B4155
B4155 | |||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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From: | High Street (SK044056) | ||||||||||||
To: | Chase Road (SK061065) | ||||||||||||
Distance: | 1.3 miles (2.1 km) | ||||||||||||
Meets: | A452, A4124, B5011, A5 | ||||||||||||
Old route now: | A4124 | ||||||||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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The B4155 has slowly been truncated over the years from an important Wolverhampton radial route to a fairly insignificant route in Brownhills which serves mostly as an access road to housing and industrial estates in the north-east of the town.
Route
The modern route of the B4155 starts at the Brownhills Bridge junction to the north of the main shopping area of Brownhills, from where it is the signposted route to Lichfield. It is a nondescript urban road, mostly surrounded by a combination of terraced and 1930s housing.
After a short distance, it meets the B5011 at a light-controlled junction, known locally as Co-op Corner, perhaps not surprisingly after the shop that once occupied the southwest corner of the junction.
Beyond Co-op Corner, the existence of the B4155 is disputed as noted below. The nature of the road turns from residential to light industrial and finally to rural, narrowing as it goes before reaching a roundabout at which point the route turns sharply north (and is unsigned northbound) along Barracks Lane before finally meeting the A5 where it terminates. Historically it met the old A5 nearer Lichfield by continuing along the now gated road at the Barracks Lane roundabout
History
The original route of the B4155 ran from the current route westwards into Wolverhampton city centre along the present A4124 and Broad Street, to end on the A460 in Princes Square. The A4124 number appeared for the first time on the section between Wolverhampton and Bloxwich - the renumbering took place in 1927-28.
The B4155 then lost the section between Bloxwich and Brownhills, yet again to the A4124, in 1986-87 with the B4155 being shown in the 1986 Landranger sheet 127[1], but A4124 on the 1987 edition of sheet 139[2].
Construction of the M6 Toll truncated the easternmost section of the route in 2003. However, exactly where it was truncated to is uncertain as the evidence is contradictory. All OS mapping since 2003 shows the B4155 terminating at Co-op Corner. The National Street Gazetteer shows that the next section of Lichfield Road up to the roundabout with Barracks Lane has a B-road classification, but Barracks Lane itself is a Class III road. However, signage on the A5 indicates that Barracks Lane itself is also part of B4155, but no signage on Barracks Lane or Lichfield Road display the B4155 number for the relevant section of Barracks Lane.
References