B5414

Route

Pincet Lane

At one time the B5414 was a medium-length B-road in the East Midlands. However, the middle section has now been declassified leaving the road in two separate sections, in Rugby and south Leicestershire, some 10 miles apart.

The road starts in Rugby town centre, at a roundabout with the A426, by the large Cemex building and Town Hall. Signs on the ground have recently been erected as part of the new Western Relief Road, and they now indicate the road's number.

There is a signalised pedestrian crossing, and a mini-roundabout, where we turn right to through the middle of the town centre, which now has a 20 mph speed limit. There is a lot of pedestrian activity here, and the B5414 is also part of a main bus route in the town.

The speed limit increases to 30 mph and we reach a roundabout, from where the road previously carried straight on through Clifton-on-Dunsmore to meet the A5 but now turns right to meet the A428 at a roundabout junction.

The northern section of the road turns off the A4304 in North Kilworth, and heads northeast along the rural Pincet Lane, reaching the A5199 after a couple of miles. The purpose of this section seems to be to allow traffic travelling from the A4304 westbound to the A5199 northbound, and vice versa, to cut a corner.

History

In 1944, the initial section was still B4111

The initial route of B5414 on the relevant OS One Inch map from 1946

In April 1971, the route was yet to be extended southwards

But by February 1972, the extension was in place

On classification in 1922 Church Street in Rugby was part of the A427, which left the A426 in the Market Place (it was later extended west along North Street when the A426 was rerouted along Corporation Street). The A427 continued northeast out of town, passing through Clifton-on-Dunsmore to cross the A5, then continuing through Catthorpe and Swinford and on to North Kilworth. Here the A427 bore right towards Husbands Bosworth, with the road to Knaptoft unclassified; this became an extension of the B4111 in the mid-1920s.

After 1935 the road from North Kilworth to Knaptoft was the only section of the B4111 remaining; it was therefore renumbered B5414 in the 1940s to give it an in-zone number.

In 1971-72, with the coming of the M1, the A427 was rerouted west of North Kilworth and the B5414 extended over its old route into Rugby. Catthorpe Interchange between the M1 and M6 was constructed over the B5414 but there was no access between the road and either motorway.

The majority of the B5414 was declassified in the late 1980s, leaving the original section in Leicestershire but also, unusually, keeping the section in Rugby town centre, giving the road of two parts that remains today. As an aside, slip roads were built to connect the road to the M1 and M6 as part of the construction of the A14, with the new A-road now running under the bridges the B5414 used to use (and explaining why the interchange was of low quality). With the upgrade of the junction in the 2010s the motorway links have been closed again.

Future

The section through Rugby town centre may change if the proposals to pedestrianise sections of the road progress further. This involves pedestrianisation of North Street and Church Street in the town centre, plus the implementation of more one-way streets. The plans include removing the mini-roundabout that currently exists and making Park Road the mainline.