B5093

This article is about the current B5093 in south Manchester.
For the original B5093 south of Stockport, see B5093 (Cheshire).

The B5093 in Didsbury

The B5093 is an L-shaped road in south Manchester, currently running east-west between Levenshulme and Fallowfield; and north-south between Fallowfield and Didsbury.

It is a rare example of a B-class road that is also a Primary Route, though the signage along the primary section suggests otherwise.

Route

The road starts at traffic lights at a TOTSO on the A5145 in Didsbury and heads north along Wilmslow Road. A small clock tower narrows the road slightly before we pass Aldi and go over the Didsbury branch of the Metrolink (here built on the old Midland Railway route into Manchester Central station). The road becomes suburban and we pass the hospital and reach a signalised crossroads. Left is the B5167 but that is not accessible from this direction; the B5093 TOTSOs right.

Still on Wilmslow Road we head northeastwards past the shops in Withington. We bear right by the library and then continue past flats and out-of-town hotels to reach Fallowfield. The station (on the Fallowfield Loop Line) is still visible on the right although it has been taken over by a Sainsbury's supermarket built on the track bed. A set of traffic lights is then reached, where we TOTSO right, cannoning off the A6010 as we do so.

This next section of road is a Primary Route, although none of the signs show this. We head east along Moseley Road, which is of D2 width, but now one of the lanes is used for a cycle path and parking. As we pass Richmond Park the road appears more as it used to be. A small roundabout is quickly reached, where the A34 comes in from the left and we multiplex with it under the railway bridge ahead (we lose the central reservation) to a larger roundabout, where that road bears right. We now follow the A5079 round a half-roundabout before regaining our easterly direction.

Still residential, we follow the wide S2 Moseley Road, which narrows (but remains S2) after becoming Albert Road at traffic lights. We soon go under the Stockport to Manchester railway line at Levenshulme station then end at a signalised T-junction on the A6. The stop line is set back a surprising distance from the junction.

History

The 1971 OS Quarter Inch map shows the B5093 as still being east-west

The 1972 OS One Inch map shows the modern routing of the road

In 1922 the north-south section of this road, from Didsbury to Fallowfield, was part of the A526, whilst the remainder was unclassified. 1935 saw that A-road renumbered as an extension of the A34 and also brought the B5093 to the area.

Originally the road started on the B5215 (present A5145) to the west of Chorlton-cum-Hardy and headed east along a fairly straight road. After crossing the A34 in Fallowfield it ended on the A6 in Levenshulme.

The A6010 took over the majority of the B5093 in 1971. Around the same time, the A34 was moved onto its present route through Burnage; the B5093 took over part of its vacated route, giving it its present length.

The road was, as can be expected, a non-primary route in its entirety when this information started to be shown on OS mapping, but in 2005, the Primary Route for the Manchester Intermediate Ring Road moved away from the A6010 along Wilmslow Road and Dickenson Road, and to the B5093 along Wilbraham road and then A34 Birchfields Road before rejoining the earlier version via the eastern half of Dickenson Road. OS sheets from before then show the Wilbraham Road section of B5093 as non-primary, whilst those from 2005 and after universally show that section as primary. Other mapping services vary in their treatment of the route.