A563 road

A563 road
Location
Primary destinations:	Leicester
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A563 is the designation for Leicester's outer ring road, in England.

Starting at the A6 in Oadby (), the road progresses clockwise, passing between Knighton and Wigston (crossing the A5199 Welford Road), then to the south of Aylestone (crossing the A426), then turning north by Fosse Shopping Park. It runs between M1, passing the A47 and then the A50. At Beaumont Leys it turns eastward.

Nearly directly north of the city it comes to the Red Hill Circle, near the River Soar, where it meets the A6030 "ring-road", and the A6 again. It then passes east, and then south until it meets the A47 ().

Here the signposted ring road ends. There is no section linking the A6 in Oadby with the A47 in Goodwood. Traffic can continue straight on at the A47 junction down the Goodwood road, (or go via the A47 and Spencefield Lane) and then proceed by a variety of routes to the A6 (by Evington to Stoughton Drive and then Stoughton Road, meeting the A6 considerably further in than Oadby), or can pass at Evington village onto the backroad Shady Lane, and then proceed by Stoughton Road into Oadby, meeting the A6 further out.

Additionally, traffic can use the A6030 (also designated a "ring-road", although not even circumscribing half of a circle), which leads from the A563 (near Hamilton) to the A6 at Stoughton Road/Knighton Road. A small section of road leading from Red Hill Circle (just south of Birstall) to Belgrave Road/Melton Road is also named the A6030/Loughborough Road. This section doesn't link onto the current 'proper' A6030.

Although the ring-road has been planned for decades, there is currently no real plans to complete the eastern part, (known as the Eastern District Distributor Road). The original designated route involved Goodwood Road, but Leicester City Council allowed housing to be built on land earmarked for an expansion to a dual carriageway. Possible plans to route traffic along Spencefield Lane were strongly opposed by residents, leaving it unclear where exactly the EDDR would be built. The A47 is not dual carriageway and already congested at peak hours, so attempting to continue the A563 eastwards until open countryside seems problematic.

Recently a small section of road linking the A563 in Hamilton and the A6030 in Northfields was completed to make it easier for traffic getting to the A6 and Oadby. The section of road was built between the junction with Victoria Road East and Gipsy Lane to the south, and Thurmaston Lane to the north. This meant having to cut through part of the Humberstone Heights Golf Course to allow the route to take place.