A4040 (Wall Heath - Kidderminster)

This article is about the original A4040, which ran between Wall Heath, Staffordshire, and Kidderminster.
For the current A4040, the former Birmingham Outer Ring Road, see A4040.

The A449 (former A4040) near Stourton

The original use of A4040 was for what is now the A449 between Wall Heath, south of Wolverhampton, and Kidderminster.

In the days when the A449 went to Stourbridge, the A4040 turned off that road at Wall Heath and headed southwestwards. It passed to the west of Stourbridge; the nearest it reached was at Stourton where it crossed the A458. The road then followed the River Stour downstream (it actually crossed the river at Prestwood, nearly a mile before Stourton crossroads). It passed to the east of Kinver and entered Worcestershire before continuing on to Broadwaters, now a suburb of Kidderminster. Here the A451 came in from the left on its way to Kidderminster town centre and the A4040 ended on it.

The A4040 number became redundant in 1935 to be reused near Birmingham. The route of the A449 was changed dramatically in that year. Now avoiding Stourbridge, it took over the full length of the A4040 on its way to South Wales.