M40 motorway
M40 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
E05 | ||||
Maintained by National Highways | ||||
Length | 89 mi (143 km) | |||
Existed | 1967–present | |||
History | Opened: 1967 Completed: 1991 | |||
Major junctions | ||||
Southeast end | Denham | |||
| ||||
Northwest end | Tanworth in Arden | |||
Location | ||||
Country | Primary destinations | |||
Road network | ||||
|
The M40
in England, a distance of approximately 89 miles (143 km).The motorway is dual three lanes except for junction 1A to junction 3 (which is dual four lanes) a short section in-between the exit and entry
An
History
London to Great Milton
The motorway between London and Oxford was constructed in stages between 1967 and 1974. The first section opened in June 1967, from Handy Cross roundabout, High Wycombe to Stokenchurch (junctions 4–5).[1] In 1969, extending in a southerly direction to Holtspur, Beaconsfield, a temporary junction 2 was opened. The section bypassing Beaconsfield was built in 1971 and the section past Gerrards Cross to junction 1 was completed in 1973. In 1974, the motorway between junctions 5 to 8 was completed to Great Milton.
Between junctions 3 and 4, the beginnings of slip roads were built on both carriageways for a service area at Abbey Barns between Beaconsfield and High Wycombe.[2][3] Beaconsfield services off junction 2 opened in 2009.
Great Milton to Birmingham
Late in the 1960s, not long after the first stretch opened, the Ministry of Transport announced the possibility of building a new motorway to link
The preferred route was altered to avoid
Construction began at Warwick in October 1987, with work on the section around Banbury starting in February 1988, and finally, the section north of Oxford in July 1989. The section between the M42 and Warwick opened in December 1989, and the remainder in January 1991.[5]
At the time of being fully opened, the original M40 had been widened, creating a dual three-lane motorway from start to finish, with the exception of the Handy Cross underpass, which remains dual two-lane.
Further developments
The M40 had been expected to be the last major motorway to be built in Britain, but in 1986 the Conservative government announced a major new road-building scheme, Roads for Prosperity, much of which was cancelled in 1996 after major road protests.
Beginning in 1997, the motorway was widened to dual-four-lane between J1A and J3 (High Wycombe East) under a
Work to separate local and long-distance traffic at J4 was completed in 2007, including a new dedicated left-turn slip lane between the A404 Marlow Bypass and the Oxford-bound M40; additional lanes on the slip roads entering the roundabout; an additional lane between the A404 Marlow Hill and the London-bound M40; and a five-lane cross-link between the M40 and the A404(S).[6]
In 2009 the
In August 2010 work started on J9, upgrading the southbound exit slip road to three lanes, and similar widening on the connecting A34 and A41 junctions between Oxford and Bicester. This was the first part of the work at this busy junction since it was built 20 years earlier. If the necessary funding becomes available, a second phase of improvement will be carried out, upgrading the northbound entrance and the A41 southbound entrance.[7]
Junctions
This article contains a bulleted list or table of intersections which should be presented in a properly formatted junction table.(December 2021) |
M40 motorway | |||||
mile | km | Southbound exits (B carriageway) | Junction | Northbound exits (A carriageway) | Coordinates |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
18.1 | 29.2 | End of motorway Road continues as A40 to London
|
J1 |
Start of motorway Road formed from main carriageways of A40 from London
|
51°33′41″N 0°29′45″W / 51.5613°N 0.4959°W |
A4020 )
|
Amersham, Denham A40 Slough (A412) Non-motorway traffic | ||||
19.9 20.4 |
32.0 32.9 |
, (M4, M3, M23) | J1a Partial cloverleaf interchange |
M25 Heathrow , (M4, M3) Watford, Stansted (M1, A1(M), M11) |
51°33′39″N 0°31′53″W / 51.5608°N 0.5313°W |
24.8 25.3 |
39.9 40.7 |
A355, Beaconsfield services Extra
|
J2 Services |
