B5013

Route

The B5013 runs between the Staffordshire towns of Rugeley and Uttoxeter.

This route begins at a roundabout at the south edge of Rugeley town centre meeting the A460, which comes from three directions! It then heads north through the town centre, from where a spur heads west to meet the A460 again. In quick succession, the road crosses the Trent & Mersey Canal, the A51 bypass at a roundabout and the River Trent and then goes under the West Coast Main Line by Rugeley Trent Valley station. It turns to run parallel to the railway line for half a mile.

Approaching Blithfield Reservoir

The road climbs gently to reach Admaston before 'plunging' down to Blithfield Reservoir, which is crossed via a half-mile causeway. Before the reservoir's construction in the 1950s the road simply crossed the valley of the River Blithe. A mile further on the B5013 drops down to a T junction with the B5014 on the edge of Abbots Bromley and TOTSOs left towards Bagot Forest. The road then weaves gently between the hills until it meets the A518 at Blount's Green on the outskirts of Uttoxeter.

History

Defunct section of B5013 in 1946

Originally the B5013 started on the A455 (now A34) in Cannock before going through Hednesford and crossing Cannock Chase to Rugeley, where it joined its current route after a short multiplex with the A51 through the town centre. The B5013 took over a short section of A51 (and a spur - but not until later) when the town-centre relief road (since renumbered A460) was built.

South of Rugeley, the B5013 was upgraded to A460 in the 1960s. Hednesford was later bypassed and the bypassed section regained its original number for a time; this section is now unclassified.