A491 road

A491 road
Route information
Length:	12 mi (19 km)
Major junctions
South end:	Lydiate Ash 52°22′44″N 2°02′50″W / 52.3788°N 2.0473°W / 52.3788; -2.0473 (A491 road (southern end))
	[[Image:Motorway Left.svg\|[ \|x30px\|link=]] M5 motorway J4 A38 road A456 road A4036 road A458 road A451 road A461 road A449 road
North end:	Wall Heath 52°30′30″N 2°10′20″W / 52.5083°N 2.1721°W / 52.5083; -2.1721 (A491 road (northern end))
Location
Primary destinations:	Stourbridge
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A491 is an A road in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme.

History

The road north of Oldswinford forms part of an ancient road, probably of Anglo-Saxon origin, joining the burhs of Worcester and Stafford. The crossing of the River Stour was probably the swine-ford that gave rise to the placenames Kingswinford and Oldswinford, and later to the name Stourbridge.^[1]

The road from Wordsley Green to the Market House in Stourbidge and so to Bromsgrove was turnpiked in 1753. The same act also dealt with several other roads from that Market House, as well as the road from Birmingham through Halesowen and Hagley to Blakedown Pool, but that was managed by separate trustees from 1773.^[2] Its continuation north of Wordsley Green, through Wolverhampton, and Stafford to Stone, much of it now part of A449 road was turnpiked by the Wolverhampton Turnpike Act of 1760.^[3]

In the original 1922 road numberings, A491 was assigned to the Shrewsbury, Welshpool, Mallwyd and Cemmaes Road route, now part of the A458 and A470. The route between Wall Heath and Bromsgrove was assigned the A449 number.^[4]

Route

The dual carriageway near Fairfield, Worcestershire

Lydiate Ash - Stourbridge

Starting at junction 4 of the M5, the road heads West on a single carriageway alignment, meeting the B4091 at a roundabout, then becoming a dual carriageway. There are local accesses for the villages of Belbroughton, Clent, Romsley and Holy Cross. Following a roundabout in Hagley the A491 is concurrent with the A456 for a short period before heading north towards Stourbridge. At Pedmore the A4036 leaves at a roundabout towards Dudley. The A491 then continues to join the Stourbridge ring road.

Stourbridge - Wall Heath

The A491 resumes again on the northern side of the Stourbridge ring road. This final section is entirely single carriageway in an urban environment. The road passes through Amblecote, Wordsley and Kingswinford, passing numerous traffic light controlled junctions, before terminating on the A449 at a roundabout just north of Wall Heath.

Former Routes

Bypasses and Realignments

Holy Cross (Now bypassed by a dual carriageway to the North)
Stourbridge Town Centre (Traffic now uses the ring road)

Downgrading

Fairfield - Finstall (Part of this route is now B4091, A448 and unclassified)

References

↑ P. W. King, 'Some roads out of north Worcestershire' Transactions of Worcestershire Archaeological Society 3rd ser. 20 (2006), 88.
↑ Statutes, 26 Geo. II, c.47; 13 Geo. III, c.107.
↑ Statute, 1 Geo. III, c.38.
↑ "SABRE 1922 Road Lists". Retrieved 2008-09-20.

External links

Media related to A491 road (England) at Wikimedia Commons

SABRE Roads by 10 - A491

A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme

	A4 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48 A49

	A403 A404 A405 A406 A412 A413 A414 A415 A417 A418 A419 A420 A421 A422 A423 A425 A426 A427 A428 A429 A431 A432 A433 A435 A441 A442 A444 A445 A446 A448 A449 A452 A453 A454 A456 A458 A461 A465 A468 A469 A470 A472 A473 A474 A475 A476 A477 A478 A482 A483 A484 A485 A486 A487 A488 A489 A490 A491 A493 A494 A496 A497 A498 A499

	A4005 A4006 A4008 A4010 A4012 A4018 A4025 A4032 A4037 A4040 A4042 A4050 A4053 A4054 A4055 A4059 A4060 A4061 A4063 A4067 A4069 A4074 A4076 A4080 A4085 A4094 A4103 A4107 A4109 A4110 A4113 A4117 A4118 A4119 A4123 A4130 A4133 A4135 A4136 A4138 A4142 A4146 A4148 A4150 A4155 A4160 A4161 A4169 A4173 A4174 A4202 A4212 A4216 A4217 A4221 A4226 A4230 A4232 A4234 A4240 A4241 A4260 A4361 A4400 A4536 A4540

List of A roads in Zone 4 List of B roads in Zone 4

Transport in Worcestershire

Road

Motorways	M5 M42 M50

A-Roads	A38 A44 A46 A422 A435 A441 A442 A448 A449 A456 A491 A4025 A4536

Service Stations	Frankley services Hopwood Park services Strensham services

Other	Icknield Street List of settlements on the A38

Rail

Main lines	Cross-City Line Cross Country Route North Warwickshire Line Birmingham to Worcester via Bromsgrove Line Birmingham to Worcester via Kidderminster Line Cotswold Line

Closed lines	Oxford-Worcester-Wolverhampton Line (Dudley to Wolverhampton section)

Stations	Alvechurch Barnt Green Blakedown Bromsgrove Droitwich Spa Evesham Great Malvern Hagley Hartlebury Honeybourne Kidderminster Malvern Link Pershore Redditch Worcester Foregate Street Worcester Shrub Hill Wythall

Closed stations	Astwood Bank Aston-under-Hill Beckford Bengeworth Foley Park Halt Hinton Littleton and Badsey Malvern Wells Ripple Upton-on-Severn

Heritage stations	Arley Bewdley Kidderminster Town Northwood Halt

Other	Severn Valley Railway

Buses

Routes	Worcestershire bus route 144

Companies	Diamond Bus First Midland Red

Other	Bus transport in Bromsgrove

Waterways

Rivers	River Arrow River Avon River Severn River Stour River Teme

Canals	Droitwich Canal Leominster Canal Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal Worcester and Birmingham Canal

Other	Diglis Basin Hampton Ferry Tardebigge Engine House Tardebigge Locks

Footpaths

Long-distance footpaths	Cotswold Way Monarch's Way Severn Way Worcestershire Way Wychavon Way

Cycle Paths

Coordinates: 52°25′55″N 2°07′47″W / 52.4319°N 2.1296°W / 52.4319; -2.1296 (A491 road)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 03, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.