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Recycled number

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Recycled number
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The A42 is an example of a recycled number

A recycled number is a road number that has been reused after dropping out of use (in SABRE terms, becoming a defunct road).

Two well known examples of this are the A14, originally Royston - Alconbury, now Catthorpe - Felixstowe, and the A42, originally Reading - Birmingham, and now Appleby Magna - Kegworth.

Numbers tend not to be recycled in the general area of the road's original incarnation, meaning numbers are now often out of any numeric sequence with surrounding roads, for example the A397 in Portsmouth.

Examples of early recycled numbers (all before 1932) include:




Recycled number
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