Great Britain road numbering scheme

Great Britain has many ancient roads and trackways dating back not only to the Roman occupation of southern Britain but to much earlier times, including the oldest engineered road to be discovered anywhere in the world: the Sweet Track dating from the 3800s BC.

With the advent of the motor car and the huge expansion in the numbers and standards of roads, as well as the introduction of a national Highway Code, a coherent numbering scheme was developed, which is still in use in Great Britain today. Similar systems are used in Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. All of these schemes use identical basic conventions and road-sign designs.

In England and Wales the road numbering system is based in on a radial pattern centred on London. In Scotland an extension of the same scheme is centred on Edinburgh.

Contents

1 Main trunk roads in England and Wales 2 Main trunk roads in Scotland 3 Two-digit "A" roads 4 Other "A" roads 5 Motorway sections of "A" roads 6 "B" roads 7 Motorways 8 Ancient roads 9 See Also 10 External links

Main trunk roads in England and Wales

Main trunk roads from London have single digit numbers, starting with the A1 which heads due north. The numbering continues sequentially in a clockwise direction, thus:

• A1 London to Edinburgh (The Great North Road)
• A2 London to Dover (Watling Street)
• A3 London to Portsmouth (Portsmouth Road)
• A4 London to Bristol (The Great West Road, or Bath Road)
• A5 London to Holyhead (Watling Street)
• A6 Luton to Carlisle (The A6 originally started in Barnet on the old A1. When the A1 was moved in the late 1970s, the A6 was cut back to the A1/M25 junction. Further renumbering in the St Albans area means that it now starts in Luton town centre. The old route is numbered as A1081.)

Main trunk roads in Scotland

Similarly, in Scotland, main trunk roads radiating from Edinburgh have single digit numbers, thus:

• A7 Edinburgh to Carlisle
• A8 Edinburgh to Greenock
• A9 Falkirk to Thurso (Originally Corstophine to Thurso branching from the A8, it was cut back because of the construction of Edinburgh airport on top of it.)

While the road numbering system in Scotland centres on Edinburgh, arguably the true "hub" for its road network itself is Broxden Junction in Perth.

Two-digit "A" roads

These radials are supplemented by two-digit codes which are routes that are slightly less important (but may still be classified as trunk routes). These routes are not all centred on London, but as far as possible follow the general principle that their number locates them radially clockwise from the associated single digit route. For example, the A10 (London to King's Lynn) is the first main route clockwise from the A1, the A11 is the next, and so on:

• A10 London to King's Lynn
• A11 London to Norwich
• A12 London to Great Yarmouth
• A13 London to Shoeburyness
• A14 M1/M6 junction near Rugby to Felixstowe (Originally Royston to Huntingdon)
• A15 Peterborough to Hull
• A16 Stamford to Grimsby
• A17 Newark to King's Lynn
• A18 Doncaster to Ludborough
• A19 Doncaster to Seaton Burn

• A20 London to Dover
• A21 London to Hastings
• A22 London to Eastbourne
• A23 London to Brighton
• A24 London to Worthing
• A25 Wrotham Heath to Guildford
• A26 Maidstone to Newhaven
• A27 Pevensey to Whiteparish
• A28 Margate to Hastings
• A29 Beare Green to Bognor Regis

• A30 London to Land's End
• A31 Guildford to Bere Regis
• A32 Alton to Gosport
• A33 Southampton to Reading
• A34 Winchester to Salford
• A35 Southampton to Honiton
• A36 Southampton to Bath
• A37 Dorchester to Bristol
• A38 Bodmin to Mansfield
• A39 Bath to Falmouth

• A40 London to Fishguard
• A41 London to Birkenhead
• A42 Appleby Magna (M42) to Kegworth (M1) (Originally Oxford to Birmingham: taken over by A34)
• A43 Cherwell Valley to Stamford
• A44 Oxford to Aberystwyth
• A45 Birmingham to Thrapston (Originally to Felixstowe, but eastern section taken over by A14)
• A46 Bath to Cleethorpes
• A47 Birmingham to Great Yarmouth
• A48 Highnam to Carmarthen
• A49 Ross-on-Wye to Bamber Bridge near Preston

• A50 Leicester to Warrington
• A51 Kingsbury to Chester
• A52 Newcastle-under-Lyme to Mablethorpe
• A53 Shrewsbury to Buxton
• A54 Chester to Buxton
• A55 Holyhead to Chester (The North Wales Expressway)
• A56 Chester to Broughton (A59)
• A57 Liverpool to Lincoln
• A58 Prescot to Wetherby
• A59 Liverpool to York

• A60 Loughborough to Doncaster
• A61 Derby to Thirsk
• A62 Manchester to Leeds
• A63 Leeds to Hull
• A64 Leeds to Scarborough
• A65 Leeds to Kendal
• A66 Workington to Grangetown
• A67 Bowes (A66) to Crathorne (A19)
• A68 Darlington to Edinburgh
• A69 Carlisle to Blaydon

• A70 Edinburgh to Ayr
• A71 Edinburgh to Irvine
• A72 Galashiels to Hamilton
• A73 Abington to Cumbernauld
• A74 Carlisle to Glasgow
• A75 Gretna to Stranraer
• A76 Dumfries to Kilmarnock
• A77 Glasgow to Portpatrick
• A78 Prestwick to Greenock
• A79 Prestwick to Doonholm

