The A423 road is a primary A road in England in two sections. The main section leads from central

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshir ...

to the A45 near

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

Route

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 Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Av ...

villages until it becomes part of the

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Southam is situated on the River Stowe (called 'The Brook' by many locals), which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill and joins Warwickshire's ...

by-pass, it then goes through Long Itchington and Marton before merging with the A45 near Ryton. The other section of the A423 is part of the

Oxford Ring Road The Oxford Ring Road circles the city of Oxford, England. It is a dual carriageway ring road for most of its length apart from a short section between Woodstock Road and Banbury Road in the north of the city. The severe restrictions on traff ...

between the A34 Hinksey Hill interchange and the A4142/A4074 Heyford Hill roundabout, a distance of . The section, carrying 50,000 vehicles per day, includes a bridge over the Cherwell Valley railway line and

Hinksey Stream Hinksey Stream is a branch of the River Thames to the west of the city of Oxford, England. It starts as Seacourt Stream (also known as Wytham Stream), which leaves the Thames at a bifurcation north of the village of Wytham, and rejoins the riv ...

. The bridge is in need of replacement which is expected to cost £90 million with work starting in 2023 and completion in 2026. The replacement will include work for the Oxford Flood Alleviation Scheme, a bus lane and improvements in pedestrian and cyclist facilities.

History

Its original route when first classified in 1922 was from Tamworth in Staffordshire to

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, terminating at Two Gates on the old A5. The road north continued as the A51. In the 1930s the route was extended from Oxford to Maidenhead in Berkshire, over parts of the former routes of the A42 and A415. A curious feature of the route was a gap between Benson, Oxfordshire and a point north west of Nuffield, which resulted from the construction of

RAF Benson Royal Air Force Benson or RAF Benson is a Royal Air Force (RAF) station located at Benson, near Wallingford, in South Oxfordshire, England. It is a front-line station and home to the RAF's fleet of Westland Puma HC2 support helicopters, us ...

across the line of the road. The detour though Crowmarsh Gifford was designated the B479 and

A4130 The A413 is a major road in England that runs between Gerrards Cross (west of London) to Towcester (northwest of Milton Keynes). It passes through or near various towns and villages including (in northbound order) Amersham, Great Missenden, ...

rather than A423. The last section of the Oxford Ring Road was completed in 1965, and the A423 was rerouted away from the centre of Oxford to form part of the ring road. From 1971 to 1990 the A423 joined the then A423(M) motorway at Maidenhead.Pathetic motorways website
/ref> On the completion of the

M42 motorway The M42 motorway runs north east from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire to just south west of Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, passing Redditch, Solihull, the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) and Tamworth on the way, serving the east of the ...

in the early 1980s, the phase of the A423 between Tamworth and Coventry became the A51 (to the A47 junction), B4098 between the A47 and Keresley and A4170 into Coventry. Subsequently, the A51 was curtailed at Kingsbury with the B4098 extending along the A4170 into Coventry City Centre. The final downgrading came in 1990 when the M40 motorway between

and

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

was completed. The remainder of the route south of Banbury was renumbered to become parts of the A4260, A4074 and

, except for the part of the Oxford Ring Road between the A34 Hinksey Hill interchange and the A4142/A4074 Heyford Hill roundabout. On this stretch of road, heading eastbound, drivers will notice the distance sign showing the name A423 and its original final destination of Maidenhead. Traffic for Maidenhead is now directed onto the A40/ M40 via High Wycombe. This can be seen on the following

Google StreetView Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expan ...

image �
here

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:4-0423 Roads in England Roads in Warwickshire Roads in Oxfordshire