Coordinates: 52°49′12″N 2°41′14″W / 52.82°N 2.6873°W / 52.82; -2.6873

A49 road
Route information
Length:	140 mi (230 km)
Major junctions
South end:	A40 at Ross-on-Wye
	A4137 road A466 road A465 road A438 road A4103 road A417 road A44 road A4112 road A4113 road A489 road A456 road A4117 road A5 road A458 road A53 road A5112 road A41 road A534 road A51 road A54 road A556 road A559 road A56 road A5060 road A50 road A5061 road A57 road A573 road A572 road A580 road A58 road A5209 road A5106 road A581 road A5083 road A6 road M56 motorway M62 motorway M6 motorway M65 motorway
North end:	A6 at Bamber Bridge
Location
Primary destinations:	Hereford Leominster Ludlow Shrewsbury Whitchurch Warrington Wigan
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

The A49 is an A road in western England, which traverses the Welsh Marches region. It runs north from Ross-on-Wye in Herefordshire via Hereford, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury and Whitchurch, then continues through central Cheshire to Warrington and Wigan before terminating at its junction with the A6 road just south of Bamber Bridge, near the junction of the M6, M65 and M61 motorways.

Course heading south[link]

The A49 spur to the M6 near Warrington and Winwick.

Through Wigan it meets the A577 and A571 at the Saddle Junction and the B5328 at the Marus Bridge Roundabout. The road meets the M6 at junction 23, Haydock and the A580 East Lancashire Road. This is near Haydock Park Racecourse. It enters Newton-le-Willows and passes close to the Newton-le-Willows High School and under the Liverpool to Manchester Line railway (northern route). The road enters the borough of Warrington. At Winwick there is a separate dual-carriageway spur of the A49 which leads to junction 25 of the M6 from a roundabout - the Bryn Interchange.

Entering Cheshire[link]

Owens Corner south of Warrington

From junction 9 of the M62, there is a dual-carriageway into Warrington, and the road passes the Warrington Collegiate and the William Beamont Sports College and Community High School. It has a roundabout with the A50, which is its northern-most end, and passes under the Liverpool to Manchester Line railway (southern route), then has the Cockhedge Green roundabout with the A57 and passes to the east and south of the town centre of Warrington. (Its original north-south route through the town centre is now partly pedestrianised.)

Acton Swing Bridge

It passes over a roundabout with the A5061 situated on the River Mersey, then goes past Priestley College. It passes over the Manchester Ship Canal, Cheshire Ring Canal Walk and Bridgewater Canal. At Pewterspear there is the Owens Corner roundabout. The road has crossroads with the B5356 at Stretton and meets the A559 at junction 10 of the M56. The road enters Cheshire. There is crossroads with the A533 and the road crosses the Cheshire Ring Canal Walk and Trent & Mersey Canal before crossing the Acton Bridge swing bridge over the Weaver Navigation.

Weaverham Diversion

The three-mile £6m Weaverham Diversion (near Northwich) opened in September 1992. The old route is now the B5142, passing near Weaverham High School. The road passes over the West Coast Main Line railway after the Weaverham Roundabout. The section from Weaverham to Cuddington is a new much-straightened section. At Bryn, north of Cuddington, it passes the former site of Lactalis-Nestlé that made Ski and Munch Bunch yoghurts, closing in 2007 with production moving to central Europe, having made yoghurt since 1968. In Cuddington it crosses the Mid-Cheshire Line near Cuddington railway station. There is the Oakmere Crossroads with the A556 (a Roman road) south of Cuddington and also with the A54 near Abbots Moss Hall, and the road passes through Cotebrook, near Little Budworth Country Park.

The Red Fox

The two-mile £3.8m Tarporley Bypass opened in September 1986. The A51 overlaps the A49. Tarporley Community High School is near here. The road leaves the A51 to the west at Four Lane Ends near the Red Fox. The road travels over the Shropshire Union Canal and under the Welsh Marches Line railway (to Hereford) south of Tiverton. It crosses over the River Gowy north of Bunbury next to the Beeston Castle (named after the real Beeston Castle to the west).

The road briefly overlaps the A534 Wrexham Road from the junction at Ridley and crosses over the River Weaver. At Cholmondeley there is Cholmondeley Castle. At the crossroads of Bickerton Road (for the castle) and Wrenbury Road, there is the Cholmondeley Arms. Moving from the parishes of Cholmondeley to Bickley east of Moss Wood, it also moves back into Cheshire West and Chester. It crosses the Shropshire Union Canal (Llangollen Canal) again at Tushingham cum Grindley, where it crosses into Marbury cum Quoisley and back into Cheshire East. The road enters into Shropshire and is crossed by the South Cheshire Way near Hinton.

Entering Shropshire[link]

The Whitchurch bypass begins with a roundabout with the B5476, the old route through the town. The three-mile £13.7m Whitchurch Bypass (also part of the A41) opened in July 1992. It passes near Sir John Talbot's Technology College (on the A525), then crosses over the railway and also overlaps the A525 (Newcastle under Lyme to Rhyl). At the end of the bypass, the road overlaps as a dual-carriageway for a few miles with the A41, then leaves the A41 at a roundabout near Prees Heath, near the former RAF Tilstock airfield. It follows a Roman road southwards.

