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Telford

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Telford
Location Map ( geo)
Telford.jpg
Cameraicon.png View gallery (73)
County
Shropshire
Highway Authority
Telford and Wrekin
Forward Destination on
M54, A5, A442, A464, A518
Next Primary Destinations
Birmingham • Bridgnorth • Shrewsbury • Stafford • Whitchurch • Wolverhampton
Other Nearby Primary Destinations
Cannock
Other Nearby Destinations
Wellington
National Highways Roads
M54
Places related to the M54
Places related to the A5
Places related to the A442
Places related to the A464
Places related to the A518

Telford is a New Town (and the largest town) in the Traditional County of Shropshire. It is named after Thomas Telford, one of the foremost historical figures in the civil engineering field, whose Holyhead Road runs through the town. Coalbrookdale and the Ironbridge Gorge are located within the town, which uses the slogan The Birthplace of Industry.

Most of the road network within the area was completely revamped during the construction of the New Town, and much of the historic layout in the area is now lost. It took over from Wellington as a Primary Destination as part of this process.

History

The site of Telford town centre in the early 1960s
The Iron Bridge
One of the proposed secondary distributor roads with space for the other carriageway

Before the New Town, the area that is now Telford consisted of three small towns: Wellington, Oakengates and Dawley, as well as many small mining villages. The road network was, as might be expected, therefore somewhat fragmented and there were only three routes within the area of regional importance on their way the county town of Shrewsbury (and beyond that, Wales) and other parts of the country: A5 towards Cannock, A464 towards Wolverhampton and A518 towards Stafford. The fact that the latter two roads terminated at Oakengates and Wellington respectively was merely co-incidence as only small amounts of traffic was generated by the Telford area itself; instead the geography of the area including the hill at The Wrekin and the Ironbridge Gorge to the south meant that the routes coincided.

The Ironbridge was constructed in what has become the southern suburbs of Telford in 1779. Famous as being the first bridge made of iron (as the name suggests), it is still in situ and is now part of the World Heritage site. It is, however, now closed to all vehicular traffic and serves solely as a tourist attraction.

In the mid-1830s, Thomas Telford constructed his Holyhead Road, which used what is now parts of the B5061 and A464 (as well as two unclassified sections of road) on the section between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, avoiding both Wellington and Oakengates town centres on the route.

In 1963, Dawley New Town was designated as an overspill for Wolverhampton and the Black Country, before being expanded and renamed to Telford New Town in 1968. As befitted a planned population of 250,000, the proposed New Town road network would see much change from the extant network. The planned system consisted of a circular grade-separated primary distributor network, with major links to the proposed motorway to Wolverhampton near to the sites of what is today M54 junctions 4 and 6. Within the New Town itself, the secondary distributor network were to be of a dual-carriageway standards, though with no grade-separation.

In the mid-1970s, however, the plans for Telford were scaled back to a target population of 150,000 and as such the proposed primary network was converted from the earlier ring to a cross system, where the former eastern side of the primary network would become the major north-south link.

By this time, work had started on the new road network, and in common with other New Towns, proposed dual carriageways were laid down with one carriageway first, with the space left for the other carriageway to allow for future growth. After the downsizing of the New Town, work continued on expanding the road network using the reserved highway land in one of two ways. The first option involved placing the single-carriageway replacement road in the centre line of the reserved land, often with full-width bridges for any future expansion. This approach can be be seen on the A4640 to the east of the town, whilst the second option, which involved the scaled-down road using the full width of the reserved land but meandering from side to side within the space allocated, can be seen on A4169 to the south of the town.

Routes

Several routes run through the Telford area.


Route To Notes

M54

Shrewsbury

M54

Birmingham, Wolverhampton

A5

Shrewsbury

A442

Whitchurch

A442

Bridgnorth

A464

Wolverhampton

A518

Stafford

A5

Cannock

A4169

Shifnal

A4169

Much Wenlock

A4640

Donnington, M54

A5223

Whitchurch

A5223

Much Wenlock

B4176

Dudley

B4373

Ironbridge

B4375

Broseley

B4376

Much Wenlock

B4378

Much Wenlock

B4379

Shifnal

B4380

B4394

Wroxeter

B5061

Wellington former route of A5 and A464

B5063

Shawbury

B5072

Lawley Out of zone

A5(M)

now M54

A4539

now part of A5

A5266

B5060

now unclassified

B5060

now A4640

B5406

now unclassified, originally A5.

