A34 road

For other roads with the same name, seeA34.

TheA34is a major road inEngland.It runs from theA33andM3atWinchesterinHampshire,to theA6and A6042 inSalford,close to Manchester City Centre.It forms a large part of the major trunk route fromSouthampton,viaOxford,toBirmingham,The PotteriesandManchester.For most of its length (together with the A5011 and parts of theA50,andA49), it forms part of the formerWinchester–Preston Trunk Road.Improvements to the section of road forming theNewbury BypassaroundNewburywere the scene of significantdirect actionenvironmental protestsin the 1990s.It is 151 miles (243 km) long.

A34
Newbury bypass,part of the A34 nearDonnington
Route information
Part ofE05
Length	156.21 mi (251.40 km)
History	BetweenOxfordandBirminghamis theA44andA3400
Major junctions
South end	M3atWinchester(51.069°N 1.291°W/51.069; -1.291)
Major intersections	A303 M4 A44 (A40) M40 A41 M42 A41 M6 A5 M6 Toll A51 A500 A53 A54 M56 M60 A57(M) A56
North end	A6atSalford(53.483°N 2.258°W/53.483; -2.258)
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Newbury Oxford Solihull Birmingham Walsall Cannock Stafford Stoke-on-Trent Newcastle-under-Lyme Congleton East Didsbury Burnage Manchester
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A33 →A35

Route

The road is in two sections. The northern section runs south through Manchester andCheadle,and bypassesHandforth,WilmslowandAlderley Edge,before passing throughCongleton,Newcastle-under-Lyme,and the southern suburbs ofStoke-on-Trent.It then continues south viaStone,Stafford,CannockandWalsall,passes through the middle ofBirmingham(where it briefly merges with theA41), before meeting theM42 motorwayat junction 4 south ofSolihull.

A34 Melrose Way–Alderley Edgebypass

The northern section of the road in effect combines with the motorway network and then resumes with the southern section.

The southern section begins 45 miles (72 km)SSEof the northern section, at junction 9 of theM40 motorway.It continues south as the western part of theOxford Ring Road,crossing theRiver Thameson theA34 Road Bridge.It then bypassesAbingdon,Didcot,and Newbury before finishing at junction 9 of theM3 motorway.This part of the A34 forms theE05European route. It is a dual carriageway throughout.

Together with parts of the M3 and the M40, the A34 forms an important route carrying freight fromSouthamptonto theMidlands.Because of the volume of traffic, bypasses were built along this route – at Newbury on the A34, and atTwyford Downnear Winchester on the M3 – but these were controversial for environmental reasons. Notably instead of cutting a short road tunnel through Twyford Down, the escarpment was carved out for the road traffic of the motorway, though the route of the old A33 closed as a result.

In 2004, the junction with theM4 motorwaywas re-engineered from aroundaboutto free-flowinggrade separated junction.

The A34 looking North towardsDidcot,in Oxfordshire, with the now demolishedDidcot power stationcooling towers visible

Future

The idea that the cancelledOxford–Cambridge Expressway(linking the current A34 near Oxford to theA14near Cambridge) would have been designated as A34, did not have any official status.

History and renumbering

For further information, seeGreat Britain road numbering scheme.

KingswayinManchesterwhere the A34 nears the end of its route

The original (1922) route of the A34 was Winchester to Oxford, much shorter than it is today.It was extended to Manchester on 1 April 1935,replacing part of theA42(Oxford to Birmingham throughShipston-on-Stour,Stratford-upon-AvonandHenley-in-Arden), A455 (Birmingham to Stafford), part of theA449(Stafford to Newcastle-under-Lyme) and A526 (Newcastle to Manchester).

By 1953 the route was as follows:

• Manchester
• Levenshulme
• Burnage
• East Didsbury
• Cheadle
• Wilmslow
• Alderley Edge
• Congleton
• Talke
• Newcastle-under-Lyme
• Stonebypass
• Stafford
• Cannock
• Bloxwich
• Walsall
• Birmingham
• Shirley
• Henley-in-Arden
• Wootton Wawen
• Stratford-on-Avon
• Newbold-on-Stour
• Shipston-on-Stour
• Long Compton
• (1 mile (1.6 km) east ofChipping Norton)
• Enstone
• Woodstock
• Oxford
• Abingdon
• Steventon
• East Ilsley
• Newbury
• Litchfield
• Whitchurch
• Sutton Scotney
• Winchester

When theOxford Ring Roadwas completed to the west of Oxford in 1962, the old route through the city was renumbered theA4144.On completion of the Abingdon Bypass in the 1970s, the old route from the Oxford Ring Road through Abingdon and Steventon toChiltonwas partly declassified (for 5 miles (8.0 km)) and the rest renumbered A4183, B4017,A4130and A4185.

In 1987, the A34 between Walsall and Bloxwich swapped routes with the parallel B4210.

In 1991, shortly after the completion of the M40 motorway, the road between Oxford and Solihull was renumbered. BetweenChipping Nortonand Solihull the road lost its primary route status and was renumberedA3400,and south of Chipping Norton the route became part of an extendedA44.The A34 was diverted north from the Oxford Ring Road to the M40 along parts of the former routes of theA43(which had originally followed the route of the present B430) andA421.Much of the long-distance traffic formerly carried by the present A3400 now uses the M40 to Birmingham, and theM42andM6to by-pass the city.

When the Newbury Bypass was opened in 1998, the old route through Newbury became part of theA339and the B4640.

The long planned and often postponed Alderley Edgebypasswas completed in November 2010, ahead of schedule and within the £52 million budget.The official opening ceremony was conducted by theChancellor of the Exchequer,the Rt HonGeorge OsborneMP,on 19 November 2010.

External links

Template:Attached KML/A34 road

KML is from Wikidata

• The Highways AgencyManagement StrategyforBicestertoWinchester.
• The Highways AgencyA34-M4 junction improvements.
• A detailed review of the A34 and its history
• A34 Stratford Road red route, Birmingham