Hunton Bridge

Hunton Bridge is a roundabout at the north end of the Watford Bypass.

History

the junction in early 1935

Originally built in the 1920s, this junction began life as simple priority junction NW of Watford between the A5088 Watford bypass and the A41. The first change came with the 1935 Road numbering revision, where the Watford bypass was renumbered as A500. A further renumbering that occurred around 1950 diverted the A41 onto the bypass and extended the A411 through Watford to the junction.

Ever since the 1930s, if not before, there were plans to build an orbital route of London via the junction. In the '60s, when these plans began to become concrete, it was planned to be the northern end of the M25, with the northern flank of 'Ringway 4' built to a slightly lower standard. The A41(M) was to fly over the junction, which would have been a simple roundabout interchange. The roundabout was built when the A405 Rickmansworth bypass (which was to become the M25) was, and opened in 1976. The plans for 'Ringway 3' to take long-distance London Orbital traffic via the area south of Watford fell through, and plans were created to take that traffic via Hunton Bridge, requiring a rebuild of the junction to improve access from the M25 to the A41(M) across North Watford. In the end the decision was made to route traffic around the north of Watford's urban area, taking orbital traffic away from the junction.

The roundabout is very large, with a D3M terminating at the roundabout, and room for a flyover passing over it. This caused issues and, when Leavesden Green was remodelled with the development north of the A41 between the two junctions, the roundabout and its southern approach were overhauled to slow down traffic. It was also signalised at this time. There remains little evidence of the flyover plans, which were more visible in the former layout (especially on the southern approach), however a dropped kerb still exists where traffic from Aylesbury would have joined the roundabout.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
M25	(M40, M4), Rickmansworth, Heathrow Airport
A41	(M25 (E)), (M1 (N), Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley
A41	(M1), London, St Albans, Leavesden Park (A405)
A411	Watford, Watford General Hospital
A41(M)	Aylesbury, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted
A41(M)	(M1), London, St Albans (A405)
A405	Rickmansworth, Amersham (A404), Maple Cross	Rickmansworth bypass now M25
A500	London
A5088	London