Beaconsfield, Amersham, Slough A355, Beaconsfield services Extra | 51°35′39″N 0°37′39″W / 51.5943°N 0.6276°W |
27.8 28.1 |
44.7 45.2 |
No Exit | J3 | High Wycombe (E) A40 | 51°36′12″N 0°41′30″W / 51.6034°N 0.6917°W |
31.3 31.6 |
50.3 50.9 |
High Wycombe, Marlow, Maidenhead A404 (M4) | J4 | High Wycombe, Marlow A404 (M4) | 51°36′44″N 0°46′07″W / 51.6123°N 0.7685°W |
38.9 39.3 |
62.6 63.2 |
Stokenchurch, West Wycombe A40 | J5 | Stokenchurch A40 | 51°39′38″N 0°54′46″W / 51.6605°N 0.9129°W |
Entering Buckinghamshire | Entering Oxfordshire | ||||
41.4 41.8 |
66.7 67.2 |
B4009
|
J6 | Watlington, Princes Risborough B4009 | 51°40′20″N 0°57′39″W / 51.6722°N 0.9607°W |
47.0 75.6 |
47.4 76.2 |
No Exit | J7 | Thame, Wallingford, A329 | 51°43′29″N 1°03′27″W / 51.7246°N 1.0575°W |
48.0 48.4 |
77.3 77.9 |
No Exit | J8 | Oxford, Cheltenham A40 | 51°43′56″N 1°04′36″W / 51.7323°N 1.0768°W |
49.0 49.2 |
78.9 79.2 |
Thame, Oxford services Welcome Break
|
J8a Services |
Aylesbury A418 Oxford (A40) Oxford services Welcome Break |
51°44′24″N 1°05′44″W / 51.7401°N 1.0955°W |
Entering Oxfordshire | Entering Buckinghamshire | ||||
Entering Buckinghamshire | Entering Oxfordshire | ||||
60.3 60.6 |
97.1 97.6 |
A34
|
J9 | Newbury, Oxford A34 Bicester A41 |
51°52′08″N 1°11′55″W / 51.8688°N 1.1985°W |
65.9 66.2 |
106.0 106.6 |
Northampton, Milton Keynes A43 Middleton Stoney B430, Cherwell Valley services Moto |
J10 Services |
Northampton A43 Middleton Stoney B430
Cherwell Valley services Moto |
51°56′59″N 1°12′22″W / 51.9496°N 1.2061°W |
Entering Oxfordshire | Entering Northamptonshire | ||||
Entering Northamptonshire | Entering Oxfordshire | ||||
Entering Oxfordshire | Entering Northamptonshire | ||||
Entering Northamptonshire | Entering Oxfordshire | ||||
76.2 76.7 |
122.7 123.4 |
Banbury A422 (A361) | J11 | Banbury A422 (A361) | 52°04′22″N 1°18′48″W / 52.0727°N 1.3133°W |
Entering Oxfordshire | Entering Warwickshire | ||||
Entering Warwickshire | Entering Oxfordshire | ||||
Entering Oxfordshire | Entering Warwickshire | ||||
86.8 87.0 |
139.7 140.0 |
B4451
|
J12 | Gaydon B4451 | 52°11′32″N 1°27′29″W / 52.1922°N 1.4581°W |
89.8 | 144.5 | Warwick Services Welcome Break
|
Services | Warwick Services Welcome Break | 52°13′05″N 1°30′15″W / 52.2181°N 1.5043°W |
92.1 92.3 |
148.2 148.6 |
No Exit | J13 | A425 )
|
52°14′27″N 1°33′13″W / 52.2407°N 1.5536°W |
93.9 94.2 |
151.1 151.6 |
Leamington A452 | J14 | No Exit | 52°15′25″N 1°35′18″W / 52.2569°N 1.5882°W |
95.0 95.3 |
152.9 153.4 |
Warwick A429 Stratford, Coventry, Warwick Parkway A46 |
J15 | Coventry, Stratford, Warwick Parkway A46 Warwick A429 |
52°15′36″N 1°36′48″W / 52.2601°N 1.6134°W |
103.8 104.1 |
167.1 167.6 |
A3400
|
J16 | No Exit | 52°20′06″N 1°46′28″W / 52.3351°N 1.7745°W |
105.7 106.0 |
170.1 170.6 |
Start of motorway Motorway is formed by two sliproads from the M42 |
J17 (M42, J3a) |
End of motorway M42 The NORTH (M1, M6), Birmingham (E, N & C), Solihull, N.E.C, Airport & International The SOUTH WEST (M5), Birmingham (S & W), Redditch |
52°20′51″N 1°49′09″W / 52.3474°N 1.8191°W |
Data
An
Detailed routing
Junction 1 of the M40 is at the
The motorway carries on for another 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) before it reaches J1a, the free-flow interchange with the M25 London Orbital. It is a partially unrolled cloverleaf, with the smoothest turns from the London-bound M40 (from Oxfordshire, Warwickshire and the wider West Midlands) to the anti-clockwise M25 (London Heathrow, Gatwick, The Channel Ports) and vice versa, since this is the largest exchange of traffic between the two motorways. The M40 passes over the interchange, with the M25 on the bottom. The clockwise M25 enters the junction with four lanes with a lane drop to accommodate traffic heading for the M40 westbound, leaving the junction with three lanes. The anti-clockwise M25 enters the junction with three lanes and gains a lane from the London-bound M40 to accommodate the extra traffic. The London-bound M40 enters with four lanes, with a lane drop for the M25 exit, leaves with three lanes, and the westbound M40 enters with lanes and gains a lane from the anti-clockwise M25.
