Yeadon Way
Yeadon Way | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
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From: | Marton (SD339335) | ||
To: | Central Beach Car Park (SD309344) | ||
Distance: | 2.4 miles (3.9 km) | ||
Meets: | A5230, A5073, Seasiders Way | ||
Highway Authorities | |||
Traditional Counties | |||
Yeadon Way is the main access into Blackpool for tourists. It is a converted railway linking the M55 (via a short stretch of A5230) to the central car parks that were formerly Blackpool Central Railway Station, at the foot of Blackpool Tower. The road was completed in January 1986 and provided immediate relief to the congested, despite being dualled, A583 into the town which had carried all traffic since the opening of the motorway in 1975.
During planning it was known as the Central Railway Route given it followed this corridor. Upon opening, it was named after the late Harry Yeadon, a prominent civil engineer for Lancashire Council. Yeadon worked on the Preston Bypass and many other early motorways and then replaced Sir James Drake as County Surveyor and Bridgemaster upon his retirement in 1972. As a retirement gift, his colleagues named this road, the only one under-construction at the time, after him. The irony of a single carriageway all purpose road named after a motorway pioneer was not lost on him.
The road is 40 mph throughout, as well as being subject to a 7.5t weight limit, and has frequent repeater signs to remind drivers that it is not a dual carriageway. In 2015, a substantial portion of the road was rebuilt as the embankments were failing. This section, using standard steel barriers rather than the concrete Jersey type the original formation had, feels less claustrophobic as a result. Pedestrians are prohibited from the road, and it can be extremely congested during the peak summer months.
Links
Roads.org.uk profile of, and interview with, Harry Yeadon
Yeadon Way | ||||
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