- For other uses, see A40, for details of the A40 in london, see A40 road (London).
The A40 is a major trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales. It is 256 miles long.
It is one of the few remaining of the "old" trunk routes not to have been superseded by a direct motorway link, though some parts, such as the southern section from London to Oxford are now better served by the M40. Part of the A40 forms a section of the unsigned Euroroute E30.
Road Description
The road varies from a winding country road to a motorway standard road in places:
- In central London, it forms High Holborn and Oxford Street. For the A40 in London, see A40 road (London).
- At Paddington, it forms the Westway, an elevated motorway which takes the A40 to meet Western Avenue.
- With two exceptions, Western Avenue forms a grade-separated motorway standard dual-carriageway between Paddington (Westway) and the M40 motorway, which goes off towards Oxford and Birmingham. The two exceptions are Gypsy Corner and Savoy Circus, both of which cause the traffic to stop at traffic lights. For the greater part, the road is six lanes wide, with stretches of four lane road.
- At Denham Roundabout, the six lane Western Avenue becomes the M40. The A40 then follows the motorway, using the dual carriageway of the A413.
- A few miles later, the dual carriageway bends away as the A413. The A40 then becomes a single carriageway winding its way through Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. It passes along many town centres such as High Wycombe and Beaconsfield, becoming dual carriageway for brief periods whilst in the towns.
- The A40 follows the M40 for 25 miles, meeting it at M40 J1,3,5 and 8A. At junction 8A, the A40 meets the motorway for the last time. At the end of the M40 Oxford spur, the A40 takes over with a dual carriageway towards Oxford, forming the northern part of the Oxford Ring Road. Some of the junctions are grade separated, although most are roundabouts.
- After the road passes under the A34(no junction), the A40 reverts back to single carriageway for ten miles. It then turns to dual carriageway again to form the Witney bypass, with a grade separated junction. The dual carriageway then finishes at a roundabout.
- For the rest of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire until Cheltenham, the road is single carriageway. The road travels through Cheltenham city centre and afterwards becomes dual carriageway and has a junction with the M5 motorway. The junction is a three-level stacked roundabout, where neither road is interrupted. The A40 then forms the Gloucester bypass, most of which is dual carriageway.
- For the rest of Gloucestershire, and a part of Herefordshire, the road is single carriageway until Ross-on-Wye. It then connects with the M50 motorway. After this, forms part of a high quality dual carriageway between South Wales and the Midlands, with only one roundabout and numerous grade-separated junctions.
- In Monmouthshire, the A40 has a grade separated junction with the A449, which continues as dual carriageway to Newport and the M4. The A40 now travels west, still as dual carriageway to Abergavenny.
- After the town, the road returns to single carriageway, for a trip through the Brecon Beacons. This stretch of road lasts fifty miles to Carmarthen, where dual carriageway resumes for fifteen miles to St. Clears. After this, the road remains as single carriageway for the rest of way to Fishguard.
The future
There is call for the stretch between Haverfordwest and St. Clears to be dualled. This would then allow for a dual carriageway all the way from London (via the M4 and A48) to Haverfordwest. This stretch currently has to handle all traffic going to/from the ferry port at Fishguard to Rosslare, and is very busy. The dualling would relieve this congestion.citation needed
The route
The route passes through the following places in order:
History of the road number
The original (1923) route of the A40 was the City of London to Fishguard. The road still begins and ends in the same places, but a number of changes have been made to its route.[1]
The first change dates from 1935, between Ross-on-Wye and Abergavenny. The original route of the A40 was via Skenfrith; this road was renumbered the B4521. The A40 was rerouted via Raglan; between Ross and Raglan it replaced part of the A48, between Raglan and Llanvihangel nigh Usk it replaced the B4234, and between Llanvihangel and Abergavenny it replaced part of the A471.
Subsequently, the A40 was rerouted within west London. Western Avenue dates from the 1930s, but was originally opened as the A403. After the Second World War, the A40 was rerouted along part of the A219 (west of Notting Hill) and Western Avenue. The old route (via Acton, Ealing, Southall,Hayes, Hillingdon and Uxbridge) was renumbered the A4020.
See also
References
- ^ [1] Road to Nowhere: A40 Ross-on-Wye to Abergavenny
Further reading
Gallery
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