The A563 is the designation for the ring road of Leicester, England. It forms a near complete circuit except for a gap of around in the east of the city. An indirect route linking the gap involves the A6030, and A6. The A563 was formerly referred to as the Outer Ring. If the outstanding section were completed, the road would have a circumference of about and an average distance from Town Hall Square of around.
Route (described in a clockwise direction)
Starting in the SE at the A6 in Oadby the road goes west, between Knighton and Wigston, then to the south of Aylestone, passing Fosse Shopping Park that lies to the north it crosses the B4114 then in close proximity it passes over and intersects with the A5460 giving access to the M1 and M69 motorways. It then turns north, parallel to the M1 and crosses the A47 and then the A50. As the road bears eastwards at Beaumont Leys there is the A5630 junction providing a link to the A46Leicester Western Bypass. Directly north of the city the A563 arrives at Red Hill Circle, near to the River Soar, and crosses the A6 again. It then passes east. After crossing the A607 it transects with the northern terminus of the A6030. Continuing, the A563 turns south and finishes at the A47, towards the city's eastern boundary at Goodwood/Rowlatts Hill north of Evington Village. Here the A563 Ring Road ends given that the section directly linking the A47 at Goodwood to the A6 in Oadby was not constructed. Traffic can continue straight on at the A47 junction down the Goodwood Road and then continue by a variety of routes to the A6, or can turn at Evington village onto the back roadShady Lane, and then proceed by Stoughton Road into Oadby, meeting the A6 further out.
Developments
Recently a short section of road linking the A563 in Hamilton and the A6030 to the west was completed between the junction with Victoria Road East and Gipsy Lane to the south, and Thurmaston Lane to the north, to assist traffic to the A6 and Oadby. Building this section meant having to cut through part of the Humberstone Heights Golf Course. Although the ring road has been planned for decades, there are currently no firm plans to complete the eastern part, known as the Eastern DistrictDistributor Road. The original designated route included Goodwood Road, but Leicester City Council allowed housing to be built on land earmarked for an expansion to a dual carriageway. Tentative plans to route traffic along Spencefield Lane were strongly opposed by residents, leaving it unclear where exactly the Distributor Road would be built. The A47 is not dual carriageway and is already congested at peak hours, so extending the A563 eastwards as far as open countryside seems problematic.