After J1a the motorway is four lanes, and carries on for 3 miles (4.8 km) until it reaches J2 for the A355 to Slough and the A40 to Beaconsfield and Gerrards Cross. J2 is the standard roundabout interchange over the M40. Beaconsfield services are located at this junction.
J3 is 3 miles (4.8 km) further on, and serves the A40 for High Wycombe East and Loudwater. This is a restricted junction; the only flows are from the westbound M40 to the A40 and from the A40 to the London-bound M40. The westbound carriageway loses a lane, remaining three lanes for the rest of the route, and the London-bound carriageway gains a lane. The motorway then immediately crosses the valley on a large ramp-like bridge.
J4 is the interchange with the A404, for High Wycombe, Marlow, Maidenhead, Reading, Windsor and the M4. The motorway through the junction was not widened from the original two lanes when the rest of the motorway from J8 to London was, and so both carriageways experience a temporary lane drop. The junction used to be a straightforward roundabout interchange with exits for the M40 (west and east), High Wycombe (A404), the A4010, two local roads and the A404 dual carriageway to the south. During 2007, work was completed which included extra stacking space on the sliproads from the M40, provision for traffic from the A404 northbound to join the M40 westbound slip road without joining the roundabout and provision for the London-bound M40 to skip the section of the roundabout which serves the A4010, High Wycombe, and the A404 north.
J5 is for the A40 and
Just over 1 mile (1.6 km) after junction 6 the motorway passes to within 330 feet (100 m) of St Giles Church, Tetsworth and 2 miles (3.2 km) farther on meets the first of three junctions in close succession. Junction 7 is a restricted junction with the A329 serving Thame and the A40. Access is limited allowing exit for only northbound traffic and entry only for southbound traffic. The exiting slip road on the southbound M40 at J7 is for "Works Traffic Only" to a depot. A slip road allows traffic from the A329 to join the M40 north but is closed to motorway traffic by a gate, so traffic must continue for 2 miles (3.2 km)to junction 8.
At junction 8, a spur off the M40, with two-lane carriageways, leaves the mainline of the motorway as far as a trumpet junction for Wheatley and the A418, then continuing as the A40 towards
The motorway continues for 12 miles (19 km) t0 junction 9 for the A34
The M40 follows a course of almost due north for 5 miles (8.0 km) before reaching Junction 10, for the
This section needs to be updated.(August 2017) |
The slip road for the London-bound carriageway which used to be accessed from the roundabout is now reached only via the services. The design and execution of the revised design of new junction is greatly derided, mostly because of the three roundabouts giving no priority to the main flow of traffic, (A43-M40 London), and the slip roads off and onto the motorway (except the one accessed via the services) have sharp turns and adverse cambers, which results lorries frequently tipping over and spilling their loads especially on the roundabout at the end of the northern carriageway. The junction fails to perform its function as an effective traffic junction. As well, the slip roads onto the motorway give little manoeuvring space as both join the motorway under (the same) bridge built for the old junction.[10]
The motorway then follows a winding route north for 10 miles (16 km) until Junction 11, the A422 and A361, serving Banbury. The motorway does not follow the straight route to the east of Middleton Cheney, meeting with the A422, as it had once been planned, due to a major landowner refusing his land to be cut in two. If built as planned, J11 would be east of Middleton Cheney, meeting with the A422, and probably would have fuelled major growth in the village as well as Banbury, the primary destination of the junction. As it is, the junction was built 1.5 miles (2.4 km) west along the A422, with the motorway skirting Banbury. The junction itself is a regular roundabout interchange, and has the single carriageway A361 from Daventry the dual-carriageway A422 from Brackley and the A43 from the west, and the dual-carriageway A422 (A361) toward Banbury feeding to/from it.
Another 12 miles (19 km) north-west along the motorway is Junction 12, serving
The junction is completed 2 miles (3.2 km) farther on at Junction 14, another restricted access junction, with access to the A452 from the southbound M40, and the access on to the motorway is in a northbound direction. The slip roads join at a roundabout and carry on as the single carriageway A452 to meet with the A452 to Leamington Spa,
The motorway joins the M42 in both directions, with northbound traffic taking the left lane to exit eastbound, eventually forming the outer lanes of the M42 via a tight-bending two lane connecting road, and the right lanes being taken eastbound. Similarly, southbound, eastbound traffic from the M42 splits off from the outer two lanes, whereas westbound traffic of the M42 has a single lane, widening to a two lane slip road, which merges with the middle lane and forms the outer lane of the southbound M40.
