The A590 is a
trunk road
A trunk road is a major highway with a specific legal classification in some jurisdictions, notably the United Kingdom, Sweden and formerly Ireland. Trunk roads are planned and managed at the national-level, distinguishing them from non-trunk ro ...
in southern
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...
, in the
north-west of
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It runs north-east to south-west from
M6 junction 36, through the towns of
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...
and
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...
to terminate at
Biggar Bank on
Walney Island
Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...
.
[A590: M6 J36 (Crooklands) – Walney Island](_blank)
SABRE; retrieved 07-05-08 The road is a mixture of
dual carriageway and
single carriageway
A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation, central reservation/median strip to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road is a type of ...
, with the section east of
Low Newton, Cumbria to the M6 being mainly dual. Further dual sections are south of
Newby Bridge, south of
Greenodd and south of
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...
. The road is the main route for tourists entering the southern
Lake District
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
. It has often humorously been described as "the longest cul-de-sac in the world".
Route
M6 to Ulverston
From east to west, the A590 originally terminated at the
A6 road at
Levens Bridge.
Its route followed a number of country roads via a series of Turn Off To Stay On
(TOTSO)s, passing through a number of villages including
Lindale,
High
High may refer to:
Science and technology
* Height
* High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area
* High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory
* High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...
and
Low Newton,
Newby Bridge and
Greenodd into the larger town of
Ulverston
Ulverston is a market town and civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few miles south of the Lake District Lake District National Park, National Park and j ...
. This road formed a large part of the southern boundary of the
Lake District National Park
The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...
upon its formation in 1951.
This stretch of road has now undergone a series of improvements and route alignments. In the mid-1970s, the
A591 '
Kendal
Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
link road' was built between Junction 36 of the M6 and Kendal with an extension of the A590 also being constructed to join this as part of the wider
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...
expressways plans. This improvement to the A590 also included a realignment and dualling of the road to the west as far as High Newton, by-passing Lindale. In the mid-1990s the A590 was extended eastward through a re-numbering of the A591 between
Sizergh and the M6, providing a single road between Barrow-in-Furness and the M6.
West of the Lindale bypass is the road's most recent improvement, a 2.4-mile (3.8-kilometre) long stretch of dual carriageway built to bypass High and Low Newton at a cost of
£35.3 million. This new stretch of road was constructed to a high environmental standard and achieved a
CEEQUAL Award following its opening in Spring 2008. It connects to the original route to the east of Newby Bridge. The A590 reaches its most northern point at the foot of
Windermere
Windermere (historically Winder Mere) is a ribbon lake in Cumbria, England, and part of the Lake District. It is the largest lake in England by length, area, and volume, but considerably smaller than the List of lakes and lochs of the United Ki ...
, before following the route of the
River Leven to its estuary at Greenodd.
Both the villages of Backbarrow and Greenodd have now been by-passed, though parts of this route remain narrow and winding.
West of Greenodd the road switches between sections of single and dual carriageway.
Ulverston-Walney Island

The A590 passes through Ulverston,
avoiding its most central streets, along an inner relief road. West of Ulverston the road is entirely single carriageway and is mainly used for commuting between Ulverston, Barrow-in-Furness and the small towns in-between the two.
West of
Dalton-in-Furness, the A590 follows an entirely different route to that it did prior to the early 1990s when Dalton was bypassed. Previously, the road had gone through Dalton and entered Barrow along the wide
Victorian Abbey Road
''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...
, before passing through Barrow's shipyard onto
Barrow Island.
Since 1992, the road has followed a modern bypass close to the
South Lakes Safari Zoo and enters Barrow via its north-western industrial area, parallel to
Walney Island
Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...
passing the site of Barrow's former
iron
Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...
and
steel
Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
works. A
one way system opened in April 2008 now applies to the road as it passes closest to the centre of Barrow, with westbound traffic heading towards the town centre at
Craven Park roundabout and eastbound traffic continuing through the industrial land alongside Walney Channel.
How many people will die?
North West Evening Mail 29 April 2008; retrieved 7 May 2008 The road continues westward over the Jubilee Bridge onto Walney Island
Walney Island, also known as the Isle of Walney, is an island off the west coast of England, at the western end of Morecambe Bay in the Irish Sea. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it is part of Barrow-in-Furness, sepa ...
and terminates at the Irish Sea
The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:5-0590
Roads in Cumbria
Transport in Barrow-in-Furness