M40 motorway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| M40 motorway | ||
| Length | 89 miles 144 km | |
| Direction | Southeast - Northwest | |
| Start | London Uxbridge | |
| Primary destinations | Beaconsfield High Wycombe Oxford Banbury Warwick Royal Leamington Spa Stratford-upon-Avon Birmingham | |
| End | Earlswood | |
| Construction dates | 1967 - 1990 | |
| Motorways joined | 1A -  M25 motorway  M42 motorway | |
| Euroroute(s) |
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|---|---|---|
The M40 motorway is the second motorway in the English transport network to connect London to Birmingham. Part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05.
The M40 was constructed in stages with the first section being the Wycombe Bypass from Handycross to Stokenchuch (Junctions 4-5) opening in 1967. In 1969 a temporary junction (Junction 2*) was built at Holtspur just outside of Beaconsfied that carried the motorway to the first section at Handycross (Junction 4). The Beaconsfield bypass (Junction 2) which was part of the motorway was built in 1971 and the Gerrards Cross Bypass (Junctions 1-2) conecting to this was completed in 1973. Junctions 5-8 Pitmore to Chilworth just outside of Oxford were completed in 1974. Construction from Birmingham to Oxford (the "missing link") started in 1988 from the M42 near Hockley Heath (Junctions 15 - M42) and finishing with construction through Warwickshire and the Cherwell Valley in 1990 linking Junction 15 to Junction 8. The motorway opened for its full length of 89 miles in 1990. The M40 was to be the last major motorway construction in the UK; however, during the final stages of construction the Conservative government of the time announced a major new road building scheme.
When the motorway was first opened it carried surprisingly little traffic (compared, for instance, to the M25, which was congested from the start). The reason was said to be the lack of motorway service areas, which kept HGV traffic in particular from using the route, the M1 and M6, or A34, being existing routes to Birmingham. The first service station opened at Cherwell Valley in 1994, and two further service stations opened at Oxford and Warwick in 1998. As a result, traffic is now much heavier.
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[edit] M40 Minibus Crash
A major tragedy occured on the M40 just before midnight on 17 November 1993, when a minibus transporting 14 children from a proms concert in London back to Hagley RC High School near Birmingham crashed into a parked motorway maintenance vehicle. 10 pupils and the teacher driving the vehicle died at the scene; 2 others died in hospital from their injuries over the next two days. The remaining 2 children recovered from relatively minor injuries.
An inquest the following summer recorded a verdict of accidental death on all of the victims. It was reported that none of the children in the minibus were wearing seatbelts, and the side-facing benches seating layout was also criticised as dangerous. This led to seatbelts becoming compulsory equipment on all coaches and minibuses (more than 20 years after they had been compulsory on cars), though more than a decade on it is still not compulsory for them to be worn.
[edit] Route
The M40 begins at the Denham Roundabout near Uxbridge just east of the M25 and finishes at the M42 near Birmingham.
[edit] Junctions
| M40 Motorway | ||
| Eastbound exits | Junction | Westbound exits |
| Road continues as A40 to London | J1 | Slough A412 Uxbridge A4020 Non motorway traffic |
| Slough A412 Uxbridge A4020 | Start of Motorway | |
| Watford, Rickmansworth, Slough, Heathrow Airport M25 | J1A | Watford, Rickmansworth, Slough, Heathrow Airport M25 |
| Beaconsfield, Amersham, Slough A355 | J2 | Beaconsfield, Amersham, Slough A355 |
| No exit | J3 | High Wycombe (East) A40 |
| High Wycombe, Marlow, Maidenhead A404 | J4 | High Wycombe, Marlow A404 |
| High Wycombe (West), Stokenchurch A40 | J5 | Stokenchurch A40 |
| Watlington, Princes Risborough B4009 | J6 | Thame, Watlington, Princes Risborough B4009 |
| No Access | J7 | Thame, Wallingford, A329 |
| No exit | J8 | Oxford, Cheltenham A40 |
| Thame, Aylesbury A418 Oxford (A40) Oxford Services | J8A | Thame, Aylesbury A418 Oxford (A40) Oxford Services |
| Bicester, Aylesbury A41 Oxford, Newbury A34 | J9 | Bicester A41 Oxford, Newbury A34 |
| Northampton A43 B430 Cherwell Valley services | J10 | Northampton A43 B430 Cherwell Valley services |
| Banbury A422 Daventry A361 | J11 | Banbury A422 Chipping Norton A361 |
| Gaydon B4451 | J12 | Gaydon B4451 |
| Warwick Services | ||
| No exit | J13 | Leamington, Warwick A452 B4100 |
| Leamington A452 | J14 | No Access |
| Warwick A429 Stratford, Coventry A46 | J15 | Warwick A429 Stratford, Coventry A46 |
| Henley A3400 | J16 | No exit |
| No exit | M42 J3A | THE NORTH Birmingham (North & East) Solihull, NEC, Birmingham International Airport M42 |
| Start of Motorway | Road continues as M42 to The SOUTH WEST, Birmingham (South & West), Redditch & M5 | |
- Note: The M40 runs south-east/north-west between Junctions 16 and 8
[edit] Trivia
- The M40 features in the film Thunderbird 6, where it doubles for the fictional M104 motorway. The M40 had not been opened to traffic at the time.
- The M40 features in the opening titles of The Vicar of Dibley. The titles show a bird's eye view of the Stokenchurch Gap affording a fine view of the Oxfordshire countryside.
- Travelling eastbound as you approach London and on the left hand side, a long concrete wall bordering a forest area. For many months, this was daubed with the words "why do I do this every day?", but was recently changed to "Why do I still do this every day?". The author of this "work" is not known but it was likely a message to the thousands of commuters that drive by every weekday morning. The graffito has been mentioned on the BBC motoring programme, Top Gear.
- In 2005 The Stokenchurch Gap featured in the BBC's Seven Natural Wonders of The South, presented by Aubrey Manning.
- The fact that the M40 leads from London to Oxford and the M4 from London passes south of Oxford at junction 13 led to a famous sketch in one episode of the BBC's sitcom Yes Minister. Jim Hacker, a Government minister and a lead character in the show, pondered why Britain had two fast motorways to the ancient university town of Oxford but not to important seaports such as Dover and Southampton. Bernard Woolley, his Principal Private Secretary, gave Hacker an insight into the Civil Service by explaining that the motorway network had been approved by civil service Permanent Secretaries, all of whom had been educated at Oxford and desired a fast route to excellent evening dinners at their old colleges, upon which the Cabinet put their foot down and demanded in return the M1 motorway to take Cabinet Ministers hunting in the Shires. When Hacker observes that the M11 to Cambridge had only just been completed (the episode was first screened in 1981), Woolley is forced to explain that although Cambridge colleges may give a very good dinner, "it's years since the Department of Transport had a Permanent Secretary from Cambridge".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Seven Natural Wonders of the South
- CBRD Motorway Database - M40
- Pathetic Motorways - A40(M) High Wycombe bypass
- The Motorway Archive
| Image:UK motorway symbol.svg | Motorways in the United Kingdom | Image:UK motorway symbol.svg |
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| A1(M) • A3(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A167(M) • A194(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A823(M) | ||
| Northern Ireland: M1 • M2 • M3 • M5 • M12 • M22 • A8(M) | edit | |
| Past: M41 • M63 • A18(M) • A40(M) • A41(M) • A102(M) • A6144(M) Unbuilt: M12 • M15 • M64 Future: M4 Toll | ||
