A446
| A446 | ||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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| From: | Little Packington (SP204844) | |||||||||
| To: | Bassetts Pole (SP148992) | |||||||||
| Distance: | 11 miles (17.7 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A452, B4438, M6, B4117, B4114, B4118, M42, A4097, A4091, M6 Toll, A38, A453 | |||||||||
| Old route now: | A452, B4177, A38, A5206 | |||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route
Originally numbered as a route between Leamington, Kenilworth, Coleshill, and Lichfield, the A446 has become something of a shadow of its former self despite being dual-carriageway since the Second World War.
Little Packington – Bassetts Pole
The modern road – which is a primary route throughout and dual-carriageway as far as the M42 junction 9 – begins by diverging from the A452 near Little Packington (although in reality that road TOTSOs and the A446 continues on). After being met by a slip road from the National Exhibition Centre (being the slip roads from the other direction of A452), the A446 runs alongside the M42 to the M6 at junction 4. Beyond this point to its end, the A446 is intimately tied to the route of the M6 Toll.
The road now shadows the M42 and M6 Toll as far as junction 9 of the M42, bypassing Coleshill by way of a fantastic tree-lined avenue. From here it reverts to being a single-carriageway road, and moves to the east side of the toll road. Half a mile on, a recently revamped roundabout serves the A4091 to Tamworth and an offslip from the toll road southbound (being the whole of junction T2. The Belfry golf course and hotel are next on the right, after which there's a long wind up the hill adjacent to the M6 Toll and the A38 and along to the terminus of the route at Bassett's Pole roundabout junction with the A38 and A453.
In 1968 plans were made to dual the single carriageway section between Coleshill and M42 J9. This would have included a couple of GSJs. These plans were never carried out and this section which includes four sets of traffic lights in the space of less than a mile still represents a bottleneck.
History
Originally the route began at the junction with the A444 (now B4113) north of Leamington, and headed north-west to cross the A46 at Kenilworth before reaching the A45 at Stonebridge. This section was renumbered in the 1940s and is today a south-eastward extension of the A452.
The rest of the original route has been taken over by the A38 dual-carriageway to the Lichfield bypass, and the single-carriageway A5206 into the city, ending on the A51. The old A446 deviates from this route just north of Bassett's Pole, the A38 taking up the alignment a mile further on (the original A446/A453 crossroads, with fingerpost still in situ, is now in the pub car park), and again in removing a ‘Z’ bend near Swinfen Hall north of the A5.
Following the construction of the M6 Toll the majority of the A446 was downgraded to persuade traffic to use the new road. This has been reversed for obvious reasons.
legislation.gov.uk
