.
==Route==
===London to Milton Keynes===
Starting at Marble_Arch in London, the A5 runs north-west up the Edgware_Road through Kilburn and Cricklewood. The A5 as numbered disappears near Edgware, but continues as the A5183 from through Elstree, Radlett, St_Albans and Redbourn, to junction 9 of the M1, where it becomes numbered as the A5 again. The road passes through the village of Markyate, then travels through the main shopping precinct of Dunstable, where there is a campaign for a bypass. North of Dunstable, there is a roundabout for nearby Woburn and a little later the road enters the borough of Milton Keynes at Little_Brickhill, where there is large roundabout with the A4146 (for Leighton_Buzzard and Aylesbury).
===Milton Keynes to the A43 at Towcester===
Little Brickhill is bypassed at the start of the long grade separated Dual-carriageway section through Milton_Keynes. This £24m, ten mile, landscaped diversion opened in October 1980, taking a route east of the former road (which has reverted to being Watling Street). The road crosses the River_Ouzel and Grand_Union_Canal, makes a spur junction with the A421 beside the new Denbigh_Stadium and passes under the West_Coast_Main_Line. It runs alongside the track, between the National_Bowl and Milton_Keynes_Central_railway_station. At this point, it multiplexes with the A422 from Bedford. This section bypasses Stony_Stratford and crosses the River_Great_Ouse, which is where the road enters Northamptonshire. The dual carriageway ends at a five-way roundabout with the A422 from Buckingham, the A508 from Northampton, and "the old A5" back through Old_Stratford and Milton Keynes (as Watling Street).
The next section to Towcester is very straight and passes Potterspury. At Towcester it passes alongside Towcester_Race_Course then goes straight through the busy town, passing the Sponne_School and crossing the River_Tove, before meeting the A43 at a roundabout. This roundabout is very busy at peak times and the junction design is not suited to the volume of traffic on the A43.
===A43 to Watford Gap===
North of here, the road is less straight with three-lane "suicide lane" sections or very wide two-lane sections (previously three lanes in the 1960s), and carries considerable numbers of trucks heading between the A43 and the distribution centres near Rugby http://www.dirft.com. At Weedon_Bec, the road crosses the West Coast Main Line and Grand_Union_Canal twice, as well as crossing tributaries of the River_Nene and Nene Way. There are traffic lights and a crossroads with the A45 at Weedon. North of Weedon, the road is followed by the West_Coast_Main_Line for many miles.
It crosses the Grand Union Canal again twice just before the junction with the B5385 for the village of Watford. This is close to Watford_Gap_service_station on the M1. The West Coast Main Line passes under the road and the road is crossed by the Jurassic_Way. One mile further north is Watford_Gap itself, where the road also deviates to the west, away from the course of Watling_Street over the M45, adjacent to the M1/M45 intersection and on towards Kilsby.
=== Watford Gap to Hinckley ===
Turning north again at Kilsby where the A361 joins, the road returns to the course of the Roman road near the DIRFT freight terminal and the M1 junction with the A428. The complex layout here seems intended to force southbound traffic onto the M1 at Junction 18 and it can be difficult for non-motorway traffic to find the A5. The road crosses the West Coast Main Line again, at this point in two cuttings because of the Northampton_Loop split. The road then technically enters Warwickshire, although the boundary of Warwickshire at Nuneaton (and Leicestershire at Hinckley) follows the route of the A5 for many miles until Atherstone. The A5 passes to the east of Rugby where there is a large petrol station and Transport_café as well the remaining four masts of the Rugby_VLF_transmitter. (These have reduced in number since June 2004, though still distinctive at night with numerous Aircraft_warning_lights).
The road passes near the ancient ''Tripontium'' and under the M6 and reaches the A426 at 'Gibbet Hill' roundabout. It passes close to Lutterworth on the A4303 (formerly the A427) and the immense Magna_Park http://www.gazeley.co.uk/uk/magnapark/pContent.asp distribution centre, built on the old Bitteswell airfield http://www.thisislutterworth.com/cms.cfm?pageid=44. From here to Hinckley, the road is a few feet inside Leicestershire. Near Hinckley, at High Cross (''Venonae''), it crosses the Roman road Fosse_Way, now the B4455, though once the A46. In Roman times this intersection was one of the most important in Britain, being almost the dead centre of the country. Today it is a very open rural area. The road alternates every few miles between single and dual carriageway, though it does allow plenty of opportunities for overtaking which is not possible south of Rugby. The road intersects with the M69 (and B4109) at junction 1. Further north is the Three Pots Service Station.
===Hinckley to Tamworth===
At Hinckley, the road crosses the Ashby_de_la_Zouch_Canal, goes under the Birmingham_to_Peterborough_Line and meets the A47 at a roundabout and staggered junction. The road is now a few feet inside Warwickshire. Near Caldecote and the staggered junction for the A444 is the entrance of the testing ground of MIRA.
The road crosses the River_Anker near an ancient Roman settlement close to Mancetter. It bypasses Atherstone with the former route being the B4116, passing close to the Queen Elizabeth School http://www.queenelizabeth.warwickshire.sch.uk and crossing the West Coast Main Line and Coventry_Canal. There is a roundabout with another separate section of the B4116. There are two more roundabouts and a junction for the Birch Coppice distribution park http://www.birchcoppice.co.uk, which is the site of a former colliery. It meets the M42 at junction 10 and the Tamworth_service_area.
