B576
B576 | |||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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From: | Desborough bypass (N) (SP781853) | ||||||
To: | Rothwell (SP807805) | ||||||
Via: | Desborough | ||||||
Distance: | 4.1 miles (6.6 km) | ||||||
Meets: | A6, B669, A14 | ||||||
Former Number(s): | A6 | ||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||
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The B576 is a short link road in Northamptonshire, mostly the pre-bypass A6.
It starts at a roundabout at the northern end of the A6 Desborough bypass and heads east along the pre-bypass line of the A-road into Desborough, meeting the B669 at a roundabout in the industrial area on the northern edge of town. The road then enters Desborough proper, where it goes over the Midland Main Line and then bypasses the very centre of town.
The road re-enters open country for a short distance to cross the River Ise before climbing steeply to reach Rothwell. It zigzags through the town centre before having to TOTSO right, signposted All Routes. The road ahead, the B669, provides quicker access to the eastbound A14 (at junction 4) than does our route.
The B576 then heads west along Fox Street and Harrington Road. It ends soon afterwards at a roundabout which is part of A14 junction 3, where it also meets the A6 again.
History
Originally the B576 headed west from the A6 in Rothwell to the A508 in Lamport. Construction of RAF Harrington along its route during World War II led to the road's being diverted; following closure of the base, however, it reverted to more or less its original line. The airfield has now been returned to agriculture and is barely visible, except from the air.
With the construction of the A14 in the 1990s by far the greatest part of the B576 was declassified. All that remained was the short section linking the then A6 in Rothwell to the A14 westbound (what is now junction 3 was originally limited access). When the A6 Desborough/Rothwell bypass was built later on, J3 of the A14 was made full-access and the B576 was extended north along the pre-bypass A6 to give the road its current route. The short section of A6 south of the original eastern end of the B576 became part of the B669.
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