A457

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A457

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From:

Birmingham (SP055874)

To:

Sedgley (SO919935)

Via:

Dudley

Length:

10.8 miles (17.4 km)

Meets:

A4540, A4123, A459

Now part of:

B4135

Primary Destinations

Birmingham •

Highways Authorities

Birmingham • Dudley • Sandwell

Traditional Counties

Staffordshire • Warwickshire • Worcestershire

Route outline (key)

A457

Birmingham - Sedgley

The A457 is an interesting 100% urban road. Although it's the arterial road between Birmingham and Dudley, since the A4123 Wolverhampton - Birmingham New Road was opened in 1927 the recommended route between Dudley and Birmingham has been via A456 and A4123, hence the fact that the A457 is non-primary throughout.

Route

The road starts on Birmingham's (Middle) Ring Road, A4540 at a busy roundabout. On one corner is the Victorian (and preserved) Spring Hill Library. Now single carriageway, after another kilometre the road passes City Hospital, crosses the main line canal and railway and meets the B4135, before the junction with the former Outer Ring Road (A4040) in the attractively named district of Rotton Park. A bit like with Manchester, there isn't much of Birmingham west of the city centre, so the ring roads are squeezed in pretty close together.

A457 at Galton Bridge

A difference in roads policy can be seen once we cross the border into the former county borough of Smethwick. Here the local council ignored the existence of the A4123 and had itself a D2 bypass built to take the A457 away from the town centre. (The new road TOTSOs at a recently built roundabout near the former Cape Hill Brewery, the old road carrying on as the A4092.) The bypass doesn't do its job entirely properly though: because the top end of the High Street is hard by the railway and canals, and they didn't want the new road to cross them, the top end of the High Street was blighted with a dual carriageway. You'll see the library, shops, etc on the left after about 2km, between Rolfe Street and Galton Bridge stations. From the latter the dual carriageway continues for another 3km; this is the original route upgraded, apart from a tight semicircle which goes south around Oldbury town centre.

A rundown of the main junctions on the 1970s D2 section:

1km: roundabout (B4135/B4136)
2km: lights (A4030 south to Bearwood/B4135 again)
3km: roundabout (A4168 north to M5 J1)
4km: roundabout (A4031 north to West Bromwich)
5km: under M5 elevated section
6km: roundabout (A4034 south to Blackheath, just after B4170 turn)
6.5km: TOTSO roundabout (A4034 north to intercity rail station)

The weird building lurking on the last island is Sandwell Council House, which they built in Oldbury because of the rivalry between West Bromwich and Smethwick.

The A457 / A4034 roundabout at Oldbury

This is not a Roman road, but it does go almost straight for its last five miles, WNW through Tipton to Sedgley. The route is a mix of traditional industries and old and new homes built on so-called brownfield sites. Dudley traffic turns off onto the A4033 at a signal-controlled fork in Tividale. More lights in Dudley Port where we cross the A461, and then into the centre of Tipton where we cross the B4517 and the A4037. Traffic is relatively light by this stage; Tipton is almost a secret town, bypassed as it is by our nemesis, the A4123, which we now finally meet, crossing it at lights. Up to the left is Wren's Nest Hill. Passing the B4483, our last 2km are quite suburban before the route ends just inside Wolverhampton's sphere of influence (though still in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley) in Sedgley on the A459.