B5050
B5050 | |||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||
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From: | Burslem (SJ866496) | ||||||
To: | Cobridge (SJ879492) | ||||||
Distance: | 1 miles (1.6 km) | ||||||
Meets: | B5051, A50, A53 | ||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||
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The B5050 is a short and largely unsignposted urban B-road, linking Burslem with the A53 in a more direct way than taking the A50. It originally started in Swan Square in the centre of Burslem. However, with the building of the Burslem Relief Road (Woodbank Street) in 1991 and the subsequent fact that the start of the B5050 (Nile Street) was made one-way out of town, the B5050 was rerouted along Woodbank Street and therefore acts as the town centre bypass.
The B5050 now starts at a roundabout on the B5051 on the western edge of Burslem. It passes along Woodbank Street, still obviously a road that was cut through existing buildings, before splitting into two one-way systems next to St John the Baptist church.
Eastbound traffic continues straight, along Baptist Street, then crossing the A50 at a set of traffic lights and continuing along Zion Street to reach Nile Street. Westbound traffic leaves Nile Street a block further south, passing along Pitt Street, crossing the A50 at another set of traffic lights, and reaching Woodbank Street via Cross Hill. In fact, the westbound route is slightly shorter. In both directions, traffic is required to TOTSO at the junction with Nile Street. The one-way system also acts as a gyratory, as traffic from all directions is prohibited from turning right at the traffic lights on the A50.
Now in Nile Street the B5050 returns to its original route. Northbound traffic on Nile Street to the left of this junction is now purely local, owing to the one-way system, whilst the mainline of the road turns right and is now largely industrial. It bends slightly after a few hundred yards when its name changes to North Road and goes under the old Potteries Loop Line, now a footpath, next to Cobridge Park. Soon after, it crosses Sandbach Road at a set of traffic lights before bending slightly and ending on the A53 in the residential side of Cobridge.
History
Burslem Relief Road (Woodbank Street) from A50 Waterloo Road to B5051 Newcastle Street opened on 5 August 1991. Cost £2 million.