B5213

Route

Urmston

The B5213 is an urban B-road near Stretford.

The road starts on the B5158 in Flixton and heads east along Church Road. There is then a short semi-rural section past a golf course before the road becomes urban once more. It continues into Urmston, where the B5214 is met at traffic lights and the B5213 bends to the right onto Stretford Road.

A short distance further the B5213 goes under the M60 just to the north of junction 8. Although there is no junction here now, there was at one time: the M63 J5, of which nothing obvious remains. The street name then changes to Urmston Lane before the road ends at a traffic-light-controlled crossroads. Ahead is the A5145; left and right the A5181.

History

The B5213 originally crossed the Manchester Ship Canal

Originally the B5213 started on the A57 (now B5320) in Irlam. It headed south down Boat Lane then east along Ferry Road to reach the Manchester Ship Canal, which it crossed by ferry. Although this is long-gone, remnants of the piers where the ferry tied up are still visible on both sides of the canal. The road then continued east along Irlam Road into Flixton, then south along Flixton Road over the railway line to meet the road's current western end. The B5158 originally only went south from Flixton so the B5213 is Flixton Road's original number.

After the ferry was abandoned in the 1970s, the B5213 was truncated in Flixton before being cut back further to its current western end.

The eastern end of the B5213 has also been moved, albeit not by so much. There is a green close to the eastern end of Urmston Lane. Originally the road ahead was the B5215 whereas the B5213 took the right fork. Indeed, there is still an ancient fingerpost at the junction giving this information. This situation lasted until at least the 1970s before being replaced with the current route.