Network changes - 1940s

A list of the changes to the road network in Great Britain from 1940 - 1949. Includes road openings and renumberings.

Road Openings

Year	Number on opening	Location	County	Notes
1940	-	Hailsham Bypass	Sussex	Southern section from Boship Roundabout to South Road. The Bexhill-on-Sea Observer reported that one carriageway was complete but not open on 18 November 1939. Hastings Cyclists' Touring Club used the road on 21 January 1940 but it is not known if it was open to other traffic. The dual carriageway was in place by December 1947. Shown on OS 1947 New Popular map as unclassified, then A22 on 1952 OS map.
1940	A27	Chichester Bypass	Sussex	The 3.84 mile road from Main Road, Fishbourne to Stane Street, Westhampnett opened on 11 May 1940 without ceremony. Work had commenced in July 1938. Just over a mile of the dual carriageway was finished, the remainder being left as single carriageway due to war time measures. Works were suspended and footpaths and cycle tracks were also unconstructed, apart from at junctions. Overall width was 100 feet with 22 foot carriageways. Cost to date was £110,000 of the £203,500 scheme cost. The eastern 0.3 mile north of Portfield Way later became unclassified.
1940	A31	Farnham Bypass	Surrey	Work began on the 2 mile road in July 1937 under a £335,000 scheme for a dual carriageway. In July 1939 the workers left to build an army camp and the scheme closed down. However the works on the outer sections of the bypass were fairly advanced and in February 1940 the War Executive Committee gave approval for a single carriageway on these sections to be completed. At that stage approval was awaited from Ministry of Transport. There is reference to the bypass at a November 1940 inquest case (it may possibly have been opened later). It was also stated on the retirement of Surrey's County Engineer and Surveyor, W.P. Robinson, that the road had been of great advantage in the war. Abbey Street and Red Lion Lane were used due to the unbuilt middle section. The bypass was completed in 1957.
1940	A33	Winchester Bypass	Hampshire	Opened 1 February 1940. Later much modified in connection with the extension of the M3 to and past Winchester.
1940	A35	Totton Bypass	Hampshire	0.6 mile from Rushington Avenue to the east end of High Street. One carriageway was reported as open in the Hampshire Advertiser of 3 February 1940 and the north carriageway was opened by Easter 1940. It included a cyclepath on the south side.
1940	A390	Lostwithiel Bypass	Cornwall	Liddicoat Road. Work had started in early 1939 for the £90,000 scheme and a photo of Restormel Bridge over River Fowey in November 1939 showed it to be fairly complete. In April 1940 the County Council was instructed by Ministry of Transport to take the works to a stage when they could be closed down. Some work at Bridgend was still ongoing in August 1940. There is a reference to utilising waste ground for allotments on the new bypass in January 1941. Parades used it in 1943. It is unclear if it was in full use at 1940 and it may have opened sometime during the war, it was in use in July 1946.
1940	A50	Uttoxeter Bypass	Staffordshire	Opened with a single carriageway on 26 July 1940, the second carriageway, cycle track and footpath to be completed after the War. Construction had started in June 1939.
1940	A560	Merseyway, Stockport	Lancashire • Cheshire	River Mersey culverted and dual carriageway built on top. Now a shopping precinct - A560 rerouted along Great Egerton Street 1965
1940	A74	Lesmahagow - Newfield Inn	Lanarkshire	The 2.9 mile dualling from Nethan Vale Terrace, Lesmahagow to Newfield Inn (since demolished, 1.4 mile north of the current J11 Poniel Interchange) was reported as under construction in 1938 and 1939. The £126,000 scheme was allowed to continue in October 1939 but other parts of the £1 million dualling scheme between Glasgow and Carlisle were suspended due to war conditions. The Lesmahagow section is shown on OS 25 inch map for Lesmahagow, revised 1941. It included the new 3 span Milton Bridge over River Nethan at 280 feet long and 60 foot wide and constructed by Alex Findlay & Company Ltd. of Parkneuk. Bridge construction was expected to last for 6 months from the first part leaving the factory in March 1938. A 1940 date has been included here, although it is unsure if all works would have been completed by then. There was widening and reconstruction for a mile, costing £60,000, announced in March 1949. In the 1960s a local road was extended through a side span of the river bridge to form a GSJ with the A74. The section of A74 covered by this entry became B7078 on being bypassed by the M74 in 1986 but part of it remains dual and the rest was not singled until the 2010s.
