A6/Kettering - Leicester
| A6 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Kettering (SP806804) | ||||||||||||||||||
| To: | Leicester (SK591040) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A14, B576, A427, A4304, B6047, B582, A563, A6030, B568, B6416, A594 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||||||||
Leicester Council • Leicestershire Council • Northamptonshire Council | |||||||||||||||||||
| Counties | |||||||||||||||||||
Leicestershire • Northamptonshire | |||||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||||||||
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At A14 Junction 10, the A6 meets the A14 at a grade-separated roundabout junction. The A14 and the A6 then multiplex for a short distance as the A14 bypasses Kettering. The A6/A14 multiplex ends after a few miles at the A14's junction 3, a dumbbell-type junction which also incorporates the B576. Here the lines of the A14 and A6 diverge, and the A6 heads off northwards.
After leaving the A14, the A6 is immediately on the Rothwell and Desborough Bypass. This is 6 km long and opened on 14 August 2003. It is a single-carriageway road and ends at a roundabout with the B576 (the old route of the A6) near Desborough. The road then returns to its original route for 3 km before the Market Harborough bypass begins.
Like the Burton Latimer bypass, that at Market Harborough was built in the 1990s (specifically 1994); the Market Harborough bypass, however, is built to a S2+1 standard. The A6 meets the A4304 and A427 at the first roundabout on the bypass, then the B6047 at the roundabout at the end of the bypass.
After this the A6 runs through Kibworth Beauchamp and then past the village of Great Glen on a bypass which opened on 19 February 2003. This means that everywhere on the A6 between Leicester and Bedford (except Finedon and Kibworth) is now bypassed. These bypasses were funded by the Highways Agency prior to the detrunking of the A6.
The A6 then begins to enter the urban area of Leicester, first passing through the suburb of Oadby where it has a junction with the B582. Shortly afterwords, the A6 meets the A563 at a roundabout, then the A6030, at which point the A6 becomes non-primary.
The A6 runs into Leicester along London Road, passing the railway station. Just before the city centre it meets the A594 inner ring road at a signal-controlled junction. This section of the A6 can become very busy.
The A6 and A594 then multiplex around the inner ring road, with the A594 being the dominant number. On the northwestern section of the ring road the A6 leaves the A594, and runs along what was the A5131 towards Birstall, meeting the B5327 before it gets there. (The old route out of the city was up the Fosse Way, multiplexing with the A46.) This section of the A6 is non-primary.
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