The Middleway

The A4540 is a ring road in Birmingham, England, also known as the Middle Ring Road, or the Middleway. It runs around the centre (St Philip's Cathedral) of the city at a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 km). Birmingham City Centre is the area within this ring road. The ring road was planned and designed by Herbert Manzoni. It is now simply known as the Ring Road due to the removal of the old Inner Ring Road.

The Grazebrook beam engine, Dartmouth Circus

A4540 shield
A4540
Route information
Length6.5 mi (10.5 km)
Major junctions
Orbital around Birmingham
Major intersections A457
A41
A34
A38
A47
A45
A41
A34
A435
A441
A38
A456
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom
Road network

The traffic island at Dartmouth Circus houses a preserved Boulton and Watt steam engine, the Grazebrook beam engine. The Middleway forms the boundary to Birmingham Clean Air Zone.

Plans to make The Middleway a red route were proposed as early as 2008 but dropped in 2021.[1][2]

Route
Five Ways Island from No. 23 bus.

The A4540 covers the following route: –

  • Dartmouth Circus (Roundabout with Aston Expressway and 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 (junction with A41 Stratford Road)
  • Highgate Middleway
  • Haden Circus (junction with A4167 and A435)
  • Belgrave Middleway
  • Belgrave Interchange (junction with A441 followed by A38) Main road passes underneath interchange
  • Lee Bank Middleway
  • Islington Row Middleway
  • Five Ways Island (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
  • (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
  • Dartmouth Circus

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 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 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
Location Coordinate
Northern point 52.49417°N 1.90853°W / 52.49417; -1.90853
Eastern point 52.47457°N 1.87497°W / 52.47457; -1.87497
Southern point 52.46323°N 1.88656°W / 52.46323; -1.88656
Western point 52.47849°N 1.92664°W / 52.47849; -1.92664

See also

References
  1. "A4540 Ring Road red route proposal". birmingham.gov.uk. 7 March 2007. Archived from the original on 13 August 2007.
  2. "Council drops red route plan". BirminghamLive. 20 June 2010. Retrieved 26 October 2021.


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