Services
The motorway has four service areas:
- Beaconsfield services (off J2), operated by Extra MSA accessible from the A355
- Oxford services (off J8A), operated by Welcome Break, accessible from J8 and the A418
- Cherwell Valley services (off J10, A43), operated by Moto. The first service station, opened in 1994 on the site of temporary toilet areas created when the motorway was constructed.[11]
- Warwick services (between J12 and J13), operated by Welcome Break, consisting of two sites mirroring each other without a connection.
Incidents and accidents
- Twelve school children and a teacher died when seatbelts and that the side-facing bench seating was dangerous.[citation needed] Seatbelts were subsequently made compulsory equipment on all coaches and minibuses, more than 20 years after they had been compulsory on cars.[citation needed] It has been compulsory for passengers to wear seatbelts on coaches and minibuses since 2006.[12]
- In 2002 more than 100 vehicles were involved in a pile-up near High Wycombe that resulted in two deaths.[13][14]
- On Friday 2 August 2002[15] four people were killed between J11 and J12, about 3 miles south of Warwick services, when a northbound lorry crossed the central reservation and into oncoming southbound traffic. The resulting fire caused the Southbound carriage to be closed for several hours and required resurfacing.
- Jimmy Davis, a 21-year-old Watford footballer on loan from Manchester United, died on the M40 in Oxfordshire in the early hours of 9 August 2003 after his BMW collided with a lorry. He was over the drink-drive limit and had been driving at up to 120 miles per hour (190 km/h).[16]
- A motorcyclist was shot dead between J13 and J12 on 12 August 2007.[17][18] The victim was a member of the Hells Angels on his way home from the Bulldog Bash.[18] In October 2008, a man pleaded guilty to murder ahead of the trial of six other men on charges of murder and firearms offences.
- On 18 July 2012, a driver in her seventies died in a vehicle fire. She had broken down in the middle lane and a car collided with the back of her vehicle.[19][20]
See also
- List of motorways in the United Kingdom
- M40 corridor
- History of Banbury, Oxfordshire
References
- ^ "News and Views: High Wycombe bypass". Autocar: 360. 29 June 1967.
- ^ "Google map is location".
- ^ "Abbey Barns". Motorway Services Online. 24 December 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ Evans, Paul (1 April 2009). "Diversionary tactics – the imaginative campaigns protecting the countryside from developers". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 26 March 2010.
- ^ "M40. Waterstock (J8A) to Umberslade (M42 - J3A)". Archived from the original on 6 June 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
- ^ "M40 Junction 4/A404 Handy Cross Junction Improvement". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 10 August 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2010.
- ^ "M40 Junction 9 Improvement". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 19 April 2011.
- ^ "Traffic England Live Traffic Condition Map (selected Popups)". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
- ^ "Motorway Database » M40". CBRD. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ "Bad Junctions – M40-A43". CBRD. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
- ^ "M40 Motorway". CBRD.
- ^ "Department for Transport Advisory Letter on Seatbelt Wearing". Department for Transport.
- ^ "Fatal motorway pile-ups cause traffic chaos". The Guardian. London. 28 March 2002.
More than 100 vehicles were involved in a pile-up on the M40 southbound in Oxfordshire, in which two people were killed
- ^ "100-car death crash on M40". London Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
At least two people died in a 100-car pile-up on the London-bound section of the M40 today when fog cut visibility to 10 metres.
- ^ "4 die in M40 Crash".
- ^ "Under-21 United star over limit". BBC News. 3 March 2004. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ "Motorcyclist murdered on motorway: A motorcyclist has been shot dead while riding along the M40 in Warwickshire". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 12 August 2007. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ a b Ffrench, Andrew (13 August 2007). "M40 remains closed after shooting". Oxford Mail. Newsquest Media Group. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
- ^ Dunhill, Lawrence (28 July 2012). "Family tribute to M40 crash victim Mollie Haines". Bucks Free Press. London.
- ^ Emma McKinney (19 July 2012). "Birmingham pensioner burns to death on M40 after car hit by Porsche 4x4". Birmingham Mail.
External links
- The Motorway Archive
- CBRD Motorway Database – M40
- Pathetic Motorways – A40(M) High Wycombe bypass
- Motorway Services Online – service stations on the M40.
- Seven Natural Wonders of the South