A40 road

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

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It is one of the few remaining of the "old" trunk routes not to have been superseded by a direct motorway link, though some parts, such as the southern section from London to Oxford are served by the M40.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.

Part of the A40 forms a section of unsigned the Euroroute E30.

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 — part of the Oxford Ring Road.
• 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 to Sennybridge. There are links here 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

[edit] See also

• British road numbering scheme

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: A40 road

[edit] Further reading

• Edward Platt, Leadville: A Biography of the A40 (Picador, 2001). ISBN 0-330-39263-8.

	A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering system	edit
A4	A40 - A41 - A42 - A43 - A44 - A45 - A46 - A47 - A48 - A49
	A403 - A406 - A413 - A414 - A417 - A418 - A419
	A420 - A421 - A422 - A425 - A426 - A427 - A428 - A429 - A435 - A441 - A442 - A445 - A449
	A452 - A453 - A454 - A456 - A458 - A461 - A465 - A470 - A472 - A478 - A482 - A483 - A487 - A488
	A494 - A497 - A498 - A499
	A4006 - A4012 - A4018 - A4025 - A4040 - A4042
	A4103 - A4117 - A4150 - A4133 - A4142 - A4146 - A4174
	A4202 - A4212 - A4260 - A4400 - A4536 - A4540
	List of A roads in Zone 4