Southport New Road, Banks to Holmes, A565

OS 1937-61

Modern Map

View this cycle track's location on the big map.

Date opened/built:

c1939/1940.

Length:

2.92 miles (4.7kms).

Width:

9-ft (2.74m).

Adjoining footway:

Yes.

Road type:

Rural dual carriageway.

Surface:

Modern asphalt.

Both sides of road:

Yes.

Adjacent to social housing:

No.

Start:

https://goo.gl/maps/cLJWhiwAaTL14qfAA

End:

https://goo.gl/maps/o5grt77jqeHLRcif7

Period mapping:

OS 1:10,000 surveyed/revised pre-1930 to 1955, published 1955 https://maps.nls.uk/view/189179430 OS Six inch, revised 1938, published 1950 https://maps.nls.uk/view/101102390 Both maps show road sterilisation, but no markings for road or cycle tracks or footway.

OpenCycleMap status:

https://www.opencyclemap.org/?zoom=15&lat=53.6648&lon=-2.89114&layers=B0000 Cycleways marked on both sides of road, no footways marked

Sources:

Period maps, newspaper reports, MoT archives.

Cycle track on Southport Road. Credit: Raymond Knapman/Wikipedia

The bypass of Banks, Mere Brow and Holmes was probably built between 1937 and 1939 with one newspaper saying work was being carried out in 1937. And reports in 1936 said the New Southport Road would feature “dual carriage ways and cycle tracks.”

“Surfacing [on A565], not yet settled but will probably be a sand-bitumen carpet, 9ft wide,” said an MoT letter to the American Embassy in London in March 1937.

“The western half of the Southport-Preston road … when reconstructed will be 120 feet, and the proposed layout consists of dual 22-foot carriageways, separated by a central reservation of the same width, two 9-foot cycle tracks, protected from vehicular traffic by margins 6 feet wide and two 6-foot footpaths,” reported the Liverpool Echo in December 1937.

“The first part of the Lancashire County Council’s scheme for the removal of danger points and the provision of cycle tracks and dual carriageways on the western half of the Southport-Preston road will probably commence on Monday,” informed the Lancashire Evening Post on Thursday, 20 January 1938

NOTES

The bypass of Banks, Mere Brow ... Lancashire Evening Post, 6 December 1937.

And reports in 1936 said the ... “GREAT ARTERY FOR TRAFFIC,” Liverpool Echo, 30 January 1936.

“Surfacing [on A565], not yet ... Stats from MoT letter to Mr. Stebbins, Assistant Trade Commissioner, American Embassy, Bush House, WC2, 18 March 1937, MoT archives.

“The western half of the ... Liverpool Echo, 6 December 1937.

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