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 A1081 St Albans Road looking towardsHarpenden | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 20.5 mi (33.0 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end | Luton Airport 51°52′11″N0°23′49″W / 51.8697°N 0.3970°W /51.8697; -0.3970 (A1081 road (northern end)) | |||
| Major intersections |  A505 M1 A4147 A5183 A414 M25 A1 A1000 | |||
| South end | A1000 road,High Barnet 51°39′23″N0°12′07″W / 51.6563°N 0.2019°W /51.6563; -0.2019 (A1081 road (southern end)) | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Road network | ||||
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TheA1081 is a road in the south ofEngland. It starts atLuton Airport inBedfordshire and runs toHigh Barnet inGreater London viaHarpenden,St Albans andLondon Colney, a distance of around 20.5 miles (33.0 km).[1] For most of its length, the A1081 follows the route of the originalA6.
The first section of the A1081 runs south-west from Luton Airport to the spur of theM1 motorway on the southern outskirts of Luton. This section is adual carriageway known asNew Airport Way. Just west of the airport, there is a junction with theA505.
At the M1 spur, the A1081 turns south to join the route of the original A6. It skirts the grounds ofLuton Hoo estate, then crosses intoHertfordshire, passing through Harpenden before reaching St Albans.
In St Albans, the road has a junction with the A4147 and A1057 (both making up the formerA414), then meets theA5183 (the formerA5). At this point, it bears south-east, bypassing London Colney before reaching junction 22 of theM25 motorway. There is a junction with the current A414, theNorth Orbital Road, just north of London Colney.
The A1081 thenmultiplexes with the M25 to junction 23 atSouth Mimms, the junction with the currentA1 andA1(M). From here, it continues south-east to High Barnet, ending at a junction with theGreat North Road (the former A1, now theA1000).
The A1081 designation was originally used on The Woodford Spur in east London. The Woodford Spur is a 1920s new build road that branches off the A12 (former A106) Eastern Avenue at the Gants Hill Roundabout and heads through Woodford.
It was allocated the A1081 number in 1925, although the road hadn't yet opened. It was opened not long afterwards between the A106 and A11 (now A1199), with the section to the A104 opened later (shown as under construction on the 1932 OS Maps).
The A1081 number became redundant after World War II when the road became an extension of the A406. The North Circular has since been rerouted and so the section east of the A113 is now numbered A1400.
The current A1081 was established in the 1950s, when the section of theA6 fromSouth Mimms toHigh Barnet was so renumbered following the re-routing of theA1 onto the 1920s-builtBarnet Bypass.
When theM25 was built in the 1980s, it took over the section of theA6 fromLondon Colney toSouth Mimms, which was already dual carriageway. The section fromLuton toLondon Colney was then renumbered the A1081.
Download coordinates as:
A roads in Zone 1 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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51°46′21″N0°20′07″W / 51.7724°N 0.3354°W /51.7724; -0.3354 (A1081 road)
