B489
B489 | |||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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From: | Buckland (SP892125) | ||||||||||||
To: | Dunstable (TL018218) | ||||||||||||
Via: | Ivinghoe | ||||||||||||
Distance: | 10.6 miles (17.1 km) | ||||||||||||
Meets: | A41, B488, B440, B4506, B4541, A5, A505 | ||||||||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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The B489 is a rural B-road in the Home Counties following the course of the Icknield Way.
Before the advent of the Aston Clinton bypass, it began on the A4011 (today the B4009) south-east of the village, before heading north along Stablebridge Road and reaching its present route via a short multiplex along the A41. Today the B489 starts on the A41 bypass at a junction with only west-facing sliproads (traffic to/from the east presumably uses the parallel B488).
The route runs through a spur of Hertfordshire (containing the village of Wilstone) before crossing the Grand Union Canal and, a little later on, the West Coast Main Line. After Pitstone the B489 reaches Ivinghoe where the B488 comes in from the north to join it by the church in the centre of the village.
For the next 400 metres, Church Road is signed as the B489 but mapped by the Ordnance Survey as the B488. However that may be, it is certain that at a T-junction on the eastern edge of the village it is the B488 that continues southward while the B489 strikes off to the left and soon begins the ascent of Beacon Hill, from where there are extensive views to the north. The road descends via Gallows Hill to a double roundabout where it crosses the B440 (originally the A4146). A short distance further on, it crosses the River Ouzel and changes county again.
The B489 descends into Dunstable where it enters the town along West Street. A short section of this road is dual carriageway but it returns to S2 before long. After passing the cemetery, the B489 ends at traffic lights on the A5. Straight on is the A505, which provides access to the M1.