1940	A87	Dornie Bridge	Ross-shire	The bridge over Loch Long was formerly opened on 30 April 1940 by Colin Campbell of Shiel House. Contractor was Messrs. Tawse of Aberdeen, cost £60,000. It replaced the previous ferry, there being no road around the loch.
1941	A30	Redruth Bypass	Cornwall	The original bypass. Work had commenced in late 1938. Construction was allowed to continue at the onset of the War and was financed by Ministry of Transport. There is a report that the restricted works would be closed down in March 1941. Parts may have opened earlier. There are reports of it being used, including a police car chase, in 1942. The section from Blowinghouse Hill to Close Hill was new, then at the eastern end, it used the former B3299. Later renumbered A3047.
1941	A41	Chester Eastern Bypass	Cheshire	The 2 mile dual carriageway from Christleton to Plas Newton Lane, Newton was opened in July 1941. Christleton to A56 Hoole Road was new build. A56 Hoole Road to Plas Newton Lane was a widening of B5131. Use of the existing B5131 completed the bypass through Upton to Moston. Work had commenced on 31 October 1938. It had been virtually completed by November 1940 but lack of available manpower to make the junctions safe delayed the opening.
1941	A49	Church Stretton Bypass	Shropshire	Work on the 4.5 mile road from Little Stretton to Dudgeley Bridge began in February 1939 and was still ongoing in May 1941. It was stated in The Sphere of 26 July 1941 that the bypass had been opened a few days beforehand. It was still reported as open in an October 1941 Lichfield Mercury cycle ride report. There is one reference on the web to say that the opening was brief before being closed to allow parking for wartime military vehicles and guns. The August 1947 OS New Popular Edition map shows the line of the bypass, but it is not marked as a classified road.
1941	A446	Coleshill Bypass	Warwickshire	Construction started in 1937 for the River Cole bridge and 1938 for the highway. Work was suspended by Ministry of Transport shortly after the outbreak of war but in May 1940 was allowed to continue on a single carriageway, the second carriageway to be constructed later. It was reported as open on 3 January 1941. The original cost was £80,000 but was increased due to the delays. A 50 foot spinney was planned for either side of the road but deferred until the end of the war. The iconic avenue of Poplar trees was then planted.
1941	A570	Rainford Bypass	Lancashire	Central section opened Summer 1941. Dual Carriageway. Requisitioned by the War Department from 1943 for storage and repair of tanks and military vehicles. Re-opened after repair 13 December 1950.
1941	-	Portsmouth Eastern Road	Hampshire	The final section from Portsea Island over Broom Channel to Farlington was opened between 1 May and 17 July 1941 (when a bus service started on the new road). The initial section from Fratton to Airport Service Road had been completed in 1924 but it took WW2, and the realisation that a second road off Portsea Island would be essential, for work to commence in 1939. The official opening by Sir Denis Daley, Mayor of Portsmouth, was delayed until 6 May 1942. The total cost was £312,789. Later renumbered as A2030. There was a third emergency crossing of Ports Creek from Hilsea Lines.
1942	A1	Birtley Bypass	Durham	Opened between November 1942 and February 1943. Construction on the 4.75 mile road began in January 1939 and was allowed to continue after the war had started. Cost was £350,000. There was disappointment after opening that traffic was still passing through the town. The southern section was incorporated into the route for the late 1960s A1(M) upgrade.
1942	A141	Warboys Bypass	Huntingdonshire	To allow for a runway at RAF Warboys to be extended
1942	A4136	Monmouth Bypass	Monmouthshire	The 0.5 mile road from Cinderhill Street to Wyebridge Road was opened on 19 October 1942 by Sir Leonard Twiston-Davies, member of Monmouthshire Roads and Bridges Committee, following the opening of a temporary bridge over River Monnow. Built as a diversion from Monnow Bridge which had height and width restructions due to the fortified gate tower. The Ministry of War Transport financed the bridge and made a substantial grant towards the road. Later upgraded as the western part of the A40 bypass.
1942	A865	South Ford Viaduct	Inverness-shire	The 0.5 mile viaduct between South Uist and Benbecula was opened in 1942 per the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar of 17 January 2018. The first and main span of the viaduct had been completed in March 1940. Contractor was Fisher Bros. Ltd. of Edinburgh. Expected cost was £50,000. It was replaced by a causeway and bridge in 1982.
