page_title: Blackburn
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: Blackburn / Transport
caption_attribution_description: English: Blackburn Railway Station
context_page_description: Blackburn is a large industrial town located in Lancashire, England, north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, 8 miles east of Preston and 20.9 miles NNW of Manchester. Blackburn is bounded to the south by Darwen, with which it forms the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen; Blackburn is its administrative centre.
  At the 2001 census, Blackburn had a population of 105,085, whilst the wider borough of Blackburn with Darwen had a population of 148,850. Blackburn had a population of 117,963 in 2011.
  A former mill town, textiles have been produced in Blackburn since the middle of the 13th century, when wool was woven in people's houses in the domestic system. Flemish weavers who settled in the area in the 14th century helped to develop the woollen cottage industry. The most rapid period of growth and development in Blackburn's history coincided with the industrialisation and expansion of textile manufacturing.
  Blackburn's textile sector fell into decline from the mid-20th century and subsequently faced similar challenges to other post-industrial northern towns, including deindustrialisation, economic deprivation and housing problems.
context_section_description: The Leeds and Liverpool Canal runs through Blackburn from Feniscowles in the SW to Whitebirk in the NE, skirting the town centre to the east of Blackburn railway station. This important early industrial artery arrived in the town in 1810 and became the chief focus for industrial growth in the 19th century, with raw cotton imported via Liverpool. While it suffered neglect in the wake of the area's industrial decline, the Blackburn stretch has benefited from a number of regeneration projects since the 1990s. British Waterways residential moorings are to be found at Finnington Lane Bridge on the western edge of the borough.
  The M65 motorway passes to the south of Blackburn. It runs from Colne, about 17 miles (27.4 km) north-east of Blackburn, to a point close to the village of Lostock Hall near Preston, about 12 miles (19.3 km) to the west. Junction six of the motorway is located at the eastern edge of Blackburn, near the Intack area; junctions five and four are located to the south, near the village of Guide and the Lower Darwen area respectively; and junction three is located at the south-western edge of the town, close to the Feniscowles area. The M65 links Blackburn to the national motorway network, connecting to junction nine of the M61 and junction 29 of the M6.
  Other major roads in and around Blackburn include the A666 and the A677. The A666 runs from the A59 near the village of Langho, approximately 3.7 miles (6.0 km) to the north-west of Blackburn. It passes through the town centre and continues south through the towns of Darwen and Bolton then south-west to the town of Pendlebury, near Manchester, where the road joins the A6 at Irlams o' th' Height. The A677 runs from the east part of Blackburn, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the centre. It passes through the centre of the town and continues to the western outskirts. It then heads north-west to the village of Mellor Brook before continuing west again towards the city of Preston. It joins the A59 about 5.5 miles (8.9 km) west of Blackburn, approximately halfway between Blackburn and Preston. Barbara Castle Way (named after the former Blackburn MP) runs from Montague Street to Eanam Roundabout, passing close to the town centre, the road is part of the A6078 town centre orbital route.
  Blackburn's newly redeveloped railway station is in the town centre, and is served by Northern. Services to Manchester Victoria station typically take around 50 minutes. The station also hosts East Lancashire Line services travelling eastwards to Burnley, Colne and Leeds, as well as westwards to Preston.
  Blackburn's new bus station on Ainsworth Street opened in May 2016. A new interchange was built outside the station as part of the Cathedral Quarter redevelopment where all buses continue to Blackburn Bus Station. Manchester Airport, the busiest airport in the UK outside London, is the nearest airport from Blackburn with scheduled flights, about 28 miles (45 km) to the southeast of the town.
caption: Blackburn railway station
exif: {"Image Make": "PENTAX Corporation", "Image Model": "PENTAX Optio S50", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACD Systems Digital Imaging", "Image DateTime": "2008:01:08 22:55:18", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "30768", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10344", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/125", "EXIF FNumber": "13/5", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "50", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:01:07 11:33:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:01:07 11:33:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "108101/19200", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "14/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "29/5", "EXIF SubSecTime": "46", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "640", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "480", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "30688", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3"}