===Tamworth to Cannock===
The next section, in Staffordshire, is a dual-carriageway, the £26m five-mile Fazeley, Two_Gates and Wilnecote bypass opened in July 1995. The former route straight through Tamworth is now the B5404, which meets a GSJ near the Midlands distribution centre for Morrisons. There is a GSJ with the B5440 near the Belgrave High School and the road passes under the Cross Country railway line, then over the Coventry_Canal, the A51, the River_Tame and the A4091 near Fazeley. There is a free-flowing GSJ with the A453 (leading to the A51) at Bitterscote which is the main exit for Tamworth. The road passes over the Birmingham_&_Fazeley_Canal and meets the A453 (and B5404 leading to Hopwas) again at a GSJ near the Sir Robert Peel Hospital. The road then continues along the Fazeley to Weeford dual-carriageway section, which opened in 2005.
This new section crosses the Heart_of_England_Way. At the Weeford junction, which used to be a bottleneck, the A38 now passes under the island, and the M6_Toll comes up alongside the A5. The road reverts to single carriageway for a short section to the junction where it meets the A5127 Lichfield to Sutton_Coldfield road (via Shenstone), and the A5148 (for the A38 north), at a roundabout. There is an ancient Roman settlement near where Watling Street meets Ryknild_Street at Letocetum, now called Wall. There is a museum owned by the National Trust which is accessible from the A5127 (north).
The next dual-carriageway section of road goes under the Birmingham_Cross-City_Line. At the Muckley Corner service station there is a garage and the Olde Corner House Hotel at the A461 roundabout, where the A461 heads south-west into Brownhills. The single carriageway road is now heading directly west, over the M6 Toll. There is a roundabout with a minor road (formerly the B4155) where the road enters the borough of Walsall. The Chase Inn is on the right. The road briefly enters Staffordshire at crossroads (with Traffic_lights) for the B5011 and A5195 (formerly the B5011 which heads to Burntwood and the M6 Toll junction T6), after which the road crosses the Wyrley_and_Essington_Canal, near the Chasewater Reservoir and Holland Park. On the left is Watling St Primary School and Brownhills Community Technology College. The road meets the A452 from Sutton_Coldfield, before entering Staffordshire again. There is a roundabout with the B4154, close to the Norton Canes service area and the Turf Inn pub. The road is now next to the M6 Toll for a couple of miles, where there is a junction for Norton_Canes, near a Little_Chef and Fleur de Lys pub on the left.
===Cannock to Telford===
Image:Thomas_Telford_aqueduct_over_A5.jpg aqueduct]]
At Cannock, it crosses over the M6 Toll at a junction with the A34 and A460. The dual-carriageway A460 heading north has access to the Orbital Centre retail park, which has a Sainsburys. To the south on the A34 is Great_Wyrley. From the A449 roundabout there is another garage. The road passes under Thomas_Telford's Shropshire_Union_Canal aqueduct and past Belvide_Reservoir, and then
runs along part of the northern boundary of Weston_Park, at which point the road is heading due west. The road enters Shropshire at the A41 roundabout. At Telford, it deviates from the old route and meets the A442 and the M54 at junction 5. This is very close to the shopping area of Telford.
===Telford to the Welsh Border===
From Telford, it multiplexes with the M54 for a short stretch. The old route is now B5061 and towards Shrewsbury, B4380. At junction 7 of the M54, the A5 resumes. The A5/A49 seventeen-mile £79m dual-carriageway Telford-Shrewsbury Bypass opened in August 1992.
Here the road passes close to The_Wrekin. Nesscliffe has been bypassed by a dual-carriageway http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/projects/a_roads/a5/nesscliffe_bypass. The A5/A483 ten-mile £18m Oswestry Bypass opened in December 1986. After this Shropshire section, the A5 enters Wales just west of Chirk and leaves the A483 multiplex.
===English Border to Holyhead===
Image:Admirality_arch_Holyhead.jpg, Holyhead, the tradtional end of the A5 road.]]
It continues through the middle of the towns of Llangollen, Corwen, and the village of Betws-y-Coed and then ascends through Capel_Curig and reaches its maximum height at 312 metres shortly before passing Llyn_Ogwen. When Thomas Telford rebuilt the road, he built it on the opposite side of the Ogwen_Valley, as the old road had steep gradients exceeding 5%. The road then descends between some of Snowdonia's greatest peaks before passing through Bethesda and through Bangor before crossing the Menai_Strait on the Menai_Suspension_Bridge near Bangor.
The A5 then crosses Anglesey in parallel to the A55, passing through Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, before arriving at the port of Holyhead, where it has traditionally ended at Admiralty Arch (1821, designed by Thomas Harrison to commemorate a visit by King George IV en route to Ireland).
==Alternative routes==
Parts of the A5 have been replaced by sections of the M1 north of London, the M54 through Telford, the M6, and the M6_Toll. The A55 route in North Wales is now the conventional way to get from Chirk to Holyhead, avoiding the mountainous A5 route through Snowdonia and instead going via the much gentler Cheshire_Gap and then along the coast.
==External links==
*Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A5
* Nesscliffe bypass opened [[21 March] 2003.]
==Other A5 roads==
===Northern Ireland===
There is also an '''A5''' road in Northern_Ireland. It runs from Derry south, via Strabane and Omagh, to join the N2_road at the border with the Republic_of_Ireland.
===Isle of Man===
The Isle_of_Man has a further A5 road that runs from Douglas, through Castletown to Port_Erin.
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