A591 road

A591 road
Route information
Length:	43 mi (69 km)
Major junctions
North end:	Bothel
	A595 road A66 road A5271 road A593 road A5075 road A592 road A5074 road A5284 road A6 road A590 road
South end:	Sedgwick
Location
Primary destinations:	Keswick Grasmere Ambleside Windermere Kendal
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A591 as it passes between Ambleside and Grasmere

The A591 is a major road in Cumbria, in the north-west of England. The stretch of the road between Windermere and Keswick has been voted Britain's Favourite Road.^[1] The 29.8 mile stretch between Kendal and Keswick was also named the UK's best driving road, according to a specially devised driving ratio formulated by car rental firm Avis.^[2]

Route

The road begins (at its southern end) 3.5 miles (5.6 km) north-west of junction 36 of the M6 motorway at Brettargh Holt roundabout with the A590 road (54°16′29″N 2°45′38″W / 54.2746°N 2.7605°W / 54.2746; -2.7605 (A591 road (southern end))), close to Sizergh Castle. It bypasses the town of Kendal as a dual carriageway, this £1.9m 3-mile (4.8 km) section opened on 29 August 1971. It becomes a busy single carriageway road as it enters the Lake District. It bypasses the town of Windermere, closely following the north-eastern bank of Lake Windermere. It then travels through the centre of Ambleside, follows the northern side of Rydal Water, passes White Moss Common, follows the eastern edge of Grasmere and passes the village of Grasmere. The road continues over Dunmail Raise and along the eastern edge of Thirlmere. Shortly afterwards it reaches the town of Keswick. It meets the A66 road at a grade-separated junction. Traffic then bypasses Keswick by following the A66 west for 2.2 km to a roundabout where the A591 resumes, continuing in a roughly north-westerly direction, with fine views over Bassenthwaite Lake. The road terminates at the village of Bothel, on the A595 road (54°44′09″N 3°16′24″W / 54.7357°N 3.2733°W / 54.7357; -3.2733 (A591 road (northern end))). The Bothel-to-Keswick section has many acute bends and is particularly narrow in places, leading to many accidents.

Storm damage and closure

The road was badly damaged during Storm Desmond on 5 December 2015 including a part washed away at Dunmail Raise and landslip adjacent to Thirlmere. The closed section of road between Grasmere and Legburthwaite reopened on 11 May 2016.^[3]

References

↑ "Britain's Favourite Road". Archived from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 22 December 2009.
↑ http://www.contracthireandleasing.com/car-leasing-news/uks-best-driving-roads-revealed/
↑ "Storm Desmond: A591 reopens ahead of schedule". BBC News. 11 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.

External links

SABRE page on the A591

A roads in Zone 5 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme

	A5 A50 A51 A52 A53 A54 A55 A56 A57 A58 A59

	A500 A501 A505 A507 A508 A509 A511 A512 A514 A515 A516 A518 A519 A523 A525 A527 A528 A529 A530 A531 A533 A535 A536 A537 A538 A540 A541 A555 A556 A562 A563 A565 A570 A572 A574 A580 A583 A584 A585 A586 A587 A588 A590 A591 A592 A593 A594 (Leicester) (Cumbria) A595 A596

	A5004 A5012 A5025 A5036 A5038 A5058 A5103 A5112 A5114 A5117 A5120 A5124 A5127 A5130 A5147 A5183 A5199 A5268 A5300 A5758

List of A roads in Zone 5 List of B roads in Zone 5

Coordinates: 54°29′38″N 3°02′19″W / 54.4939°N 3.0386°W / 54.4939; -3.0386 (A591 road)

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