Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

The study of British and Irish roads - their construction, numbering, history, mapping, past and future official roads proposals and general roads musings.

There is a separate forum for Street Furniture (traffic lights, street lights, road signs etc).

Registered users get access to other forums including discussions about other forms of transport, driving, fantasy roads and wishlists, and roads quizzes.

Moderator: Site Management Team

User avatar
ajuk
Member
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 23:59
Location: Bristol

Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by ajuk »

I'm not talking about any old oxbow road that's obvious.
I can think of a few of these I've come across, just ordinary unassuming residential streets, however the road running through it used to be part of a major road.
I suppose the section of the old A1 in Hatfield is kind of an example of this, but it's not the best, the name is a giveaway especially with a footbridge that takes you to another part of the road. I'm thinking of examples much less obvious.

A small part of the old A30 in Basingstoke now known as Whistler Close,part of the Old A420 in Swindon is Stokesay Drive, the most unassuming is part of the A370 in Weston that is Willow Close. I think all of these examples lacked development or before new estates were built around them, so unlike many old roads they're unassuming and you'd probably never know unless you looked at an old map.
User avatar
jervi
Member
Posts: 1594
Joined: Thu Aug 17, 2017 16:29
Location: West Sussex

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by jervi »

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83321 ... 312!8i6656
Used to be the A27(T) until 30 years ago. Now is the A270 but hardly feels like an A road.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83788 ... 384!8i8192
Likewise this used to be the A27(T), although was bypassed a very long while ago.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.85375 ... 384!8i8192
A27(T) used to go through Arundel here.

TBH, you can go along any major route's through towns or villages and are bound to find residential streets like this.

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@50.83660 ... 312!8i6656
This one used to be the A27(T), then became the A259 and now unclass.
Al__S
Member
Posts: 491
Joined: Sat Mar 04, 2017 10:56

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Al__S »

Well, this was formerly the A10 (T) and A45 (T) . Multiplexed with the A604.
User avatar
KeithW
Member
Posts: 19181
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 13:25
Location: Marton-In-Cleveland North Yorks

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by KeithW »

Take a look at about any bypassed settlement on the A1 and you will find a street called either Great North Road or London Road which used to be the A1. Here is a classic example at Eaton Socon.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Gra ... d-0.643582

Closer to home Eston High Street aka the B1380 was the A174 before the Cleveland Parkway was built.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Est ... d-1.144621

In Billingham Wolviston Road was the A19 before the second bypass was built. Towards the centre its now heavily developed but farther north you can see how the road originally was as a D2 main road. Those who recall it in its heyday find it odd to see a 30 mph limit suddenly appear.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.61638 ... 384!8i8192
User avatar
skiddaw05
Member
Posts: 2034
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 21:33
Location: Norwich

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by skiddaw05 »

The former A11 in Wymondham. It's been re-routed 3 times since
fras
Member
Posts: 3585
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 18:34

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by fras »

Does the old A34 count ?
If so, Newbury has a marvellous example of bottleneck locations like here: -
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.40142 ... 6656?hl=en
This bridge is over the Kennet and Avon Canal, and the approaches used to be steeper. When I was at Newbury Grammar School in the very early 60s, a low-lowder carrying an 0-6-0 steam engine grounded on the bridge and gridlocked Newbury !
Here is the top of Broadway where the A34 met the A4 Bath/London Road. As I remember, the old Clock Tower was the centre of the roundabout them.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.40550 ... 8192?hl=en
The A34 ran with the A4 west for a short distance, then forked off north-west. Newbury is one of the towns in England where there have been two by-passes built over the years, and in my lifetime too !
WHBM
Member
Posts: 9696
Joined: Thu Nov 30, 2006 18:01
Location: London

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by WHBM »

Extraordinary that until 1930 this bridge in Wansford was the A1 :

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5792837 ... 384!8i8192

Main road traffic, local horse-drawn agricultural wagons, pedestrians between the two halves of the village.
User avatar
KeithW
Member
Posts: 19181
Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 13:25
Location: Marton-In-Cleveland North Yorks

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by KeithW »

WHBM wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 13:10 Extraordinary that until 1930 this bridge in Wansford was the A1 :

https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5792837 ... 384!8i8192

Main road traffic, local horse-drawn agricultural wagons, pedestrians between the two halves of the village.
Indeed and on the A66 Greta Bridge was just as bad.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.51357 ... 312!8i6656

While we are in that neck of the woods instead of the current high quality D2 A19/A168 from Teesside to the A1 at Dishforth we had this in the 1970's :

A168 at Topcliffe
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.17797 ... 384!8i8192

The A19 through Yarm
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.51133 ... 384!8i8192

Stockton
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.56188 ... 312!8i6656
TS
Member
Posts: 611
Joined: Wed Mar 26, 2008 17:18
Location: Bournemouth

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by TS »

This used to be Waverley Road in Bournemouth, formerly marked on large-scale maps as a segment of the A338. It was part of a one-way system Holdenhurst Road / St Swithun's Road / Waverley Road and is seen here completing that circuit back onto Holdenhurst Road.

You can just see the old arrow disappearing under the pavement leading to the steps.

Turn 180 degrees and you will see it is not a much longer remnant in the other direction.
doebag
Member
Posts: 2307
Joined: Thu May 05, 2005 11:47
Location: Wisbech, Cambs

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by doebag »

Originally, until renumbered along what is now the B198, this was the route of the A47

https://goo.gl/maps/xwgBUsQsdAfbHNs8A
Rambo
Member
Posts: 1055
Joined: Wed Dec 04, 2019 19:56
Contact:

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Rambo »

I've been looking into many in my local area.

