A594 road (Leicester)
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The A594 Central Ring is the name of
Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...
's central distributor road network. With the continuing regeneration of the inner city, the Central Ring has become a route within the city centre rather than one that encloses it; especially near the New Walk/Freemen's/
University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...
and the Bede Island/Waterside/
De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...
districts, to the south and west of the urban core respectively.


Length and shape

The road's length is approximately anti-clockwise and clockwise due to divergent one-way routings to the southeast. Typical distances from the city centre at Every Street to the Central Ring are between and . The road is for the most part circular, but it forms a chevron pointing southwards as it merges into the A426 and A5199, Aylestone and Welford Roads. It is largely a dual carriageway urban clear route. There are grade-separated junctions at the A607 ( flyover/
overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...
) to the north and at the A47 (
underpass A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
) to the west.


History

The inner ring road was constructed in stages in the 1960s/1970s. A 1974 map shows that the St Nicholas Circle had been constructed, as well as Vaughan Way and Burleys Way, to the junction with Belgrave Road. The areas in which it was built had a pre-existing street pattern which it has somewhat disrupted. This may be seen most clearly in the eastern part of the ring road, which has severed streets like Bedford Street and Wharf Street into two sections, one in the city centre itself, and one in the nearby residential estate of St Matthew's, which has consequently become very isolated.


Route

Starting in the east, with a roundabout, with exits to the east (the A47, and Humberstone Gate to the west), it passes south along St George's Way, until it joins the route of the
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
Road (the A6), and becomes Waterloo Way for a short distance. It then turns south-west, leaving the
railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
on the outer side of the ring-road, and continues south-west, parallel to the railway line, crossing New Walk. Towards the end of this section it nears
Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its hom ...
ground, and a section of the old Waterloo Way near this end has been renamed Tigers Way. It is here that the inner ring-road splits, with a
one-way system One-way traffic (or uni-directional traffic) is traffic that moves in a single direction. A one-way street is a street either facilitating only one-way traffic, or designed to direct vehicles to move in one direction. One-way streets typical ...
causing clockwise and anticlockwise traffic to take different routes. The clockwise traffic uses Infirmary Road and then Oxford Street, passing by
Leicester Royal Infirmary The Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) is a National Health Service hospital in Leicester, England. It is located to the south-west of the city centre. It has an accident and emergency department and is managed by of the University Hospitals of ...
and
De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...
, whilst anticlockwise traffic uses Welford Road and Newark Street. West of the city centre, the two roads merge into the dual carriageway Vaughan Way. Just north of this is Saint Nicholas Circle, providing access into the old town and western retail core, and also west to the nearby bridge over the
River Soar The River Soar () is a major tributary of the River Trent in the English East Midlands and is the principal river of Leicestershire. The source of the river is midway between Hinckley and Lutterworth. The river then flows north through Leicest ...
. Southgates Underpass provides access for traffic going straight on at Saint Nicholas Circle, and joins up with Vaughan Way again at the north. Vaughan Way continues round, and then whilst heading north-east, becomes Burley's Way at the junction with the re-emerged A6, which heads north as St Margaret's Way in the direction of
Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...
. Burley's Way then passes north-east over the
Fosse Way The Fosse Way was a Roman road built in Britain during the first and second centuries AD that linked Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) in the southwest and Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) to the northeast, via Lindinis (Ilchester), Aquae Sulis ( Bath), Corini ...
junction roundabout (formerly the A46, now the A607, known locally as Belgrave Gate/Belgrave Road), with a flyover for continuing Central Ring traffic. It then becomes St Matthew's Way, before ending up at the St George's Way A47 roundabout described before.


Ongoing development

As part of Leicester's regeneration it has been proposed to re-connect Wharf Street South and North with a cycle/foot/bus bridge. A plan to move the ring road around the station as part of the regeneration of the old police station and Charles Street surrounding into a new business quarter has been abandoned.


References


See also

A563 Leicester Ring Road
A594 road (Cumbria) The A594 is a main road in Cumbria, that runs between the A596 in Maryport and the A595 on the outskirts of Cockermouth. Its total length is around . Curiously, the inner ring road in Leicester is also numbered as the A594. History The ori ...
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