A5268

Route

The A5268 is the City of Chester's inner ring road. It makes a complete circuit of the centre, partly inside and partly outside the mediaeval walls.

Going clockwise from the north, the road starts at the southern terminus of the A5116 (just to the south of its merge with the A540) at the busy Fountain Roundabout junction. From here, it heads east along a very urban D2 known as St Oswalds Way, passing though a signalised junction with St Anne Street (into which there is no entry for clockwise traffic on the ring road).

Beyond the large Hoole Way roundabout (western terminus of the A56), the A5268 continues as an urban D2 until it comes to a large squareabout – essentially a traffic-light-controlled gyratory with the western terminus of the A51, City Road (from Chester Railway Station) and Foregate Street.

The Newgate

The A5268 continues southwards after the gyratory, although there's a weight restriction on this section and through traffic is therefore directed along St Oswalds Way. It's a simple but very wide one-way street (anticlockwise traffic uses a parallel route: see Foregate Street below for details) as it passes past some very old housing. It then sharply bends westwards passing Grosvenor Park, visible to the south. The A5268 then passes though a small set of lights where it becomes a standard S2 meeting up with the recently missing eastbound traffic (again, see Foregate Street), still passing Grosvenor Park. It bends around the excavated Roman amphitheatre and then crosses the famous city walls at the Newgate. On the far side of the walls the A5268 is immediately surrounded by shops and pedestrians. It continues slowly though a heavily built-up shopping area down to its most southerly point, at a large roundabout which is the northern terminus of the A483, just after it has passed by Chester Racecourse.

Heading around the roundabout and northward again, the A5268 returns to its previous urban D2 status. It heads north though a traffic light junction with the A548's eastern terminus and then shortly later though another set of lights with Princess Street (leading from the bus station). It then continues northwards through the city walls once more at St Martin's Gate and continues eastwards back towards the Fountain Roundabout along a bridge which towers alongside and very close to housing.

Foregate Street

The A5268 also makes up part of Foregate Street, found by Grosvenor Park and the gyratory as described above. Heading east past the Roman remains, eastbound traffic is forced to turn left (northbound) at the set of traffic lights up a narrow S2 and then right though a further set of lights onto another wide one-way street (surrounded by shops) where it quickly meets up with the gyratory at its western point.