Firstly Cuerdley Road used to be the A562 between Warrington and Widnes but is now a dead end street after the junction was diverted slightly further east.https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3814653 ... 312!8i6656

More old A562 in Penketh before the dual carriageway was built https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3830505 ... 312!8i6656

More old A57 just round the corner https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3878757 ... 312!8i6656

Sankey Street in the town centre was the A57 ! https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3888711 ... 312!8i6656

Old line of the A57 before a dual was put in https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3978419 ... 384!8i8192

A57 heading east before the M6 and jct 21 was built. Now a dead end street https://www.google.com/maps/@53.3986612 ... 384!8i8192

Old A574 before Birchwood way was completed https://www.google.com/maps/@53.4187301 ... 312!8i6656
User avatar
Osthagen
Member
Posts: 3342
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 15:01
Location: Mercia

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Osthagen »

The route once known as A8 in Port Glasgow, now the unclassified Glasgow Road, this section being residential.
"I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he's an American child"
- Richard Nixon
jabbaboy
Member
Posts: 348
Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 09:25
Location: Newcastle

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by jabbaboy »

I'll be here all day linking them all so the old A9 in Carrbridge, Aviemore, Newtonmore, Kingussie, Dalwhinnie, Kincraig, Pitlochry Dunkeld plus the rest of the bypassed settlements.

Also Haltwhistle (twice), Hayden Bridge, Brampton, Corbridge, Hexham and the rest on the A69.

Finally, Park Road in Chester Le Street - https://goo.gl/maps/Pz4vu3i4SZc18dMo9 on the old A1 is a good one aswell which is actually a bypass of the even older A1 which used Newcastle Road - https://goo.gl/maps/gYh95nmrvDjPFfk38

Washington Village is also another good example, being the old A182 which is now miles West - https://goo.gl/maps/k2HbF5SHyoUzQ2c57

There's loads around here though tbh, could spend hours listing them, A695 between Stocksfield and Blaydon, the A19 and roads all over County Durham having a lot of them.
User avatar
ajuk
Member
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 23:59
Location: Bristol

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by ajuk »

I think most of these examples don't really fit the criteria I was getting at. I don't mean streets that were once main but are now pedestrianised high streets, that's quite normal.

I mean where there are unassuming residential streets in new estates that were once part of main roads. Look at the examples I gave.
User avatar
Osthagen
Member
Posts: 3342
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 15:01
Location: Mercia

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Osthagen »

ajuk wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:06 I think most of these examples don't really fit the criteria I was getting at. I don't mean streets that were once main but are now pedestrianised high streets, that's quite normal.
A lot of the examples given here, not that I've looked at all of them, seem to be residential roads rather than pedestrianised high streets.
"I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he's an American child"
- Richard Nixon
User avatar
RichardA626
Member
Posts: 7793
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 22:19
Location: Stockport
Contact:

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by RichardA626 »

Wangford High Street used to have the A12 running down it. Before it was bypassed it would take up to 15 minutes to cross it at peak times, as I was told when I visited in 2006.

High Street doesn't connect to the A12 at either side, just in the middle via the B1126.
Beware of the trickster on the roof
User avatar
ajuk
Member
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 23:59
Location: Bristol

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by ajuk »

Osthagen wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:21
ajuk wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:06 I think most of these examples don't really fit the criteria I was getting at. I don't mean streets that were once main but are now pedestrianised high streets, that's quite normal.
A lot of the examples given here, not that I've looked at all of them, seem to be residential roads rather than pedestrianised high streets.
Most look like there were always residential and may still link to the new road at both ends, they're not cut off and integrated into new developments.
User avatar
Osthagen
Member
Posts: 3342
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2015 15:01
Location: Mercia

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by Osthagen »

ajuk wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:27
Osthagen wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:21
ajuk wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:06 I think most of these examples don't really fit the criteria I was getting at. I don't mean streets that were once main but are now pedestrianised high streets, that's quite normal.
A lot of the examples given here, not that I've looked at all of them, seem to be residential roads rather than pedestrianised high streets.
Most look like there were always residential and may still link to the new road at both ends, they're not cut off and integrated into new developments.
Trouble is with that, examples of such roads are few and far between.
"I see the face of a child. He lives in a great city. He is black. Or he is white. He is Mexican, Italian, Polish. None of that matters. What matters, he's an American child"
- Richard Nixon
User avatar
ajuk
Member
Posts: 929
Joined: Thu Nov 10, 2011 23:59
Location: Bristol

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by ajuk »

Osthagen wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:29
ajuk wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:27
Osthagen wrote: Tue Sep 14, 2021 22:21
A lot of the examples given here, not that I've looked at all of them, seem to be residential roads rather than pedestrianised high streets.
Most look like there were always residential and may still link to the new road at both ends, they're not cut off and integrated into new developments.
Trouble is with that, examples of such roads are few and far between.
Yes, I said it was rare, but I've come across 3.
User avatar
multiraider2
Member
Posts: 3681
Joined: Tue Apr 27, 2004 17:42
Location: London, SE

Re: Ordinary streets once part of main roads.

Post by multiraider2 »

Then this might be what you are after.

Former main road. Check
Not a pedestrianised high street. Check.
New residential development grown up all around the former main road. Check.

I give you Bridport Road, Poundbury. Ex-A35 in the countryside west of Dorchester. It's not "cut off" but I don't know if that was an essential. It's certainly not looking like a very important ex main road and you would have to divert around the building in front of you in this shot.
Post Reply