The A4540 is a

ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, 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 .

Birmingham City Centre Birmingham City Centre, also known as Central Birmingham and often known locally as town, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area wi ...

is the area within this ring road. The ring road was planned and designed by

Herbert Manzoni Sir Herbert John Baptista Manzoni CBE MICE (21 March 1899 – 18 November 1972) was a British civil engineer known for holding the position of City Engineer and Surveyor of Birmingham from 1935 until 1963. This position put him in charge of all ...

. It is now simply known as the Ring Road due to the removal of the old Inner Ring Road. 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 A Clean Air Zone (CAZ) is an area in the United Kingdom where targeted action is taken to improve air quality. A CAZ can be non-charging or charging. Whether a vehicle is charged when entering or moving through a CAZ depends on the type of vehicl ...

. Plans to make The Middleway a

red route On United Kingdom roads, the term red route may refer to a stretch of road with painted red lines signifying that vehicles cannot stop there, or to a road which has historically high accident rates. Painted lines Red routes are major roads wit ...

were proposed as early as 2008 but dropped in 2021.

Route

The A4540 covers the following route: – *

Dartmouth Circus The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.Aston Expressway The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.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 Bordesley is an area of Birmingham, England, south east of the city centre straddling the Watery Lane Middleway ring road. It should not be confused with nearby Bordesley Green. Commercial premises dominate to the west of the ring road, but muc ...

(junction with A45) * Bordesley Middleway *

Camp Hill Circus Camp Hill is the name of a road and surrounding area in Birmingham, West Midlands, England south east of the city centre. The area's name was first recorded as Kempe Hill, derived from a family name, in 1511, but it became known as Camp Hill af ...

(junction with A41 Stratford Road) *

Highgate Middleway Highgate is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the Big City Plan of February 2008, Highgate is now a district of Birmingham City Centre. This area is regarded as the site of the original Anglo-Saxon settlement which gave the city of Birmi ...

* Haden Circus (junction with A4167 and

A435 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European isla ...

) * Belgrave Middleway * Belgrave Interchange (junction with

A441 List of A roads in zone 4 in Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European isla ...

followed by A38) Main road passes underneath interchange * Lee Bank Middleway * Islington Row Middleway *

Five Ways Island Five Ways is an area of Central Birmingham, England. It takes its name from a major road junction, now a busy roundabout (with pedestrian subways through a traffic island) to the south-west of the city centre which lies at the outward end ...

(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 Icknield Street or Ryknild Street is a Roman road in England, with a route roughly south-west to north-east. It runs from the Fosse Way at Bourton on the Water in Gloucestershire () to Templeborough in South Yorkshire (). It passes through Alc ...

* (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 A pedestrian crossing (or crosswalk in American English) is a place designated for pedestrians to cross a road, street or avenue. The term "pedestrian crossing" is also used in the Vienna and Geneva Conventions, both of which pertain to road si ...

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

References

Roads in England Ring roads in the United Kingdom Transport in Birmingham, West Midlands {{England-road-stub

Route

Pedestrian facilities

Coordinates

See also

References