A45 road

The A45 is a major road running east from Birmingham through the Midlands. It passes the National Exhibition Centre and Birmingham Airport before skirting Coventry and Rugby. The road continues through Daventry, Northampton and Wellingborough, finally ending at the A14 near Thrapston. Along its route it crosses several canals and rivers, including the Oxford Canal and the River Nene. The A45 once carried the main traffic from the Midlands to Ipswich and the Haven ports before motorways took over. The A45 has been rerouted many times since it was first numbered in 1923. Early bypasses were built around Coventry in the 1930s and around Ipswich in 1985. The Orwell Bridge opened in 1982 to carry the road over the River Orwell. More recent changes include the St Neots bypass in 1985 and the Daventry Development Link Road in 2018. The road has also been downgraded in places to B-roads when the A14 took over part of its route. Today the A45 shows a mix of urban dual carriageways and rural single lanes. Grade-separated junctions appear near Birmingham Airport, the NEC and the M42. The road passes two prisons, HMP Onley and HMP Rye Hill, and crosses the West Coast Main Line twice. Near Northampton it meets the A43 and the A428 at large interchanges. East of Wellingborough the road runs alongside the River Nene, offering views of the water before reaching its end at the A14.