A4540 Middleway
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The Middleway, officially designated as the A4540 and signposted as ring road, is an orbital road in
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, England. Serving as the sole ring road of the city, it runs around
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at a distance of approximately . The A38 (including the Queensway tunnels) cuts through it vertically.


History

The ring road was planned and designed by Herbert Manzoni. It was then known as the Middle Ring Road, due to the existence of the now-defunct Inner Ring Road, and as a result it is now often referred to as simply the "Ring Road". The Middleway forms the boundary to
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, although the road itself is not part of the zone. Plans to make The Middleway a
red route On United Kingdom roads, the term red route may refer to a stretch of road with painted red lines signifying that vehicles cannot stop there, or to a road which has historically high accident rates. Painted lines Red routes are major roads wit ...
were proposed as early as 2008 but dropped in 2021.


Route

The A4540 covers the following route: – * Dartmouth Circus (Roundabout with
Aston Expressway The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.A38 Lichfield Rd) (Pedestrian subway through roundabout) * Dartmouth Middleway * Ashted Circus (junction with A47—with pedestrian subway island) * Lawley Middleway (with Curzon Circus in the middle) * Garrison Circus (junction with Garrison Lane) * Watery Lane Middleway * Bordesley Circus (junction with A45) * Bordesley Middleway *
Camp Hill Circus Camp Hill is a road and surrounding area in Birmingham, West Midlands, England, south east of the city centre. The area's name was first recorded as ''Kempe Hill'', derived from a family name, in 1511, but it became known as Camp Hill after Pri ...
(junction with A41 Stratford Road) *
Highgate Middleway Highgate is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the Big City Plan of February 2008, Highgate has become a district of Birmingham City Centre. The area is regarded as the site of the original Anglo-Saxon settlement which gave the city of B ...
* Haden Circus (junction with A4167 and
A435 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the ...
) * Belgrave Middleway * Belgrave Interchange (junction with
A441 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the ...
followed by A38) Main road passes underneath interchange * Lee Bank Middleway * Islington Row Middleway *
Five Ways Island Five Ways is an area of Central Birmingham, England. It takes its name from a major road junction, now a busy roundabout (with pedestrian subways through a traffic island) to the south-west of the city centre which lies at the outward end ...
(junction with A456 which passes underneath island.) Original plans showed the A4540 as passing under the roundabout but this was later changed, a move which is commonly viewed as a mistake and would have alleviated the heavy congestion at the island. The former Broad St section of the A456, which runs under the island, was downgraded in the 1990s. (Pedestrian subway through island) * Ladywood Middleway * Ladywood Circus * Junction with A457 *
Icknield Street Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman road in England, with a route roughly south-west to north-east. It runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire (). It passes through ...
* (Heaton Street, a road which connects the A4540 to Hockley Circus and the junction with the A41) * Boulton Middleway * Lucas Circus * New John Street West * Junction with A34 Newtown Row * Newtown Middleway Heaton Street and New John Street are both numbered A4540 and was the route for all traffic using the Ring Road prior to the construction of the underpass through Snow Hill.


Pedestrian facilities

All but four of the numbered A4540 junctions have signal-controlled
pedestrian crossings A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American and Canadian English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or Avenue (landscape), avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna Convention on Road Sign ...
of the ring road. Of the four, Dartmouth Circus, Ashted Circus and Five Ways have subways; Bordesley Circus has uncontrolled pedestrian crossings despite often heavy traffic. There are mostly lightly used pavements around the entire ring road, though several busy side roads joining the ring road have only uncontrolled crossings for pedestrians. Some parts of the pavement (and the three subways) are designated
cycle Cycle, cycles, or cyclic may refer to: Anthropology and social sciences * Cyclic history, a theory of history * Cyclical theory, a theory of American political history associated with Arthur Schlesinger, Sr. * Social cycle, various cycles in ...
paths, but much of the rest of the pavement is used by cyclists illegally to avoid the heavy traffic and frequent roundabouts on the ring road.


Coordinates


Points of interest

The traffic island at Dartmouth Circus houses a preserved Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Grazebrook beam engine.


See also

* Queensway/Inner Ring Road *
Transport in Birmingham Birmingham is a major transport hub, due in part to its location in central England. The city is well connected by rail, road, and water. Public transport and key highways in the city are overseen by Transport for West Midlands (TfWM). Railw ...


References

Roads in England Ring roads in the United Kingdom Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands {{England-road-stub