Bridgefoot Roundabout

This article is about the roundabout in Cumberland.
For the junction in Warrington, see Warrington Bridge.

Bridgefoot Roundabout is the junction of the A66 and the A595. The A66 runs west to Workington and the A595 runs south towards Whitehaven. To the east, the A66 and A595 multiplex until Cockermouth, where traffic splits for Carlisle via the A595 or Keswick and Penrith via the A66. An unclassified road runs north from the roundabout to the village of Great Clifton.

Bridgefoot Roundabout, looking from the A595 exit

Immediately south on the A595, there is a T Junction where traffic can access the former A66 route eastbound through the villages of Bridgefoot, Broughton Cross and Brigham.

History

There has been a junction standing at this location for some time, though it has gone under several guises since the routes through it were classified in 1922, a has actually moved a short distance from its original location.

In 1922, the A595 ran westbound up the hill from Bridgefoot, at the top of which, it TOTSOed at a T Junction, turning south towards Whitehaven. The road straight ahead was the A597 towards Workington. However, the shape of the T Junction meant that traffic turning left from the A595 northbound onto the A597 faced a turn of about 135 degrees. As a result, a short piece of new road built in the late 1950s allowed traffic to fork off the A595 northbound and turn onto the A597 at a much easier angle.

The pre-1977 layout of the junction

The next change to the junction came in the late 1960s, when the A66 was extended to Workington. This meant that the road coming from Bridgefoot was now a multiplex of the A66 and the A595, while the route continuing west was renumbered to the A66. The route south of the junction remained the A595. When this change occurred, there were no changes to the layout.

The A66 Brigham, Broughton Cross and Bridgefoot bypass was opened in 1977, which ran from Low Road Roundabout to the location of this junction. As part of the works, the junction was moved about 100 metres west, with the A595 approach also moving further west, though the junction remained a T Junction. The former A66 route became unclassified, and from the top of the hill out of Bridgefoot, went through two sweeping curves to meet the A595 just to the south of the new T Junction. As a result, a section of the former A595 that provides access to properties was cut off, leading to a tiny access road being built to reconnect these properties to the road network. The route of the former A66 prior to the new junction can be traced by the cycle route which passes through a patch of trees onto the A595.

It wasn't until 2002 that this junction became a roundabout, coinciding with the opening of the A66 Great Clifton and Stainburn bypass. The 4-arm roundabout saw the meeting of the A66/A595 multiplex westbound from Cockermouth, the A595 northbound from Whitehaven, the A66 eastbound from Workington, while a fourth arm to the north carried an unclassified local access road following the old route of the A66 through Great Clifton and Stainburn. This is the layout of the junction that exists today.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A66	Workington, Stainburn
A66	Penrith (M6) Keswick, Cockermouth, Carlisle (A595)
A595	Whitehaven, Lillyhall, Bridgefoot	Avoiding Low Bridge
	Great Clifton	Local facilities
A597	Workington