A500 Stoke 'D' Road - Clockwise (Part 4) - Front View with Rearview Mirror

The A500 runs from the M6 at junction 15 through Stoke-on-Trent to Nantwich, via M6 junction 16.

When the M6 motorway was being planned, it was realised that Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme would require a new access road to link to the new motorway. The first section of road to open was from the M6 at junction 16 to the A34 near Talke, opened at the same time as the nearby M6 in 1962. At about the same time, a new link road was constructed from M6 junction 15 as far as the A34 at Hanford, originally numbered A5006.

In the 1970s, both routes were expanded to meet, following the line of the River Trent and the main railway line, forming a complete dual carriageway link to Stoke-on-Trent. This became known as the 'D-Road' - perhaps due to both the shape of the road - linking two consecutive junctions the M6 with an approximately semicircle shaped road, and also the fact that the new chosen route number was the A500 - 500 being the roman numeral D.

With the new section of road opening in the Queen's Silver Jubliee year, 1977, the official name for the section through Stoke-on-Trent is actually Queensway. Subsequent developments in the 2000s led to several roundabouts being replaced with grade separated junctions.

Heading west from M6 junction 16, the A500 was eventually extended along what was originally the A52 through the villages of Hough and Shavington to Nantwich, courtesy of a new single-carriageway link road around Bartholomey. A new dual carriageway bypass was built for Hough and Shavington in 2003, however a short section of single-carriageway still remains at Bartholomey - which is frequently overloaded.

This video shows a westbound journey along a section of the Stoke 'D' Road, from the A50 junction at Sideway Etruria to the M6 at junction 15. It is available in three versions:

Front View:
http://youtu.be/SKP1pTZQRB4

Rear View:
http://youtu.be/Epntsjd4ch8

Front View with Rearview Mirror (this video):
http://youtu.be/vWwzMAUzO40
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Видео A500 Stoke 'D' Road - Clockwise (Part 4) - Front View with Rearview Mirror канала DriveCamUK