B473
| B473 | |||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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| From: | Slough (SU963802) | ||||||||||||
| To: | Amersham (SU959972) | ||||||||||||
| Via: | Beaconsfield | ||||||||||||
| Distance: | 11.3 miles (18.2 km) | ||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | B472, B474 | ||||||||||||
| Now part of: | A355, B416, B474 | ||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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The B473 is a now-defunct road in south Buckinghamshire with a complicated history.
In 1922 the B473 went from the A4 at Slough to the A413 at Amersham, meeting the A40 at Beaconsfield. In the mid-1920s, the A332 took over the B472 and gave a better Amersham - Slough route. Therefore it was considered a good idea to divert the B473 to Hazlemere (along a road that was originally unclassified), and renumber the Beaconsfield - Amersham section as B472. This didn't last long!
On the 17th of July 1934, it was proposed to extend the B473 south along the B3027, as well as taking over the B474 as a spur to the A332 and being rerouted north of Beaconsfield along the B472 to Amersham (where it had originally gone!), with the Beaconsfield - Hazlemere section being renumbered as some other B road, but not B472. The extension south was rejected on the 12th of January 1935, due to it extending the B473 out of zone. The other proposals, however, became reality on the 1st of April 1935 and so the road gained a spur. The Beaconsfield - Hazlemere section became B474, which it remains.
As time went on, traffic increased and an upgrade to Class I, or 'A road', status was warranted. The B473 became an extension of the A355, the road from M4 junction 6 to the A4 in Slough. The spur from Farnham Common to Stoke Poges was renumbered as a spur of the B416, the road at the other end, the A332, having been downgraded to that number. As such, the number B473 is no longer in use. The road's original route into Beaconsfield from the south was severed by the M40 and so the present A355 crosses the motorway at J2 and then heads west rather than east along the A40.
