A4074 road
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 The A4074 at Chazey Heath | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 22 mi (35 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end | Caversham,Reading(51°28′02″N0°58′36″W/ 51.4673°N 0.9767°W) | |||
| North end | Heyford Hill,Iffley,Oxford(51°43′17″N1°14′03″W/ 51.7214°N 1.2343°W) | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Road network | ||||
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TheA4074is a BritishA roadfrom theReadingsuburb ofCavershamto the Heyford Hill roundabout on theOxford Ring Road.[1]
The road starts from a junction with theA4155close to the northern side ofCaversham Bridge(over theRiver Thames) before climbing through the up-market residential area ofCaversham Heights.Crossing the Reading Borough boundary, the road proceeds through the small community ofChazey Heath,where it enters thick woodland for several miles before emerging near the village ofWoodcote.From here it crosses the more exposed ground of theChiltern Hillsbefore bypassing bothWallingfordandCrowmarsh Giffordon the Wallingford bypass. It then passes byBenson,passes throughShillingford,bypassesDorchesterand passes throughNuneham Courtenay.The road becomes dual-carriageway as it passesSandford-on-Thamesand remains so to its terminus on the Oxford Ring Road at the Heyford Hill roundabout.[1]
The road was designated in the 1980s[citation needed],when the B479 between Caversham and Crowmarsh Gifford was renumbered. In 1990[citation needed]theA423from Crowmarsh to Heyford Hill was renumbered the A4074, and the road became the primary route between Reading andOxfordin place of theA329along theRiver Thames.The short stretch of the Oxford Ring Road between Heyford Hill and theHinksey Hillinterchange was not renumbered A4074, and remains an isolated fragment of the A423.
The poor safety record of a particular stretch of this road, roughly between Chazey Heath and Woodcote, is highlighted in its local nickname,The 13 Bends of Death.Its accident rate of 53 per 100 million vehicle kilometres is nearly 70% higher than average for roads of its type.[2]
A half-hourly bus service, branded as river rapids and operated byThames Travel,owned by Go-Ahead like its sister company theOxford Bus Company,runs between Reading and Oxford along the A4074, albeit passing through the centre of Wallingford rather than using the by-pass. Alternate bus X40, with the X40 also diverting from the main road to serve Woodcote.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ab"A4074".sabre-roads.org.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 23 October 2015.Retrieved23 October2015.
- ^Times Online.Britain's deadliest road: the 13 bends of death.
- ^"Route X40"(PDF).Oxford Bus Company.Archived(PDF)from the original on 21 January 2022.Retrieved21 January2022.
External links[edit]
Media related toA4074 road (England)at Wikimedia Commons- BBC radio feature:"around the A4074"
- SABRE – A4074
A roads in Zone 4 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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