The A53 is a
primary route in the English Midlands, that runs from
Buxton in
Derbyshire to
Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...
in
Shropshire.
Route of Road
The A53 begins in the centre of Buxton off the
A6 road, before meeting the
A515 road at a
roundabout
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...
. Out of the town, it has a junction with the
A54 road (to
Congleton
Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482.
Top ...
) before continuing in a south-westerly direction. It crosses the border into the county of
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
, and after leaving the
Peak District travels through the town of
Leek
The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...
. It meets the
A523 road (to
Macclesfield
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Bollin in the east of the county, on the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east ...
) and the
A520 road
List of A roads in zone 5 in Great Britain starting north/east of the A5, west of the A6, south of the Solway Firth/Eden Estuary
The River Eden is a river in Fife in Scotland, and is one of Fife's two principal rivers, along with the Lev ...
(to
Stone). It crosses the
Caldon Canal and travels through the
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
conurbation, including
Hanley
Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.
Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...
and
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme ( RP: , ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. The 2011 census population of the town was 75,082, whilst the wider borough had a population of 1 ...
, where it meets a number of major routes such as the
A50 road (to
Derby), the
A500 "D-Road," the Winchester-Salford
A34 and the
A525 road (to
Whitchurch). It crosses the
M6 motorway and goes through the village of
Ashley. It crosses the border into Shropshire, and
bypasses the town of
Market Drayton, and passes the
Müller Müller may refer to:
* ''Die schöne Müllerin'' (1823) (sometimes referred to as ''Müllerlieder''; ''Müllerin'' is a female miller) is a song cycle with words by Wilhelm Müller and music by Franz Schubert
* Doctor Müller, fictional character ...
factory. It meets the
A41 road (to
Wolverhampton) at a roundabout, then meets the
A442 road
The A442 is a main road which passes through the counties of Worcestershire and Shropshire, in the West Midlands region of England.
__TOC__
Route
From Droitwich in Worcestershire it runs towards Kidderminster where it meets the A449 from Worc ...
(to
Telford). It goes through the village of
Shawbury, before it terminates at its junction with the
A49 road, north-east of Shrewsbury town centre at
Battlefield.
The road is single carriageway apart from a section of
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
between the A500 and Stoke-on-Trent City Centre (Hanley).
Road safety
The A53 has been reported as a high risk road for several years. According to a report done by the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme (EuroRAP), the A53 is one of the most dangerous roads in the UK.
In June 2008, a stretch of the A53 between Leek and Buxton was named as the most dangerous road in the West Midlands.
A53 IS WEST MIDLAND'S MOST DANGEROUS ROAD
/ref> This single carriageway stretch had fourteen fatal and serious injury collisions between 2003 and 2005, and was rated as red—the second highest risk band—in the EuroRAP report publish by the Road Safety Foundation. The challenging character of this section of road makes it attractive to motorcyclists.
References
External links
SABRE page on the A53
EuroRAP GB Tracking Survey Results 2008
Road Safety Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:5-0053
Roads in England
Roads in Derbyshire
Transport in Shropshire
Transport in Staffordshire
Transport in Stoke-on-Trent