Most bypassed stretch of road.

[ajuk]

I don't mean the necessarily the most bypassed settlement, I mean the most bypassed stretch of road. For example, the road from Bristol to London used to go via Westerleigh and follow what I think is now the B4039, then you have the Old Coach Road near Ford now nothing more than a green lane that was superseded by a more modern alignment of the A420 and now you get the M5 supersedes that.

[bothar]

I think 3 is easy, beyond that is harder.

[Al__S]

Two will be common in many places:
Original road through town centre
1. 50s/60s "inner" ring road
2. 60s onwards high speed bypass

[Euan]

Oxford has been bypassed a few times. The first visible bypass seems to be a short one along the A420 in the city centre, followed by the outer ring bypass consisting of the A34/A40/A4142/A423. Then the M40 came along which provided a third bypass and any new relief road would act as a fourth bypass.

[JohnnyMo]

I can't think of an example but what about multiplexes, where both roads now have separate bypasses.

[Chris Bertram]

Two will be common in many places:
Original road through town centre
1. 50s/60s "inner" ring road
2. 60s onwards high speed bypass

Newbury. And Gloucester.

[Chris Bertram]

How about A46 via Leicester?

1. Original A46 through city centre, now largely pedestrianised
2. Inner ring, A594
3. Outer ring, A564
4. M1/new A46 northern bypass

[Chris Bertram]

A1 Newcastle:

1. Original A1 through city centre, now mostly pedestrianised
2. Central Motorway [East], now A167(M)
3. Diversion via Tyne Tunnel, now A194(M)/A184/A19
4. Western By-pass, the modern A1

[Moore_O]

Huntingdon High Street (Ermine St)
1970 ur Ring Road
1975 A604 (Alconbury-Godmanchester)
1987 'Northern By Pass' (Stukeley-Hartford)
2010 Eddison Bell Way (bypassing part of 1970 Ring Road)
2019 A14 realignment South of Brampton, de-trunking the 1975 by pass.

[chaseracer]

Cirencester's a good one.

[Fenlander]

The small town of Crowland has 2 bypasses, not bad for somewhere with less than 5,000 population.

[Chris Bertram]

How about A46 via Leicester?

1. Original A46 through city centre, now largely pedestrianised
2. Inner ring, A594
3. Outer ring, A564
4. M1/new A46 northern bypass

I forgot about 2a, the "signed route" ring road that preceded the outer ring. It wasn't up to much, but at least it existed.

[Mattemotorway]

A1 Newcastle:

1. Original A1 through city centre, now mostly pedestrianised
2. Central Motorway [East], now A167(M)
3. Diversion via Tyne Tunnel, now A194(M)/A184/A19
4. Western By-pass, the modern A1

Even more than that, there was TWO A1 routes through the city centre, the original one that later became the A6125 and the route the A1 moved to when the Tyne Bridge was opened in the late 1920's.

[KeithW]

Wetherby is one I am familiar with

1) Pre 1958 - A1 passes right through town centre
2) Bypass and roundabout built in late 1950's
3) Roundabout bypassed in 1988 after 30 years of hellish traffic delays.
4) New northern D3(M) section of bypass (Wetherby to Walshford) opened in 2005 old A1 becomes A168 LAR
5) Southern section (Bramham to Wetherby) upgraded to D3(M) , slip roads for round about removed and LAR extended to Bramham opened in 2008 IRC

[Robert Kilcoyne]

The small town of Crowland has 2 bypasses, not bad for somewhere with less than 5,000 population.

Lesmahagow (population 3,685) and Lockerbie (population 4,009) are also bypassed twice.

[Fenlander]

The small town of Crowland has 2 bypasses, not bad for somewhere with less than 5,000 population.

Lesmahagow (population 3,685) and Lockerbie (population 4,009) are also bypassed twice.

Both of those have motorways bypassing the bypass so there's a proper reason for the 2nd one, Crowland only gets a single carriageway bypass of a single carriageway bypass of the original road.

[bothar]

I think in the spirit of the original post, a bypass of a town does not count and has been discussed before anyhow. A bypass might be miles away from the main street of the of town it bypasses, not really the "same stretch of road".

[Euan]

The small town of Crowland has 2 bypasses, not bad for somewhere with less than 5,000 population.

Lesmahagow (population 3,685) and Lockerbie (population 4,009) are also bypassed twice.

Similarly, Coatbridge is bypassed twice: by the A8 initially followed by the fairly recently completed section of the M8.

[Chris Bertram]

Two will be common in many places:
Original road through town centre
1. 50s/60s "inner" ring road
2. 60s onwards high speed bypass

Newbury. And Gloucester.

OK, for clarity:

A34 Newbury:

1. Original main road, along Northbrook Street, and including Oxford Street/Road, and Bartholomew Street and Newtown Road
2. First "by-pass", in reality more of a town centre relief road, now A339
3. Modern by-pass of "Swampy" fame, the modern A34

A40 Gloucester:

1. Original route through city centre, along Cheltenham Road, London Road, Northgate St, Westgate St
2. First by-pass, including Estcourt Road, St Oswald's Way, now A417/A38
3. Modern northern by-pass from Longlevens roundabout to Over roundabout, the current A40

But Gloucester is a festival of by-passes including the Hucclecote/Barnwood by-pass and the Brockworth by-pass that was grafted onto it, both for A417, and the Eastern/Southern by-pass for A38, and now the Quedgeley by-pass as well. Plus M5 relieves A38 further out, and there have been new roads to keep traffic out of the city centre in all directions.

[Peter350]

I don't mean the necessarily the most bypassed settlement, I mean the most bypassed stretch of road. For example, the road from Bristol to London used to go via Westerleigh and follow what I think is now the B4039

Is there a limit as to how long a stretch of road can be?

Because if there isn’t, you could arguably take a section of road which has been bypassed by a motorway or HQDC for a very long distance. I’m thinking of roads like the A6 between Derby and Preston (bypassed by A50 & M6) and the A30/A303 between Exeter and London (bypassed by M4 & M5, although this will no longer be the case once the 303 is fully dualled). Of course, these roads also have numerous shorter bypasses of towns and villages closer to the original route.