The A4018 is an A-road connecting the city centre of

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

to the

M5 motorway The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...

Cribbs Causeway Cribbs Causeway is both a road in South Gloucestershire, England, running north of the city of Bristol, and the adjacent area which is notable for its out-of-town shopping and leisure facilities. The retail and leisure complex takes its name fr ...

. It is one of the four principal roads which link central Bristol to the motorway network (the others being the M32 motorway, the A38 and the Portway).

Route

The A4018 runs for , starting at a junction with the A4 and A38 at The Centre, and finishing at junction 17 of the

. The route includes Park Street and

Whiteladies Road Whiteladies Road is a main road in Bristol, England. It runs north from the Victoria Rooms to Durdham Down, and separates Clifton on the west side from Redland and Cotham on the east. It forms part of the A4018. Significant buildings on W ...

. It then passes over part of

Durdham Down Durdham Down is an area of public open space in Bristol, England. With its neighbour Clifton Down to the southwest, it constitutes a area known as The Downs, much used for leisure including walking, jogging and team sports. Its exposed positio ...

on Westbury Road, then along Falcondale Road and Passage Road through

Westbury-on-Trym Westbury on Trym is a suburb and council ward in the north of the City of Bristol, near the suburbs of Stoke Bishop, Westbury Park, Henleaze, Southmead and Henbury, in the southwest of England. With a village atmosphere, the place is partly ...

and Brentry. The final part of the A4018 is Cribbs Causeway, near Catbrain. Part of the road forms the boundary for the Westbury-on-Trym electoral ward in Bristol.

History

The original route of the A4018 went from Bristol to

Avonmouth Avonmouth is a port and outer suburb of Bristol, England, facing two rivers: the reinforced north bank of the final stage of the Avon which rises at sources in Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and Somerset; and the eastern shore of the Severn Es ...

via Durdham Down and Shirehampton Road, the main road between Bristol and Avonmouth before the Portway was opened in 1926. By the 1940s only the route from the centre of Bristol to Durdham Down was designated the A4018, and the remainder of the route had been redesignated the B4054. In 1959 Passage Road was widened and rebuilt, and by 1962 the route of the A4018 was extended from Durdham Down to Cribbs Causeway along the former route of the B4055 (Westbury Road), unclassified roads (Falcondale Road and Passage Road) and a further part of the B4055 (Cribbs Causeway), linking with the New Filton Bypass which ran from Cribbs Causeway to the A38 north of

Patchway Patchway is a town in South Gloucestershire, England, situated north-north west of central Bristol. The town has become an overflow settlement for Bristol and is contiguous with Bristol's urban area, along with the nearby towns of Filton and Bra ...

. In December 1971 the New Filton Bypass was incorporated into the M5 motorway, and the A4018, by then dualled from Cribbs Causeway to Westbury-on-Trym, became the principal road linking the motorway to west Bristol.

Places of interest

Sites close to the route of the road include Blaise Castle, an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

hill fortification.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:4-4018 Roads in England Roads in Bristol