Highways Management

The non-trunk roads in Telford are maintained by Telford and Wrekin Council. The only road maintained by National Highways through the town is the M54.

Named Junctions

See main article Named Junctions in Telford




Telford
Sections
Projects
Junctions
Apley Roundabout • Beveley Roundabout • Blythbury Interchange • Brockton Roundabout • Brookside Roundabout • Castle Farm Interchange • Castlefields Roundabout • Clews Wood Roundabout • Clock Tower Roundabout (Telford) • Cluddley Interchange • Coppice Farm Roundabout • Crackleybank Interchange • Crow Brook Roundabout • Cuckoo Oak Roundabout • Dawley Bank Roundabout • Donnington Wood Roundabout • Dothill Roundabout • Forge Interchange • Garrison Roundabout • Granville Roundabout • Greyhound Roundabout • Hadley Park Roundabout • Halesfield Roundabout • Hall Roundabout • Haybridge Roundabout • Heath Hill Roundabout • Hollinsgate Roundabout • Hollinswood Interchange • Horsehay Interchange • Horsehay Roundabout • Hortonwood Roundabout • Jiggers Roundabout • Ketley Brook Roundabout • Ketley Dingle Interchange • Lawley Common Roundabout • Leegomery Roundabout • Lees Farm Roundabout • Limekiln Bank Roundabout • Madeley Roundabout • Malinslee Roundabout • Mossey Green Roundabout • Naird Roundabout • Newdale Cross • Old Park Roundabout • Orchard Farm Roundabout • Pickmere Roundabout • Priorslee Interchange • Priorslee Roundabout • Randlay Interchange • Saint Quentin Roundabout • Shawbirch Roundabout • Stirchley Interchange • Sutton Hill Roundabout • Trench Lock Interchange • Tweedale Interchange • Wombridge Interchange • Woodside Roundabout
Services
Crossings
Roads
NCN55 • A5 • A5(M) • A41 • A442 • A464 • A518 • A4169 • A4539 • A4640 • A5223 • A5223 (Wellington) • A5266 • A5523 • B4176 • B4373 • B4375 • B4376 • B4377 • B4378 • B4379 • B4380 • B4381 (Telford) • B4382 (Telford) • B4394 • B4543 • B4589 • B5060 (Oakengates) • B5060 (Priorslee - Muxton) • B5061 • B5061 (Wellington) • B5063 • B5072 • B5316 • B5406 • E34 (Old System) • Holyhead Road • M54 • NCN81 • T11 (Britain) • T50 (Britain) • Watling Street
Places
Miscellaneous
Related Pictures
View gallery (73)
Oakengates 1964-5 - Coppermine - 4904.jpgTelford Town Centre in 1949.jpgA5223 at Newdale Cross.jpgA5223-1980.pngA442 Queensway, Telford - the 'Geological' wall - Coppermine - 5124.jpg
Places in the West Midlands region
Major citiesBirmingham • Coventry • Stoke-on-Trent • Wolverhampton
Primary DestinationsBirmingham International Airport • Bridgnorth • Bromsgrove • Brownhills • Burton upon Trent • Cannock • Dudley • Evesham • Hereford • Kidderminster • Leamington Spa • Leek • Leominster • Lichfield • Newcastle • Nuneaton • Oswestry • Redditch • Ross • Rugby • Rugeley • Shrewsbury • Solihull • Stafford • Stone • Stourbridge • Stratford • Tamworth • Telford • Uttoxeter • Walsall • Warwick • West Bromwich • Whitchurch • Worcester
Other placesBewdley • Bilston • Coseley • Droitwich • Halesowen • Ledbury • Ludlow • Malvern • N.E.C. • Smethwick • Southam • Sutton Coldfield • Wednesbury • Wednesfield • Wellington • Willenhall


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