The A595 is a primary route in Cumbria, in Northern England that starts in Carlisle, passes through Whitehaven and goes close to Workington, Cockermouth and Wigton.

It passes Sellafield and Ravenglass before ending at the Dalton-in-Furness by-pass, in southern Cumbria, where it joins the A590 trunk road.

Starting at the Hardwicke Circus roundabout junction with the A7 in Carlisle, it forms a short section of dual carriageway known as Castle Way.

It then continues over Caldew Bridge to a thoroughfare called Caldewgate, before arriving at a roundabout close to the McVitie's factory in the city centre.

[1][better source needed] A further roundabout was constructed in 2011 around 1 mile south of Carlisle in anticipation of increased traffic for a nearby garden centre development.

With bridge collapses and damage on the nearby A596, and a road closure on the A591, the only passable route to anywhere north of the River Derwent was via the A66 and M6 to Carlisle – a diversion of over 90 miles (140 km).

The northbound side of the road here was upgraded in the 1980s to provide an extra uphill lane for overtaking due to the steep gradient.

At the bottom of the hill the roundabout forms a junction with the B5086 which gives access to Cleator Moor and eventually Cockermouth.

This bypass was built in the early '90s as a result of an investment by BNFL in local infrastructure following the siting of the THORP reprocessing plant at Sellafield.

From Calder Bridge, the A595 forms the boundary of the Lake District National Park, going between the villages of Seascale and Gosforth.

It enters the national park at the bridge over the River Irt at Holmrook and continues past the village of Ravenglass, then passes through over the River Esk at Hinning House bridge before passing through the villages of Waberthwaite and Bootle and round the foot of Black Combe.

[1][3] The road finally passes through Kirkby-in-Furness, Ireleth and Askam-in-Furness before terminating 1.8 miles (2.9 km) further south at Elliscales roundabout where it crosses the Dalton bypass A590.

[7] The poor safety record of the road is highlighted by signs erected on the route stating "1245 casualties in 5 years".

Shortly afterwards it crosses over the River Eden, and curves round to the north of the Kingstown Industrial Estate, and terminates at Junction 44 of the M6 motorway.

Copeland MP Jamie Reed and Cumbria County Council leader Stewart Young have been pressing the UK government for an eastern relief road to take the A595 away from a bottleneck through the town of Whitehaven.

The proposed route would connect with recent Parton to Lillyhall bypass, it would then pass to the east of the town, past the newly proposed replacement for West Cumberland Hospital, then finally passing West Lakes Science & Technology Park before joining the current A595 south of Whitehaven.