Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

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Gareth Thomas
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Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Gareth Thomas »

For this one, we're looking at roads that are correctly numbered, starting in their home zone - but aren't there for very long before they go into another zone or lots more.

A good example is the A47. There is a 5.1 mile stretch from Birmingham to the A452, and then a 2.1 mile stretch from Nuneaton to the A5 where it leaves Zone 4. That's 7.2 miles out of a 157.9 mile stretch, 4.56% of the total road.

A couple of criteria:
Roads that are wholly out of zone do not count (A42!).
We'll only be using the current routes of the roads, so in my A47 example I am not including the former A47 that is now B4114.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by c2R »

Something like that A38 or A59 might be contenders. Although equally if you're looking at% based you might find some B road that's 30km long with only 1km in it's home zone....
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by SteelCamel »

How about the B2177? It starts in Bedhampton, and after half a mile crosses the A3, leaving the 2 zone. It's 17 miles altogether (not counting the multiplex in the middle), so 2.9% in its home zone. Though it you count the spur, that adds another quarter mile which takes it up to 4.3% in its home zone.

From the SABRE Wiki: B2177 :


The B2177 is a nice little drive over the top of Portsdown Hill and then down in to Fisher's Pond in south Hampshire.

The road starts in the centre of Bedhampton, with the B2149 and the B2150, and from here heads west. At a mini-roundabout it sends a short spur down to A3(M) J5, the A2030 and the A27. This section of the road would have formed part of the A27 before Havant was bypassed. The mainline of the B2177, incidentally, was

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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by B1040 »

A414 seems to come in at 7 miles out of 67, so 10.5%.
It was probably slightly less in the '60s when it went straight from the middle of Hemel to the middle of St Albans.
A604(M) only had the North bound slip round on zone 6, but isn't very long anyway.
A282 is probably more in zone 1 than 2
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by SteelCamel »

B1040 wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 19:18 A604(M) only had the North bound slip round on zone 6, but isn't very long anyway.
I'd be inclined to say that doesn't count, as it's part of the A604.
B1040 wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 19:18 A282 is probably more in zone 1 than 2
I thought so too, but it seems not. It's about 2.3 miles in zone one and 3 miles in zone 2 - measuring from the exit of the A12 roundabout to the entry of the A2 one, and assuming the zone boundary is the middle of the Thames.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Owain »

The A620 has zero percent of its length in its home zone.

I keep meaning to go and drive it.
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From the SABRE Wiki: A620 :


The A620 is a relatively short A-road in north Nottinghamshire.


The road begins at a GSJ with the A1 (old A614) at Ranby, a village it now bypasses since the A1 was routed through here.

A right-hand bend takes us onto a long straight section past Ranby prison, which is occasionally in the news as it is home to people you wouldn't necessarily want to have as dinner guests - namely some of the country's most infamous serial killers. We enter a wooded area rather

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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by SouthWest Philip »

Owain wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:09 The A620 has zero percent of its length in its home zone.

I keep meaning to go and drive it.
I guess it comes down to how you interpret where the zone boundary goes. The A1, of course, originally took the route of the A638 in these parts.

The A620 should, theoretically, extend a little way west of the A1 to meet the northbound slip roads. However the OS maps suggest it actually terminates at the southbound slip roads.

Another nearby road that in entirely out of zone is the A6182, which is perhaps a little surprising as it was created after the Doncaster bypass was built.

From the SABRE Wiki: A620 :


The A620 is a relatively short A-road in north Nottinghamshire.


The road begins at a GSJ with the A1 (old A614) at Ranby, a village it now bypasses since the A1 was routed through here.

A right-hand bend takes us onto a long straight section past Ranby prison, which is occasionally in the news as it is home to people you wouldn't necessarily want to have as dinner guests - namely some of the country's most infamous serial killers. We enter a wooded area rather

... Read More
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by WHBM »

A34 must be in with a shout, only Winchester to Newbury is in zone, then it goes all the way to Manchester.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by SouthWest Philip »

The A505 is unusual in that it extends out of it's zone both ways whilst the actual but between the (former) A5 and A6 is quite short.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Jonny A46 »

From the first 99 A roads, the A34 is a strong contender, as I think it runs for approximately 25 miles from Winchester until it crosses the A4 at Newbury, but after leaving the 3-zone it extends for another 175 miles from Newbury to its northern terminus in Salford, meaning only about one-eighth of its total length is in its home zone (although I think the 175 miles does include the lengthy multiplex with the M40). The A64 is another most prominent example, as it runs for approximately 67 miles from Leeds to Scarborough but only the first 10 miles are in the 6-zone, although as a percentage that is higher than the A34.

One interesting historic example is the A447. It is now completely out of zone and has been since the M69 opened, but even in its longer original form it was only in the 4-zone for the first couple of miles from Wolvey to the A5, with the remainder of the route's 25 miles or so being in the 5-zone. This means less than 10% of the original route of the A447 was in its home zone.