Hadnall

The two-mile £1.3m Prees Bypass opened in August 1988. There is a staggered crossroads with the B5065, then the road passes over the River Roden. RAF Shawbury is a couple of miles to the east, then the road passes over the Shropshire Way and through Hadnall, passing the New Inn. The Welsh Marches Line follows to the west. The Shrewsbury bypass starts at the Battlefield Roundabout (Battle of Shrewsbury) with the A53 and A5124, near a Travelodge. There is a roundabout with the B5062. The bypass travels over the River Severn and under the railway and overlaps the A5 from the Preston Island roundabout. Shrewsbury was bypassed when the £64m east-west A5 bypass was built in August 1992.

The Compasses Inn

The route leaves the A5 at the Bayston Hill Roundabout on the south of the bypass, with the A5112 heading into Shrewsbury. It goes through Bayston Hill, passing the Compasses Inn. It passes near Lyth Hill Country Park, following the Welsh Marches Line (until Wooferton). It crosses the Cound Brook near the Bridge Inn then passes through Dorrington, with The Horsehoes and over the railway. Through Leebotwood it passes The Pound. The road follows an upgraded route through All Stretton and Church Stretton: the old route follows the B5477 (former B4370) to the west. It meets the B4371 at crossroads near Church Stretton railway station, and follows a Roman road. It meets the B4370 to the west at Marshbrook. At Upper Affcot it passes the White House. The road meets the A489 at Wistanstow. At Craven Arms, there is the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre, and it meets the east-west B4368. At Onibury, there is a level crossing, one of only a few on trunk roads in England.

At Bromfield, the road meets the A4113, and crosses the River Onny. Near the B4365 junction the road is crossed by the Shropshire Way. The three-mile £4m Ludlow Bypass opened in the summer of 1979. The bypass passes over then under the railway, then over the River Teme. The former route of the A49 is the B4361. After the bypass, the road passes over the railway. At Woofferton, there is a T-junction with the A456, and a staggered junction with the B4362. Woofferton has a large radio transmitting station with a Mediumwave transmitter for BBC Hereford and Worcester.

Into Herefordshire[link]

The road enters Herefordshire. The one-mile £1.4m Brimfield Bypass opened in March 1983. The four-mile £9m Leominster Bypass opened in November 1988. At the southern end of the Leominster Bypass the A49 passes the Cadbury's Marlbrook chocolate factory. The road then passes by the A417 to Gloucester and makes its way up Dinmore hill past Queenswood Country Park. The south bound carriageway is 2-lane up the hill and the north bound carriageway is 2-lane heading up the other side of the hill.This can be a common section for accidents and skid-offs.

The road then swings towards Wellington with a short section of dual-carriageway. The A49 then reaches Hereford, the only major destination on the road without a bypass. The road passes right through the city centre, causing serious congestion on both the north and south sides of the River Wye. It meets the A438 at the Edgar Street Roundabout. The road then swings south-eastwards out of Hereford, meeting the A465 at the Belmont Roundabout At Ross-on-Wye the road ends, joining the A40 and B4260 at the Wilton Roundabout.

History of the road number[link]

The original (1923) route of the A49 was Ross-on-Wye to Bamber Bridge (near Preston), but there have been some changes in its course. The A49 used to start on the A40 at Old Pike, a few miles west of Ross, as the original route of the A40 was through Skenfrith. When the A40 was rerouted via Monmouth in 1935, the A49 was extended to Ross.

At a later date, the A49 was rerouted between Shrewsbury and Whitchurch. The 1923 route was via Wem, but the road now passes close to Prees. Much of the current route was originally the B5064.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Highways Agency A49 Ross-on-Wye to Shrewsbury Route Management Strategy
• BBC News Enquiry into A49 safety.
• Sabre Roads

v t e A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme A4 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48 A49 A403 A404 A405 A406 A412 A413 A414 A415 A417 A418 A419 A420 A421 A422 A423 A425 A426 A427 A428 A429 A431 A432 A433 A435 A441 A442 A444 A445 A446 A448 A449 A452 A453 A454 A456 A458 A461 A465 A468 A469 A470 A472 A473 A474 A475 A476 A477 A478 A482 A483 A484 A485 A486 A487 A488 A489 A490 A491 A493 A494 A496 A497 A498 A499 A4005 A4006 A4008 A4010 A4012 A4018 A4025 A4032 A4037 A4040 A4042 A4050 A4053 A4054 A4055 A4059 A4060 A4061 A4063 A4067 A4069 A4074 A4076 A4080 A4085 A4094 A4103 A4107 A4109 A4113 A4117 A4118 A4119 A4123 A4130 A4133 A4135 A4136 A4138 A4142 A4146 A4148 A4150 A4155 A4160 A4161 A4169 A4173 A4174 A4202 A4212 A4216 A4217 A4221 A4226 A4230 A4232 A4234 A4240 A4241 A4260 A4289 A4361 A4400 A4536 A4540 List of A roads in Zone 4 List of B roads in Zone 4