A45 road (Great Britain)
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The A45 is a major road in England. It runs east from Birmingham past the National Exhibition Centre and the M42, then bypasses Coventry and Rugby, where it briefly merges with the M45 until it continues to Daventry. It then heads to Northampton and Wellingborough before running north of Rushden and Higham Ferrers and terminating at its junction with the A14 road in Thrapston.
Prior to the construction of the M6 motorway it was the main route from the Midlands to Ipswich and to the Haven ports. When the A1-M1 link road section of the current A14 opened in 1994 most of the A45 to the east of Cambridge was re-designated as the A14 and some sections to the west were downgraded to B-roads.
The original (1923) route of the A45 was Birmingham to Ipswich. The road was extended to Felixstowe in 1935, replacing the A139. Around the same time, the A45 was re-routed around the south of Coventry when the city's southern bypass was completed.
Initially, the A45 passed through Ipswich to Felixstowe; when the Orwell Bridge was opened in 1982, the road was diverted to pass over the new bridge.
A bypass for the village of Eltisley was built in 1972, along with a bypass on the B1040 road. The 3-mile (4.8 km) £8 million St Neots Bypass opened in December 1985 on what was then the A45. When the M6 to Felixstowe route was moved and upgraded to become the A14, this bypass became redesignated part of the less important Cambridge-Coventry A428.
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