Handy Cross roundabout is a major road interchange at

Handy Cross Handy Cross is a hamlet in the parish of Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located on Marlow Hill, on the old road between Marlow and High Wycombe. At the 2011 Census the population of the hamlet was included in the civil parish of G ...

High Wycombe High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

, Buckinghamshire; the junction for High Wycombe, the M40 motorway and the A404 dual-carriageway. It is the terminus of the A4010 which runs to Aylesbury.

History

The first section of the M40 to open was the section between junctions 4 and 5 in 1967, construction starting in 1964. The 1967 finished roundabout allowed interchange between the M40, the A404 to Marlow, the A404 into central High Wycombe and a minor residential street. The first alteration came in 1972 with the construction of the Marlow bypass (as the A404- the old A404 was downgraded to un-classified). Further urbanisation to the west of the roundabout led to another exit for the roundabout to

Cressex High Wycombe, often referred to as Wycombe ( ), is a market town in Buckinghamshire, England. Lying in the valley of the River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye surrounded by the Chiltern Hills, it is west-northwest of Charing Cross in London, ...

and on through Wycombe to the A40-the new road was given the A4010 road number. In 2006, the

Highways Agency National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...

constructed several improvements to the roundabout including a cut-through, bypassing the three northern exits and a new slip road from the A404 to the M40 westbound.

Roads served

The M40 meets the roundabout numbered as junction 4, temporarily dropping to dual two lane through the junction. The A404 road is dual-carriageway on both sides of the junction, although only the section south into Berkshire has primary status. The northern part goes on into High Wycombe town centre as a non-primary A-road. The only other classified road to meet the roundabout is the A4010 which leads on through the suburb of Cressex and on to Aylesbury. The other two roads are unclassified, one being the original road to Marlow and the other for access to residential areas of High Wycombe.

Layout

The junction is a

roundabout interchange A roundabout interchange is a type of interchange between a controlled access highway, such as a motorway or freeway, and a minor road. The slip roads to and from the motorway carriageways converge at a single roundabout, which is grade-separa ...

with the M40 uninterrupted. The motorway is on a north-east to south-west gradient between Stokenchurch and Loudwater. The roundabout is oval shaped, with the motorway off-centre. The northern half of the roundabout is bisected by a cross link which bypasses the A4010, the minor road to Wycombe and the A404 north, allowing easier interchange from the M40 London-bound to the A404 south. To the south-west of the roundabout, a slip-road allows traffic on the A404 northbound to reach the M40 towards Oxford uninterrupted, it passes beneath the road to Marlow Bottom in-between.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Handy Cross Roundabout Roundabouts in England Transport in Buckinghamshire High Wycombe Motorway junctions in England