M40

M40

London to Solihull

The second motorway from London to Birmingham, calling in at Oxford on the way, is calmer and prettier than the alternative - but caused far more problems to build.

Routes
M40

M40 and A40

It's one of London's most complete radial routes, but the road envisioned by sixties planners would have been bigger: perhaps a motorway, perhaps double-deck, perhaps not.

Routes

M40 at 50 10 July 2017

The M40 has just turned 50. Here are five things you might not know about the London to Birmingham motorway.

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M40

What's new

The long way round

When a road is closed, why isn't the diversion route just the quickest way past the closure?

Signs and sensibility

The one great attempt to make London’s streets logical - and how one retired chauffeur’s favourite routes changed the way you get around the capital.

A bridge under troubled bridges

A bridge that was ruined by another bridge, and a type of highway planning beyond any of the UK’s worst nightmares.

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