A40 road

Encyclopedia : A : A4 : A40 : A40 road

For the "flying tank", see Antonov A-40

Holborn Viaduct carries the A40

High Holborn

New Oxford Street

Marble Arch

The Hoover Building, now a Tesco supermarket, is on the A40

The A40 is a trunk road connecting London to Fishguard, Wales.

It is one of the few remaining of the "old" trunk routes not to have been superseded by a direct motorway link, though some parts, such as the southern section from London to Oxford are served by the M40. Edward Platt authored a book entitled Leadville, an intriguing mix of sociology and town planning, and a record of how the A40 was conceived and how it shaped and continues to influence those who live beside and travel on it.

The route passes through the following places in order:

In central London:
* The road begins as Newgate Street in the City of London where at St. Martin's le Grand it shares its starting point with the A1 north of St. Paul's Cathedral.
* For the majority of its length in Central London it runs in a westerly direction, becoming in turn:
** Holborn Viaduct
** High Holborn
** St Giles High Street
** New Oxford Street
** Oxford Street to Marble Arch.
* From Marble Arch, the route previously ran along:
** Bayswater Road
** Notting Hill Gate
** Holland Park Avenue
** Uxbridge Road
** Wood Lane to the junction with The Westway
* however since 2000 when the designation of the elevated section of the Westway to Paddington was reduced from A40(M) (motorway) to A40, the route has changed to run from Marble Arch along:
** Edgware Road (shared with and signposted as A5)
** The Westway
* to Savoy Circus (so called because it was once a roundabout) where the name changes to Western Avenue as far as the Denham Roundabout where it meets the western extremity of the A4020 road (the old Uxbridge Road) and the start of the M40.
Denham
Gerrards Cross
Beaconsfield
High Wycombe
West Wycombe
Stokenchurch
Oxford
Eynsham
Witney
Burford
Northleach
Charlton Kings
Cheltenham
Gloucester
Highnam
Huntley
Ross-on-Wye
Whitchurch
Monmouth
Abergavenny
Brecon - The A40 continues from the west side of Brecon for 8 miles until you come to Sennybridge. Here you have links to Merthyr Tydfil/Brecon Beacons (A470) via the A4215 and to Swansea via the A4067.
Llandovery - link for the A483 to Builth Wells.
Llanwrda - link for the A482 to Lampeter.
Llandeilo
Carmarthen
St Clears
Haverfordwest
Fishguard

A40 road

See also

Further reading