Almondsbury Interchange

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Interchange shown from above. The M4 runs east and west (up and down in this particular image) and the M5 north-east to south-west (in this image; left and right).

The RAC tower dominates the skyline at the Almondsbury Interchange

The Almondsbury Interchange in South Gloucestershire, is one of the United Kingdom's largest motorway stack interchanges. The interchange is one of only three four-level stacks in the UK, spanning a range of 0.5 km by 0.5 km. It is the interchange for the M5 at junction 15 and M4 at junction 20, and is situated at the northern fringes of Bristol close to the village of Almondsbury, the Aztec West industrial estate, and Bradley Stoke.

Almondsbury Interchange was the first four-level interchange in the United Kingdom.^[1] It was designed by Freeman Fox and Robert Earley.^[2] The interchange was built by Richard Costain Ltd, with work commencing in May 1964. The bridge was opened by the Queen on 8 September 1966.^[3]

The interchange is often a traffic hot-spot, especially in the morning and evening rush hours. It is overlooked by the RAC Tower. Traffic travelling northbound on the M5 intending to use the Second Severn Crossing (or those on the crossing wishing to use the M5 southbound from Avonmouth onwards) can bypass the interchange by using the M49 motorway.

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[edit] References

^ Oldest, widest, longest, highest. The Motorway Archive. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.
^ Baldwin, Peter; Robert Baldwin (2003). The Motorway Achievement. Thomas Telford, 406. ISBN 0727731963.
^ M4, Aust (J21) to Wickham (J14).. The Motorway Archive. Retrieved on 2007-10-04.