B5256
| B5256 | ||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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| From: | Earnshaw Bridge (SD525229) | |||||||||
| To: | Riley Green (SD616254) | |||||||||
| Distance: | 6.9 miles (11.1 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | B5253, B5254, M6, A49, A6, A675 | |||||||||
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| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route
The B5256 is a road of two halves in central Lancashire.
The road starts at a roundabout on the B5253 Leyland western bypass and heads east along Longmeanygate into Earnshaw Bridge, where it crosses the original line of the B5253 at traffic lights. It then continues along Golden Hill Lane into the centre of Leyland. The B5254 is met at traffic lights and there is then a short multiplex south along that road to a mini-roundabout where the two roads head in opposite directions once more. The B5256 continues east and crosses the West Coast Main Line before reaching the M6 at J28. There are three separate sets of traffic lights where the motorway sliproads meet the B5256.
Immediately after the motorway the A49 is crossed, again at traffic lights, and then the road heads east through Clayton-le-Woods. There is a short rural section (although retaining the 30 limit) before the next village of Clayton Green. The A6 is crossed at a roundabout before the road runs south, parallel to the M61, for a short distance, before turning left at a roundabout and going over the motorway.
Up to this point the B5256 has been largely urban. The M61 marks the boundary and the remainder is largely rural, with NSL signs quickly met. The road heads northeast along a winding road and goes through the village of Brindle. It then climbs Stony Bank to go over the M65, so the road meets one motorway and goes over two others.
After going over Windmill Hill the road ends at a T-junction on the A675 near Riley Green.
History
Originally the B5256 only ran between the A49 and A675, although the original line through Clayton Green was straighter and crossed the A6 further south. When the M6 was built in the 1960s Leyland was deemed important enough to merit its own motorway junction and the B5256 was extended west as part of the construction of the interchange. This westward extension had another use in that it replaced the B5255, which ran slightly further north but which was severed when the motorway was built.
The extension of the B5256 only went as far as the B5254 in Leyland. It was extended further west, along previously unclassified roads, to meet the B5253 when that road was rerouted onto its current line.
