A453 road

The A453 road was formerly the main trunk road connecting the English cities of Nottingham and Birmingham. However, the middle section of this mainly single-carriageway road has largely been downgraded to B roads or unclassified roads following the construction of the parallel M42-A42 link.

The southern stretch of the existing A453 runs as a non-trunk route from the A34 in north Birmingham under the M6 motorway to the A452 road, and on through Sutton Coldfield, at which point it runs concurrently with the A5127 through the town centre, until diverging at the Tamworth Road junction and continuing on to the junction with the A38 and A446. It then becomes a trunk road for the three miles to its current termination at the A5 west of Tamworth.

The downgraded former middle section continued through Tamworth and Ashby-de-la-Zouch to the M1 motorway. The only part of this section now designated as the A453 is a short new link west from the A42 junction 14 to the old route, and the stretch which runs past East Midlands Airport to the M1. The A453 becomes trunk road again just north of M1 junction 23A where it joins a spur of the A42, and runs parallel to the motorway to M1 junction 24, to link to the motorway and the A50 road.

The A453 then continues as a trunk road from the M1 for the remaining 11 miles to Nottingham, crossing the River Trent at its junction with the Nottingham southern bypass. Formerly the road was north of its current route, running through Castle Donington, Long Eaton and Beeston. The section through Castle Donington is now unclassified south of the A50, north of the A50 it is the B6540, and from Long Eaton to Nottingham is part of the A6005.

As of 2007 the section between the M1 motorway and Nottingham city centre requires a major upgrade as it can no longer cope with the volumes of traffic that use it. From the morning peak until around 1100am, the traffic can often back up from the Nottingham University Clifton campus right the way back to the Ratcliffe on Soar power station adding around 10 to 15 minutes to the journey time along this route. The problems are worse in term time where the light controlled pedestrian crossing at the university can stop traffic so often that the long tail backs described are caused. There is a marked difference to the levels of traffic on this section outside of term time.

In March 2006 the highways agency announced plans for a £90m upgrade to this road including the construction of a dual carriage way section between the M1 and the Crusader Public House island (near Clifton) to ease traffic congestion. Work should start on the road between 2008 and 2009.

In June 2008 the Road Safety Foundation announced that a ((convert|5|km single carriageway stretch of the A453 between the A38 and Tamworth was the most improved road for fatal and serious injury accidents. With an 88% reduction in crashes resulting in death and disabling injuries was rated as Green by the Foundation. Staffordshire County Council have undertaken a number of measures to upgrade the road including traffic lights, speed limit reduction, village gateway treatment, central islands and improved pedestrian facilities. These resulted in a reduction in fatal and serious collisions from 8 in 2001-3 to 1 in 2004-6.

External links

* [http://www.gnn.gov.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=189919&NewsAreaID=2 Government News Network - A453 Upgrade]
* [http://www.eurorap.org/gb2008 EuroRAP GB Tracking Results 2008]
* [http://www.roadsafetyfoundation.com/ Road Safety Foundation]