(Just beaten to it for the A34!)
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by ForestChav »

Anything which surely strays a long way from the home zone must be a contender. A lot of the A4x roads are quite good at that, though the A45 which went all the way from Birmingham to Felixstowe initially (and outside zone 4 since Weedon) has been truncated significantly for the A14. Something like the A46 may have some distance outside "home" given that where it would have originally crossed the A5 is now downgraded, and the whole thing has been rerouted leaving out much of its original length especially West of Leicester, and of course it extends all the way to the coast at Grimsby, though despite the rerouting there is still a fair length between the M6 and M5. The A47 has been mentioned already. As has the A64 but then the A63 is similar, heading out from Leeds before crossing the A1 and heading out to the coast at Hull, though not as far as the A64 at Scarborough. Wonder how the A57 measures, most of it is still there, starts at Liverpool before crossing the A6 at Manchester and then heading through to Sheffield, Worksop and then Lincoln, aside from a bit where the A1 takes over, almost makes it from the West coast to the East. And the A614 may be close, whether you take the original A1 boundary or the current A1 where it's just between the A60 and Apleyhead, of course then extending all the way from Blyth through to Bridlington entirely out of its home zone?
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by trickstat »

SouthWest Philip wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:55 The A505 is unusual in that it extends out of it's zone both ways whilst the actual but between the (former) A5 and A6 is quite short.
It's only in zone between the Luton and Dunstable town centres. Perhaps 2 miles out of a total length just under 50. About half of its length is in the 1 zone.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Chris Bertram »

trickstat wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 21:44
SouthWest Philip wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:55 The A505 is unusual in that it extends out of it's zone both ways whilst the actual but between the (former) A5 and A6 is quite short.
It's only in zone between the Luton and Dunstable town centres. Perhaps 2 miles out of a total length just under 50. About half of its length is in the 1 zone.
This is a road that has been back-extended to become out of zone. A66 has also been so extended west of A6.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Owain »

WHBM wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:48 A34 must be in with a shout, only Winchester to Newbury is in zone, then it goes all the way to Manchester.
The A3400 is an even stronger contender, being a long way out of zone for its whole length... and it's not like the A434 number wasn't available!
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Chris Bertram »

Owain wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 08:45
WHBM wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:48 A34 must be in with a shout, only Winchester to Newbury is in zone, then it goes all the way to Manchester.
The A3400 is an even stronger contender, being a long way out of zone for its whole length... and it's not like the A434 number wasn't available!
We're venturing into the subject of wholly and egregiously out-of-zone roads here, and I can cite B384 and B3800 here in Birmingham as further examples. Perhaps slightly more relevant are roads that have been "orphaned" by losing a section. A447 has already been mentioned, but A427 is another example, with the section from Coventry to Market Harborough having been renumbered to leave it stranded in zone 6.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by JohnnyMo »

From the initial post
Gareth Thomas wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 14:31 ...
A couple of criteria:
Roads that are wholly out of zone do not count (A42!).
...
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by the cheesecake man »

SouthWest Philip wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:21
Owain wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:09 The A620 has zero percent of its length in its home zone.

I keep meaning to go and drive it.
I guess it comes down to how you interpret where the zone boundary goes. The A1, of course, originally took the route of the A638 in these parts.

The A620 should, theoretically, extend a little way west of the A1 to meet the northbound slip roads. However the OS maps suggest it actually terminates at the southbound slip roads.
I thought of that one too. A-Z suggests it starts at the northbound sliproads, if that is correct (rather then the OS map or the compromise that it starts under the A1 central reservation), it is the winner with just a few feet in zone. Originally it was correctly numbered and mostly to the west of the A1 through Retford. Rerouting of the A1 to the Doncaster bypass didn't take the A620 entirely out of zone, but the questionable downgrading between the A1 and Worksop did.

From the SABRE Wiki: A620 :


The A620 is a relatively short A-road in north Nottinghamshire.


The road begins at a GSJ with the A1 (old A614) at Ranby, a village it now bypasses since the A1 was routed through here.

A right-hand bend takes us onto a long straight section past Ranby prison, which is occasionally in the news as it is home to people you wouldn't necessarily want to have as dinner guests - namely some of the country's most infamous serial killers. We enter a wooded area rather

... Read More
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by Gareth Thomas »

JohnnyMo wrote: Wed Jul 27, 2022 11:38 From the initial post
Gareth Thomas wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 14:31 ...
A couple of criteria:
Roads that are wholly out of zone do not count (A42!).
...
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by B1040 »

A6001 was once in zone, then got spurs when the Biggleswade bypass was opened then lost its "in zone " bit. So it has evolved to go out of zone.
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Re: Roads with the smallest percentage in their home zone?

Post by owen b »

trickstat wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 21:44
SouthWest Philip wrote: Tue Jul 26, 2022 20:55 The A505 is unusual in that it extends out of it's zone both ways whilst the actual but between the (former) A5 and A6 is quite short.
It's only in zone between the Luton and Dunstable town centres. Perhaps 2 miles out of a total length just under 50. About half of its length is in the 1 zone.
I'm not sure what the current thinking on where the 4-5 zone boundary is since the A5 Dunstable northern bypass was completed.

If the boundary is now along the bypass, multiplexing with the M1 as far as the vicinity of J4, then the A505 is only in zone from M1 J10 to somewhere on the Luton inner ring road, depending on exactly where in Luton the 5-6 zone boundary is deemed to be. In this case the A505 is in zone for 2.3-3.3 miles.

If the 4-5 zone boundary still follows the old A5 through Dunstable (ie. the A505 and A5183) then the A505 is in zone for 6.6-7.6 miles starting from the A505 roundabout at the east end of the Leighton Buzzard southern bypass, again depending on exactly where the 5-6 zone boundary is in Luton.

Mileages from Google maps.
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