B4073
| B4073 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Painswick (SO867098) | |||
| To: | Gloucester (SO836181) | |||
| Distance: | 5.7 miles (9.2 km) | |||
| Meets: | A46, A38, A430 | |||
| Primary Destinations | ||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B4073 is a rural road to the south of Gloucester.
It starts on the A46 in Painswick, a Cotswold village with narrow streets. At the junction of the A46 and B4073 the A-road is narrow enough to have its flow controlled by traffic lights; these lights also aid turning into the B4073. However, at this point the B-road is even narrower and so the road is one-way. Inbound traffic is directed along a parallel (and still narrow) road slightly to the east to give way on the A46.
The two halves of the road meet in the northern part of the village. Outbound traffic has to give way and then the road continues north, passing the Rococo Garden and running between Painswick Beacon and Spoonbed Hill. The road then descends steeply from off the top of the Cotswolds, skirts Upton St Leonards and then goes under the M5.
Now in the suburbs of Gloucester, the B4073 continues north along residential streets. It crosses the A38 bypass at a roundabout and soon afterwards goes under the Gloucester to Bristol railway line. Still residential, the B4073 is now liberally scattered with speed bumps. It ends at traffic lights on the A430 inner relief road although originally it continued along Eastgate Street to end at the Cross in the centre of the city, where it met the A38 and A40.
