A423 road

A423 road
Route information
Length:	22.4 mi (36.0 km)
Major junctions
South end:	Banbury
	A361 road A422 road A425 road A426 road A445 road A45 road
North end:	Near Coventry
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A423 road is a primary A road in England which leads from central Banbury to the A45 near Coventry. It starts in Banbury town centre as Southam Road and goes through the Southam Road Industrial Estate, then just north of Banbury it crosses over the M40, from there it passes close to several Warwickshire villages until it becomes part of the Southam by-pass, it then goes through Long Itchington and Marton before merging with the A45 near Ryton.

History

Its original route when first classified in 1922 was from Tamworth in Staffordshire to Oxford.^[1] In the 1930s the route was extended from Oxford to the A4 near Maidenhead in Berkshire, over parts of the former routes of the A42 and A415. From 1971 to 1990 it joined the then A423(M) motorway at Maidenhead Thicket.^[2] A curious feature of the route was a 3-mile (4.8 km) gap between Benson, Oxfordshire and a point 1.2 miles (1.9 km) north west of Nuffield, which resulted from the construction of RAF Benson across the line of the road. The detour though Crowmarsh Gifford was designated the B479 and A4130 rather than A423.

On the completion of the M42 motorway in the early 1980s, the phase of the A423 between Tamworth and Coventry was downgraded to become a B-road.

The final downgrading came in 1990 when the M40 motorway between Oxford and Birmingham was completed. The remainder of the route south of Banbury was renumbered to become parts of the A4260, A4074 and A4130, although it is briefly reprised as part of the Oxford Ring Road between the A34 Hinksey Hill interchange and the A4142/A4074 Heyford Hill roundabout. This is because the A4074 used to be the A423 prior to the M40 motorway being built. On this stretch of road, heading eastbound, drivers will notice the "distance" sign showing the name A423 and the destinations that the former A423 route would have passed through. This can be seen on the following Google StreetView image - here

References

A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme

	A4 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48 A49

	A403 A404 A405 A406 A412 A413 A414 A415 A417 A418 A419 A420 A421 A422 A423 A425 A426 A427 A428 A429 A431 A432 A433 A435 A441 A442 A444 A445 A446 A448 A449 A452 A453 A454 A456 A458 A461 A465 A468 A469 A470 A472 A473 A474 A475 A476 A477 A478 A482 A483 A484 A485 A486 A487 A488 A489 A490 A491 A493 A494 A496 A497 A498 A499

	A4005 A4006 A4008 A4010 A4012 A4018 A4025 A4032 A4037 A4040 A4042 A4050 A4053 A4054 A4055 A4059 A4060 A4061 A4063 A4067 A4069 A4074 A4076 A4080 A4085 A4094 A4103 A4107 A4109 A4110 A4113 A4117 A4118 A4119 A4123 A4130 A4133 A4135 A4136 A4138 A4142 A4146 A4148 A4150 A4155 A4160 A4161 A4169 A4173 A4174 A4202 A4212 A4216 A4217 A4221 A4226 A4230 A4232 A4234 A4240 A4241 A4260 A4361 A4400 A4536 A4540

List of A roads in Zone 4 List of B roads in Zone 4

Coordinates: 52°13′25″N 1°23′16″W / 52.22363°N 1.3878°W / 52.22363; -1.3878

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 03, 2013. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.