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A607

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A607
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (5)
From:  Leicester (SK590052)
To:  Bracebridge Heath (SK979675)
Via:  Melton Mowbray, Grantham
Distance:  56.2 miles (90.4 km)
Meets:  A594, A563, A46, B6047, A606, A6006, B676, A1, A52, B1174, A153, B1202, B1178, A15
Former Number(s):  A6, A46
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

Leicester • Leicestershire • Lincolnshire

Traditional Counties

Leicestershire • Lincolnshire

Route outline (key)
A607 Leicester – Leicester Outer Ring Road
A607 Leicester Outer Ring Road – Syston
(A6) Syston bypass
A607 Syston - Grantham bypass
A607 Grantham Bypass – Grantham
(A52) Grantham
A607 Grantham – St Catherines

The A607 is a long A-road in the East Midlands, providing a longer, slower alternative to the A46 between Leicester and Lincoln.

Route

The road now starts in the centre of Leicester, at the junction with the A594 ring road, and heads purposefully along the Fosse Way towards Newark and Lincoln. The first section is non-primary until the A563 outer ring road, but has various sections of dual carriageway, except for about 1 mile where the road runs along the famous Golden Mile. After its signalised junction with the ring road, and becoming primary, the road continues as a 50mph dual carriageway to the east of Thurmaston, increasing to 70mph after a roundabout for Thurmaston Shopping Centre for about 1 mile. It meets the A46 at the Hobby Horse Roundabout. This was originally part of the A6 and then A46 – the A607 started at a junction with the A46 in Syston.

Just before reaching this junction, the present A607 is diverted along the Syston bypass, halfway along which it meets the A46, coming across from the M1, which here resumes its original route after its long detour from Cheltenham. After a brief multiplex with the A46, the A607 cuts across on a new road of its own to Queniborough, where it crosses (but doesn't join just yet) its own original route. From here, with minor variations, it follows its original route all the way to Lincoln.

Bridge over the River Eye in Melton Mowbray

Firstly, it follows the River Wreake past East Goscote and Quenibiborough, bypassing the two villages. The road then passes by Rearsby on another bypass which halfway along there is a very short section of D1 with a turn off for Gaddesby. After this Brooksby and Rotherby are passed by followed by Frisby-on-the-Wreake before passing through the village of Kirby Bellars with a 40mph speed limit. Between East Goscote and Kirby Bellars, the A607 has a mixture of wide, straight sections as well as sections with a large number of bends. In addition, the road can't seem to make it's mind on whether the speed limit should be 50 or 60, as the speed limit seems to change its mind a lot. Following Kirby Bellars there is a short bendy section before the road reaches Melton Mowbray passing the Industrial Estate and new housing estates with a 40mph before dropping down to 30. The road then meets at a traffic light controlled junction with the B6047 to Market Harborough. It then briefly multiplexes with the A606 briefly as that road eventually strikes off towards Nottingham at a signal controlled junction. At this junction the road also meets the A6006 for Asfordby and Rempstone. At this point, the A607 TOTSO's to the right along the busy Norman Way, a road infested by no less than 7 sets of traffic lights in half a mile. Another TOTSO to the left is required at a crossroads with the A606 (again!) as the one-way loop starts again and the B676 for Colsterworth. After half a mile of being a 30mph road and passing a Tesco the speed limit raises to 40 and meets with Melton Spinney Road (taking you towards Twinlakes and Scalford village), and turns right into the small village of Thorpe Arnold. After this village the road once again becomes NSL. Climbing now into the limestone country to the south of the Vale of Belvoir, it passes Waltham on the Wolds, Croxton Kerrial, and Harlaxton before descending to meet the Grantham Canal, which it follows under the A1 (at the junction of which it loses its primary status) to Grantham.

A brief multiplex with the A52 follows. Originally both 'A' roads multiplexed with the original Great North Road – now the B1174 – but now the two A roads multiplex along the new St Augustin Way parallel with the railway, each then crossing the B1174 High Street separately.

The A607 forms the "villages" route between the A1 and Lincoln, not as direct as the High Dyke route (B6403) and not as fast as the Newark route (A1/A46), but is probably the most scenic of the three, and certainly has some of the best names! To begin with it runs below the limestone ridge that bisects Lincolnshire from south to north, passing through Manthorpe, Belton, Syston (déjà vu!), Barkston and Honington. At Honington there is a TOTSO, the A153 heading for Sleaford, Tattershall and Horncastle, whilst the A607 turns off left and continues through Carlton Scroop, Normanton, Caythorpe and Fulbeck, before passing under the A17 (with no junction) to arrive at Leadenham, where there are traffic lights at the junction with the old A17, now unclassified, which is the only obvious way of getting from one A-road to the other.

