B5341
| B5341 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Burford (SJ628539) | |||
| To: | Nantwich (SJ652514) | |||
| Via: | Nantwich Town Centre | |||
| Distance: | 2.6 miles (4.2 km) | |||
| Meets: | A51, A534, A530 | |||
| Former Number(s): | A534, A530 | |||
| Primary Destinations | ||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the earlier route in Salford, see B5341 (Salford).
Route
The B5341 is a link road through Nantwich town centre.
The road starts at the Burford crossroads, where it meets the A51 and A534, and heads south along Chester Road into Acton. Just past the church the original route of the A534 comes in from the right. After reentering open country the road bends round to the left and skirts the grounds of Dorfold Hall before passing Nantwich Marina. The canal, the Shropshire Union, is on an embankment here and we go under an aqueduct carrying it shortly.
On the far side we turn left at traffic lights immediately onto Waterlode, a bypass of the narrow Welsh Row. We go round three sides of a housing estate and by the time we cross the River Weaver we're heading southeastwards. The river is followed upstream to cross the old road at traffic lights. We continue along Waterlode bypassing the town centre.
The road shortly bears left, away from the river, and we reach a roundabout where the bypass ends and we turn right onto Pillory Street (the pillory still exists to the north by the museum) and then cross a level crossing on the Shrewsbury to Crewe line with the station adjacent. We now continue south into the suburbs along Wellington Road, with the B5341 ending when the A530 comes in from the right, TOTSOs and takes on the road ahead.
History
Route changes
Originally the western end of the road, between Burford and the canal bridge, was numbered A51 and the part south of the railway level crossing was A464 (renumbered A529 in 1935). The central section was built in 1979 and the 1990s to take traffic out of the town centre.
The A51 was rerouted via Rease Heath in the 1970s and was replaced by the A534, whilst the A529 was truncated to the south of town and taken over by the A530. Then in 2009 all Class I roads were removed from Nantwich town centre and so the B5341 came into being.
Nantwich Inner Relief Road
The 0.3 mile south-east section of Waterlode from Welsh Row to Wellington Road was opened on 10 October 1979. Estimated final cost was £670,000. The existing Station Road and Pratchitts Lane was used for the eastern end of the Relief road.
