Wolverhampton Ring Road

A4150
Wolverhampton Inner Ring Road
A4150 - Wolverhampton Ring Road
Route information
Length	2.3 mi (3.7 km)
Major junctions
Southwest end	Wolverhampton
Major intersections	A449 A41 A449 A4124 A454 A41 A4123
South end	Wolverhampton
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A4148 →A4151

TheA4150 Wolverhampton Inner Ring Roadis aring roadthat encircles the city centre ofWolverhamptonin theWest Midlands,England.The circumference of the road is around 2.1 miles (3.4 km). Technically, the route is listed as an "Inner Ring Road", although only a tiny section of the "Outer Ring Road" was ever constructed with only one of the two designed carriageways built. A second carriageway was built in 2017 along a short stretch between Patshull Avenue and Stafford Road. The section of outer ring road is called Wobaston Road and locally classified by Wolverhampton City Council as U119.

Sections

It is divided into seven sections, between seven junctions with nearly all of the main routes into the city. The seven sections are all named aftersaints(e.g. "Ring Road St John's" ). Originally the names chosen referred to nearby churches; however, with one section still to be built, it was noticed thatSt George,St AndrewandSt Patrick(thepatron saintsofEngland,ScotlandandIrelandrespectively) were included, butSt David(ofWales) was not. Thus the final section was named after St David, but not for any local reason. At the time there was a call for it to be named St. James after the church and square which once occupied the site.

Clockwise from the south-west corner, the sections are as follows:

• Ring Road St Mark's (between theA449Penn Road andA41Chapel Ash);
• Ring Road St Andrew's (between the A41 and Waterloo Road);
• Ring Road St Peter's (between Waterloo Road and theA449Stafford Street);
• Ring Road St Patrick's (between the A449 andA4124Wednesfield Road);
• Ring Road St David's (between theA4124andA454Middle Cross/A41Bilston Street);
• Ring Road St George's (between the A454/A41 andA4123Birmingham Road/Dudley Road;
• Ring Road St John's (between the A4123 and A449).

The slip road off the southbound Ring Road St. Davids links to Horseley Fields which formed part of the original A454 route into the City Centre.

Three main roads into the city do not meet the Ring Road, these being theA454Compton Road from the west, theA459from the south and theA460Cannock Road from the north-east; they meet theA41,A4123andA449respectively slightly further away from the Ring Road, but within1⁄4mi (0.40 km) in each case. The A459 used to meet the Ring Road at the junction of Dudley Road and Snow Hill but following the introduction of the A4123 gyratory system as part of the construction of the St. George's section of the Ring Road, it has terminated at Grove Street although some maps still show it as continuing to the Ring Road. The A459 also used to continue along Stafford Street (after passing through the city centre) to Five Ways Island along the former A460, B4158 and B4160 before theA449was rerouted down Stafford Street instead of Waterloo Road which was then declassified.

History

The Ring Road was constructed in stages between 1960 and 1986. The St John's and St Mark's sections were the first to be built in the 1960s. The St David's section to was the final section to be completed, and passes under a bridge connecting the east of the city centre toWolverhampton railway station.The St John's section was originally single carriageway but was later dualled. It was built as adual carriagewaywith very wide central reservations to allow for futuregrade separationof the junctions, which has never happened. As a result, most of the road has a very green appearance, except for Ring Road St Mark's which has a car park in the centre, reached by an underpass from the city centre. The St. George's Roundabout has a wishbone bridge running through it which carries theMetrolight rail line from the City Centre to Bilston Road. Ring Road St. David's has a contraflow bus lane allowing access to the rebuilt bus station which is part of the Interchange project.

A4150 designation

It officially carries the designationA4150,although this does not appear on any signs with the exception of at the junction of Waterloo Road and Jack Hayward Way, near toMolineux stadium,and not on the Ring Road itself.

Josef Stawinoga

The southern section of the ring road was home toJosef Stawinoga,aPolishimmigrant known locally as "Fred the Tramp". He set up home in a tent on the ring road's central reservation soon after it opened in the 1960s, and lived there until his death in October 2007 at the age of 86.

Wolverhampton Station

When Ring Road St. David's was built, a bridge over the Ring Road provided the only road route to the railway station. As part of the rebuilding of Wolverhampton Railway Station, a new road access and taxi rank was built off Sun Street with the existing bridge now used by the Midland Metro extension as well as access for parking for station staff.