• A80 Glasgow to Bonnybridge
• A81 Glasgow to Callander
• A82 Glasgow to Inverness
• A83 Campbeltown to Tarbet
• A84 Stirling to Lochearnhead
• A85 Oban to Dundee
• A86 Spean Bridge to Kingussie
• A87 Invergarry to Uig
• A88 Larbert to Stenhousemuir (Originally what is now the A9 past Inverness: this explains the rarity of A9xxx numbers in the Highlands)
• A89 Newbridge to Glasgow

• A90 Edinburgh to Fraserburgh
• A91 Bannockburn to St Andrews
• A92 Dunfermline to Stonehaven
• A93 Perth to Aberdeen
• A94 Perth to Forfar
• A95 Aviemore to Meld
• A96 Inverness to Aberdeen
• A97 Dinnet to Banff
• A98 Fochabers to Fraserburgh
• A99 Latheron to John O'Groats

Note on numbering: These roads have been numbered either outwards from or clockwise around their respective hubs, depending on their alignment.

Other "A" roads

The system continues to three and four digit numbers which further split and criss-cross the radials. Lower numbers originate closer to London than higher numbered ones. Most roads built or reclassified since road numbers were introduced in 1919 have four-digit numbers. Knowing the number of the road you are on will give you a rough idea of where you are geographically once the system is understood. Below is a rough guide to the numbering series which apply to the various areas of the Great British mainland:

• 10 and 100 series numbers: Greater London, Essex, Cambridgehire, East Anglia, Lincolnshire
• 20 and 200-series numbers: Surrey, Sussex and Kent
• 30 and 300-series numbers: Hampshire, Dorset and South West England
• 40 and 400-series numbers: Central England and Wales
• 50 and 500-series numbers: North Wales, North Midlands, Cheshire, Southern Lancashire and Cumbria
• 60 and 600-series numbers: North-East England, Yorkshire and Lancashire
• 70 and 700-series numbers: Southern and Central Scotland
• 80 and 800-series numbers: North West Scotland and the Western Isles
• 90 and 900-series numbers: North East Scotland, Orkney and Shetland

Some of the most important 3-digit A-Roads are:

• A205 Woolwich to Kew (South Circular Road)
• A259 Folkestone to Havant
• A272 Poundford to A30 near Andover
• A303 Basingstoke to Honiton (relieves traffic from the A30)
• A361 Ilfracombe to Rugby (the longest 3-digit road)
• A403 Avonmouth to Aust
• A406 Chiswick to Beckton (North Circular Road)
• A414 Hemel Hempstead to Maldon
• A465 Hereford to Neath (Head of the Valleys Road)
• A470 Cardiff to Llandudno
• A483 Swansea to Chester
• A487 Haverfordwest to Bangor
• A580 Liverpool to Manchester (East Lancs Road)

Motorway sections of "A" roads

Some sections of A roads have been improved to the same level as motorways, while usually remaining dual carriageways. These sections retain the "A" road designation, but are suffixed (M).

Some examples are:

• A1(M)
• A3(M)
• A308(M)
• A329(M)
• A404(M)

"B" roads

"B" roads are routes which have lower traffic densities than "A" roads. The classification has nothing to do with the width or quality of the physical road. B roads follow the same numbering scheme as A roads, but almost always have 3- and 4-digit designations. Most 3-digit B roads outside the London area are former A roads which have been downgraded owing to new road construction.

Roads and lanes with yet lower traffic densities are designated 'C', 'D' and 'U' roads, but while these are numbered, in general this is done purely for the benefit of the local authorities, etc. who are responsible for maintaining them, and the numbering is arbitrary and does not, or should not, appear on any public signage. Some exceptions to this are known, however. [1] (http://www.cbrd.co.uk/c-roads/)

Motorways

Motorways came to Britain much later than the established routes and the numbering system was already in place.

The first motorway in Britain was the Preston Bypass, opened in 1958. This is now a section of M6, plus the M55 to junction 1. The M1, M10 and M45 opened together in 1959.

Therefore the motorways are designated "M" roads and are numbered to match the existing main radials which the motorways in general follow. One exception is the M5 whose closest A-road equivalent is the A38. The numbering of two digit motorways is based on a zone system formed by the 1-digit motorways, not on the zone system formed by the 1-digit A-roads. The other exception is the M6 Toll, a recently opened toll motorway which bypasses the busiest section of the M6 around Wolverhampton and Birmingham.

Ancient roads

Some ancient routes, such as Roman roads, travel for great distances and have a single modern number for the majority of their length (e.g. the A5 for the Roman road Watling Street). Others, such as the pre-Roman Icknield Way and the Roman Fosse Way are nowadays rather patchy and where a modern road exists, are numbered according to the local scheme.

See Also

• UK topics
• List of motorways in the United Kingdom
• List of London roads

External links

• The UK Roads Portal (http://www.uk-roads.org.uk)
• Apex Corner: a site dedicated to British roads (http://www.btinternet.com/~roads/index.html)de:Straßensystem in Großbritannien