A4

From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki

A4
No pictures uploaded (Upload?)
From:	London
To:	Avonmouth
Length:	129.8 miles (208.9 km)
Meets:	M4, M5, M25, M49
Route outline (key)
A4 London - M4 J5 A4 M4 J5 - Chippenham A4 Chippenham - Bath A4 Bath A4 Bath - Bristol A4 Bristol A4 Bristol - Avonmouth
Related Pages
Hyde Park Corner Lawrence Weston Interchange

A4: Avonmouth - London

It's probably more standard practice to start from London, but since I live close to the other end it feels more natural to go eastwards. Historically, the A4 was only Bath to London - the remaining sections were added later.

It starts out as a trunk road (the fairly new Avonmouth Relief Road) at a roundabout near Avonmouth Docks, where the only other numbered road is the A403 to Aust. Almost immediately there are two roundabouts which connect with a short spur of the M5 (meeting the M5 proper at junction 18, and the M49). Then the road becomes the Portway, which runs as partly dual carriageway and partly two-lanes-each-way single carriageway up the Avon Gorge. I think this is one of the great drives of the country, and it's a very important link for Bristol - when it was closed recently due to a burst water main there was congestion for miles around. It crosses the River Trym, runs beneath cliffs on the edge of Clifton Down and under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, where the view is breathtaking. Along here there's a section where the cliff edge was so dangerous that a special tunnel was erected to protect the road.

Then there's a complex junction with the A3029 at the Cumberland Basin (one of my favourites as well!), and the A4 runs round a one-way system at Hotwells to become Hotwell Road, which runs alongside the Floating Harbour - here you can see across to the SS Great Britain. Then it's Anchor Road in Canon's Marsh, which runs past the new "at-Bristol" exhibition centre, and it arrives at the area traditionally known as the Centre, where traffic has been recently re-routed to go round a big concrete piazza. At this point there's actually a short break in the numbered route - what would once have been the A4 along Baldwin Street, Bristol Bridge and Victoria Street is now the B4053.

The A4 officially picks up again at the Temple Circus Gyratory, a fairly new junction replacing a notorious old single-lane flyover. It runs past Temple Meads Station, and round Bath Bridge roundabout (A370 junction), which spans the River Avon. It crosses the railway line and comes to a fork in the road called the "Three Lamps" junction (see A37 entry for further information). There's a section past Arno's Vale Cemetery, and it continues up Brislington Hill to reach the junction with the A4174 outer ring road (southbound). It goes on to the Hicks Gate roundabout, which meets the A4174 northbound and is the start of the Keynsham bypass. This fairly old dual carriageway runs remarkably close to the centre of Keynsham - the railway station is actually beyond the bypass!

At the end of the bypass the road reverts to single carriageway through Saltford, with a section running close to the railway line and River Avon. The A39 joins at the Globe roundabout, then there's another short dual-carriageway section which takes you to a set of traffic lights at the western outskirts of Bath, where the road forks into two. This is a "totso"; the A36 continues straight ahead as primary, while the A4 forks off to the left as non-primary (the signs attempt to disguise the fact that it's the A4). It heads over New Bridge and into the suburb of Newbridge, then through Lower Weston where's it's joined by the A431, an alternative route from Bristol. It continues along Victoria Park to the Georgian Queen Square, and then left up Gay Street and right along George Street to a raised section of road known as the Paragon. After that it becomes London Road, which is joined by a spur from the A36, where it once again becomes a primary route.

It continues through the eastern suburbs of Bath to Lambridge, where there's now a large signal-controlled roundabout with an underpass. This is the start of one of my least favourite stretches of road - the Batheaston bypass. The road running north-south beneath the roundabout connects the A46 Swainswick bypass (which goes towards the M4) with the Batheaston bypass. This means that traffic coming from Bath wishing to continue on the A4 has to go three-quarters of the way round the roundabout, past an awful lot of traffic lights. It then runs down a slip road to join a useless dual carriageway with monstrous concrete bridges spanning the Avon. There was originally supposed to be a link road to the A36, but this was cancelled for political reasons, and so all the traffic just goes back over the Avon again to another roundabout at Bathford, where the dual carriageway ends (the A363 also leaves here).

