A5082
| A5082 | ||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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| From: | Astley (SD699006) | |||||||||
| To: | Farnworth (SD742054) | |||||||||
| Via: | Tyldesley, Little Hulton | |||||||||
| Distance: | 4.5 miles (7.2 km) | |||||||||
| Meets: | A572, A577, A6, A575, A6053 | |||||||||
| Former Number(s): | B5233, B5234 | |||||||||
| Old route now: | A6053 | |||||||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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Route
The A5082 is a short urban A-road in south Lancashire.
The road commences at a small roundabout where it meets the A572 in Astley, outside the former hospital grounds. From here, the road makes a winding double bend through the small woodland to the edge of the hospital grounds, past the former site of a church that was burned down in the 1960s, and over Ellenor Brook by way of an old stone bridge. The road straightens up and heads northwards, gradually climbing uphill for the next half-mile or so. The road suddenly makes a sharp left bend, followed by a gradual curve to take the road back to its northward direction. Here the road crosses over Ellenor Brook again before climbing uphill by way of a steeper descent. At the top of the hill, we meet the A577 at a set of traffic lights.
After a short multiplex along the A577 to the right, the A5082 resumes at a mini-roundabout. Here the road makes a slight descent and the speed limit becomes 40mph for the only non-30mph section of this road. After a mile or so, we reach the Wigan/Salford border, where the road drops back down to 30mph. The road now heads uphill again via a series of mini-roundabouts for local estate roads, but on a shallow climb, and meets the A6 in the centre of Little Hulton.
The road crosses the A6 through a set of traffic lights and proceeds north-easterly (again encountering the odd mini-roundabout), crossing out of Salford and into Bolton by way of a bridge over the M61. The road then makes a sharp right bend and comes to the A575. Upon crossing this road through a set of traffic lights, the A5082 makes a straight line (apart from a small bend) along the bottom edge of Farnworth town centre to the A6053, where the road ends at traffic lights.
History
The A5082 came into being in the mid-1920s as an upgrade of the B5233, which only ran between the A572 and A577. However, the road was quickly extended over the B5234, taking the road to Farnworth and the then-A666.
After the A666 was diverted along the Farnworth and Kearsley Bypass, the A5082 was extended the short distance down to the Kearsley Roundabout (where the M61 Spur ends), but this was retracted in the 1990s, when the A6053 was changed to take over the small bit of route.