Continuing now through Welbourn, the A607 finally summons up the energy to climb the ridge it has been following since before Grantham, to reach Wellingore and Navenby. The next village is Boothby Graffoe, the citizens of which are not too happy to have had their name adopted by a stand-up comedian with no connection to the place. Coleby, Harmston, Waddington and Bracebridge Heath follow. Buildings in Waddington are noticeably different from the traditional ancient limestone common in all the other villages – much of it was built during and after WWII, partly to serve the large RAF base there, and partly to replace buildings damaged in enemy raids targeting the airfield. The airfield itself played a large role as a bomber base during WWII, and more recently as a V-bomber base, but is now the home of AWACS early warning planes which can often be seen with the distinctive "mushrooms" on the upper fuselage. Waddington also gained notoriety as the place from which General Pinochet returned to Chile.

Along this section the A607 follows quite close to the edge of the ridge overlooking the Vale of Trent, along which can be seen the A46, which we last saw at Leicester, having taken the more direct route along the Roman Fosse Way via Newark. In Bracebridge Heath the A607 reaches a junction with the spur on the A607, this is where the A607 used to end before the competition of the Lincoln Eastern Bypass on the 19th December 2020. The right takes you the southern end of the bypass and to the left takes you into the city along the old route of the A15 to meet the A1434 where it now terminates

History

Melton Mowbray Inner Relief Road

Melton Mowbray Times and Vale reported on Friday 9 August 1985 that it had been officially opened on Friday by Delia Brock, Chairman of the County Council's Transportation and Highways sub-committee (from the photo it is expected that it was the previous week). Contractor was Charles Gregory (Civil Engineering) Ltd., cost £1.75 million. They had taken over the contract in May 1984 after the original contractors D. and H. went into receivership. A section was previously opened in December 1984 per a Land Compensation Act Notice.

Lincoln

From 19 December 2020 the A607 was extended on its northern end taking over some of the former A15 once the A15 Lincoln Eastern Bypass was opened. This includes a spur between Bracebridge Heath and the Sleaford Road Roundabout.

Future

On the completion of Grantham Southern Relief Road (2024), the A607 will become the dominant route through the town centre replacing the path of the A52 it currently uses. Also the spur along Springfield road will be downgraded to a C-class road.

Links




A607
Junctions
Crossings
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (5)
Bridge Over the Eye - Geograph - 1284318.jpgMain Street - Geograph - 1742934.jpgSpringfield Road (C) Andrew Tatlow - Geograph - 155373.jpgGranthamBypass62b.jpgRsz junt li.jpg
Other nearby roads
Leicester
Melton Mowbray
A606 • A6006 • A6117 (Melton) • B676 • B6047
Grantham
A52 • A152 • A1018 (Grantham) • B677 • B678 • B1174 • B1176 • B1536 • E15 • E31 (via Newcastle) • Great North Road • M100 • T1 (Britain)
Lincoln
NCN1 • A15 • A46 • A57 • A156 • A157 • A158 • A1102 • A1162 • A1180 • A1190 • A1192 • A1434 • B199 • B1003 • B1131 • B1182 • B1188 • B1190 • B1193 (Lincoln) • B1194 • B1226 • B1262 • B1273 • B1308 • B1360 • B1378 • B1398 • B1533 • B1536 • C970 (Lincolnshire) • C971 (Lincolnshire) • C972 (Lincolnshire) • C975 (Lincolnshire) • C976 (Lincolnshire) • C977 (Lincolnshire) • C978 (Lincolnshire) • C980 (Lincolnshire) • Ermine Street • EuroVelo 12 • Fosse Way • T44 (Britain) • T59 (Britain)
A600-A699
A600 • A601 • A602 • A603 • A604 • A605 • A606 • A607 • A608 • A609 • A610 • A611 • A612 • A613 • A614 • A615 • A616 • A617 • A618 • A619
A620 • A621 • A622 • A623 • A624 • A625 • A626 • A627 • A628 • A629 • A630 • A631 • A632 • A633 • A634 • A635 • A636 • A637 • A638 • A639
A640 • A641 • A642 • A643 • A644 • A645 • A646 • A647 • A648 • A649 • A650 • A651 • A652 • A653 • A654 • A655 • A656 • A657 • A658 • A659
A660 • A661 • A662 • A663 • A664 • A665 • A666 • A667 • A668 • A669 • A670 • A671 • A672 • A673 • A674 • A675 • A676 • A677 • A678 • A679
A680 • A681 • A682 • A683 • A684 • A685 • A686 • A687 • A688 • A689 • A690 • A691 • A692 • A693 • A694 • A695 • A696 • A697 • A698 • A699
Defunct Itineraries & Motorways: A601(M) • A604(M) • A613 • A622 • A627(M) • A632 • A635(M) • A638(M) • A648 • A666(M) • A687 • A695(M) • A696(M)

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