A594 road (Leicester)

The Leicester version of the A594 is that city's inner ring road, surrounding the core area of Leicester City Centre. Leicester has two other ring-roads, the A6030, and the A563.

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 Road (the A6), and becomes Waterloo Way for a short distance. It then turns south-west, leaving the railway station 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 ground, and a section of the old Waterloo Way near this end has been renamed Tigers Way.

Here the inner ring-road splits, with a one-way system causing clockwise and anticlockwise traffic to take different routes. The clockwise traffic uses Infirmary Road and then Oxford Street, passing by Leicester Royal Infirmary and De Montfort University, whilst anticlockwise traffic uses Welford Road and Newarke Street.

The two merge to the west of the city centre, becoming Vaughan Way. Just north of this is Saint Nicholas Circle, providing access into the town centre, and also west to the nearby bridge over the River Soar.

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-easterly, becomes Burley's Way at the junction with the re-emerged A6, which heads north as St Margaret's Way on its way to Loughborough.

Burley's Way then passes north-east past the Fosse Way (formerly the A46, now the A607, locally known as Belgrave Gate/Belgrave Road/Melton Road), with a roundabout and a fly-over to bypass this for vehicles going straight on either way. It then becomes St Matthew's Way, before ending up at the St George's Way roundabout described before.

History

The inner ring-road was constructed in stages in the 1960s/1970s. A 1974 map shows that the St Nicholas Circle 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.

As part of Leicester's regeneration it has been proposed to re-connect Wharf Street South and North with a cycle/foot/bus bridge. [http://www.leicesterregeneration.co.uk/pressreleases/19-11-04.html]

A plan to move the ringroad 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. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/4198640.stm]

Curiously there is another A594 in England which runs between Cockermouth and Maryport in Cumbria.