It then crosses into Wiltshire, and continues via Box (A365 junction) and Corsham towards Chippenham. Just before Chippenham it crosses the A350, and becomes non-primary - indeed it stays non-primary from here until Slough, presumably because of the M4 running parallel. (Yet this wasn't always the case; I can certainly remember the M4 coexisting with a primary A4, and indeed they take rather different routes, with the M4 running via Swindon.) Anyway, the A4 continues through Chippenham and out to Calne, then on to the junction with the A361 at Beckhampton (close to Avebury stone circles).

There's a dual carriageway bypassing Theale, which I believe dates from a time when the route of the M4 was still undecided, and relief for the village was considered a priority. Then it crosses the M4 at junction 12, and continues though Calcot (an important junction for coaches) to Reading.

An account of the first mile can also be found at London Geezer's Webpage

Original Author(s): Guy

Section 2: Reading

It's not actually possible to drive eastbound through Reading on the A4, thanks to the town's innovative and highly infuriating one-way system.

To the south of the town centre the A4 runs in a dead straight line as London Road for about a mile, but only westbound traffic has the privilege of using this short cut. Eastbound traffic has two choices after passing through the suburbs of Calcot and Southcote -- either turning right into leafy Berkeley Avenue (the real A4) or continuing straight on down Castle Hill (the A4155). Either route eventually sees the driver sucked onto the infernal Inner Distribution Road, officially the A329. Not quite the road to hell, but the road to the Kings Road Gyratory, which is almost as bad.

Survivors must then endure a half mile crawl along Kings Road before rejoining the A4 proper at Cemetery Junction (watch for the amused smiles from traffic heading west). At this point the ordeal is almost over; just a short, traffic-light-punctuated journey through New Town before an escape route is offered in the form of the A3290 (previously the A329(M)) towards the M4. Often a tempting proposition, but by now the worst is over, the road widens and and the driver is safely on their way eastwards towards Maidenhead.

Original Author(s): Craig Broadbent

Section 3: Reading - Heathrow

The A4 becomes surprisingly light through Reading's eastern suburbs, helped by being a dual carriageway. The A4 then becomes single for a short while and then dual again as it passes near to Sonning.

From Sonning to its junction with the A404(M), the A4 becomes essentially rural in character (well, rural for SE England). If the traffic clears, some of the bends can bring a smile to the face, but nothing to put on a "Top 10" list.

A fairly big roundabout marks its junction with the A404(M) and the A404. Turn north here for High Wycombe and the M40 or south for the M4. The A4 (still single carriageway) becomes a suburban road, through to Maidenhead town centre, where it widens to a dual. You then have to negiotate 4 roundabouts before crossing the Thames. This bridge is always something of a bottleneck, as it is a single carriageway.

The trek to the outskirts of Slough from the Thames takes about 4 miles along a single carriageway road, passing through fields and suburban houses. This stretch can be a nightmare on Sunday afternoons, due to a car boot sale in one of the fields.

Another big roundabout marks entry into Slough. You can leave the A4 here for junction 7 of the M4. The A4 now widens into 2 lanes each way, though not strictly dual as there is no separating barrier. Instead of roundabouts, you now have to negiotate untold traffic lights to make your way into Slough town. Very frustrating. But at least you can admire the huge modern office buildings along the way, such as the HQ for Citroen, Fiat, Celltech, O2 etc. Also, see if you can spot a bargain car at the huge Trade Sales site, which straddles the A4.

Fans of The Office on BBC2 should be able to recognise the roundabout at the centre of Slough. Here the architecture gets pretty bad, with the Brunel Bus Station the worst offender. The A4 is now proper dual, although it only lasts for a couple of miles. As it hits the eastern Slough suburbs, it narrows and wends its way down to junction 5 of the M4 and Heathrow. Even if you are new to the area, you can easily get to Heathrow by following the planes as they descend to land.