1942	B688	Oxton Bypass	Nottinghamshire	The 1.6 mile long section north of B6386 junction opened on 24 March 1942 and cost £37,000. Work had commenced shortly after April 1939. The southern section together with the second carriageway, cyclepaths, footpaths and landscaping was left until after the war. The southern section was opened in 1956. Later renumbered A6097.
1942	-	Cromwell Road Extension: West Kensington	Middlesex	The westwards extension from Warwick Road to North End Road, including the railway bridge, was completed in January 1942 but a shortage of traffic light apparatus delayed opening by a further two months per the Kensington News and West London Times of 8 May 1942. Work had started a few months before war broke out, but work continued. It was the first part of the planned 4 mile scheme from Warwick Road to Chiswick High Road (site now of Chiswick Flyover) of the Highway Development Survey (Greater London ) of December 1937. Later renumbered as A4, possibly when the extension (bar the flyover) was completed in 1959.
1942	-	Totnes Western Bypass	Devon	Work was stopped in 1942 on the bypass between A384 Ashburton Road and A381 which included the Kingsbridge Hill Diversion. £41,817 had been spent since work started in 1939 and it was known as the "Westerly Bypass". It was not opened to the public but was used by the military. Work recommenced in 1946 but was halted in March 1948. The road is shown on the 1946 OS New Popular Edition map with an X at the railway. It is unsure that there was a level crossing to allow use of the road since, later in 1948, a "spur road" to Malt Mill was built to open up the road south of the bridge. The bridge over the railway was built in 1957. Later renumbered A381.
1943	A57 A6013	Ladybower Reservoir diversions	Derbyshire	The construction of Ladybower Reservoir and the submerging of Ashopton village required the construction of 5.25 miles of new main and unclassified roads. Ashopton Viaduct carried A57 and Ladybower Viaduct carried A6013 across the reservoir and had been completed by 1943. They were 945 feet and 628 feet long respectively.
1944	A19	Billingham Bypass	Durham	Opened on 15 August 1944 by Lieut. Col. S.E. Davis, a County Council member who had advocated its building. The new road and bridge over the railway (to replace the level crossing) cost £127,000. Dual carriageway with cycle tracks and footpaths
1945	A243	Leatherhead Bypass	Surrey	Section 3 from A24 Dorking Road to A246 Guildford Road is shown on OS 1945 1 inch map but not on the OS 1944 Ten Mile Road Map. It may have opened earlier than 1945. A Leatherhead and District Local History Society article of 2002 stated that the work on the road was abandoned in 1940 due to the War but the Royal Canadian Engineers built a single track road and temporary bridge over the River Mole in 1941 to assist local defence. Later renumbered A246.
1945	A83	Glen Croe	Argyll	A new road from Loch Long, south-west of Arrochar, to Rest and be Thankful. Blasting work was ongoing in August 1939 but the programme was modified by the war. Photo captions in August 1945 stated that the new road had replaced old road - the largely single track road of the old military road which had hairpins before the summit. A list of schemes completed in the year in the Report on the Road Fund for the year 1945-46 shows "Reconstruction between Loin Bridge and Black Spout ("Rest and be Thankful") (A83) costing £147,000". The Observer of 14 May 1944 states that "Already the new road cuts out one fearsome bend of Wade's and streaks up the hillside like a ruler set aslant" and also "when it's improvement is complete". Although some of the scheme was completed by 1941, the full scheme seemed not to completed until 1945.
1948	A923	Balshando Diversion	Angus	The 0.5 mile road, to the south-west of Lundie, was reported as open by the Dundee Courier of 13 July 1948. It cut out two dangerous bends. Built with direct labour, forecast cost £25,000.
1949	A67	Winston Bypass	Durham	Built in 1949 per a Sunderland Echo article of 13 July 2013 about the book “Sweet Winston: A history of a Teesdale Village” by Brian Clarke. The bypass was referred to in the 31 October 1950 Sunderland Echo re stopping up the old road at the east end of the village.

Other changes in 1940s

• A3055 diverted between Freshwater and Chale, Isle of Wight to run along the coastal Military Road. The former inland route via Brighstone and Shorwell became the B3399. (N.B. the B3401 was not created at the same time - it does not appear on OS maps dated 1945 & 1946.)