Intersecting with the M4, the A4 passes underneath to the area of Colnbrook (recently now part of Slough). You can also admire the huge HQ building of Honda here. The A4 now skirts to the north of Colnbrook (known as the Colnbrook by-pass). This stretch is famous for one thing - the Spearmint Rhino lapdancing club. Don't become distracted by the roadside billboard which is there to advertise it!!

The A4 then crosses the M25 (which can induce smug feelings as you see the jams) and down to a huge traffic light junction. You can turn left here to see British Airway's new HQ or turn right to head to Terminal 4 (and in the future Terminal 5), Staines or indeed the M25. Straight ahead is to Terminals 1,2 & 3. I think this is where Slough officially ends.

Original Author(s): Balraj

Section 4: Heathrow - London

The A4 continues to an odd not-quite-roundabout at M4 junction 4A, which serves the spur to the M4 and the twin tunnels to and from Heathrow Airport. Then it's the dual-carriageway Bath Road, which after the A30 joins becomes the Great West Road, a monument to a great earlier era of road-building. From a point midway between Heathrow and Hounslow, as far as Knightsbridge, the A4 has been diverted. The original line is now the A3006 and A315. The present A4 bypasses Hounslow, and it's three lanes each way at this point. It skirts Osterley Park (which is bisected by the M4) and then comes to the famous section where it runs directly beneath the M4 - three lanes each way to the M4's two! There's an interesting up-and-down junction with the M4 at junction 2 (which has been described as an "ironing board" junction!), and then you hit the Chiswick roundabout, which meets the A406 North Circular and A205 South Circular Roads, as well as crossing the original line of the A4, now the A315. From here a slip road runs up to join the two lanes coming from the M4, which ends here, creating another three-lane dual carriageway.

I love the next section - I know it like the back of my hand. Initially it's called Cromwell Road, but it has various names along the way. There's a solitary set of traffic lights serving Grove Park. Coming the other way, after the traffic lights the centre lane back towards the M4 coninues uninterrupted for over two hundred miles via the M4, M5, M42, M40 and A40 to the traffic lights at Gipsy Corner, about four miles away as the crow flies. Next comes the magnificent Hogarth roundabout (with the not-so-magnificent single-lane A316 flyover running above!). After this one lane goes down to Hammersmith, and the other two go up to the wonderful Hammersmith flyover (it's probably not wonderful in the rush hour, but I used to love it as a child). Then it's back down into Talgarth Road, where you pass several sets of traffic lights before a fairly steep bridge over the railway line and into Earl's Court. After the double junction with the A3220 (two one-way streets) it's back to single carriageway pas the South Kensington museums and Harrods to Knightsbridge. Here it rejoins its original route of the road, the A315 Kensington Gore. This junction is known locally as Scotch Corner, after the long-established (but recently renamed) Scotch House shop in the acute angle of the junction. Then you go beneath an underpass at Hyde Park Corner, which takes you into Piccadilly and the Congestion Charging zone.

As with all roads within the London inner ring road, no road numbers or through destinations are shown from here on. You run alongside Green Park, and on to Piccadilly Circus, then down the Haymarket (or along Pall Mall and up St James's Street if you're going the other way), and along Pall Mall East to Trafalgar Square. Then it's along the Strand (and round the Aldwych for eastbound traffic only) and into Fleet Street. The original A4 continued along Ludgate Hill and Cannon Street to the Monument, but the "ring of steel" around the City of London has put paid to all numbered roads there. So, a little disappointingly, the final section of the A4 now turns along Fetter Lane and New Fetter Lane to end on the A40 at Holborn Circus.

Original Author(s): Guy (with additions by T1(M))

Grid References

• Holborn Circus, London: TQ313815
• Avonmouth: ST516785