 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "The Middleway" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(October 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | |
|---|---|
 Map of the Middleway, also showing the A38 which cuts through it | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 6.5 mi (10.5 km) |
| Major junctions | |
| Orbital aroundBirmingham | |
| Major intersections |  A457 A41 A34 A38 A47 A45A41A34 A435 A441A38 A456 |
| Location | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Road network | |
TheMiddleway, officially designated as theA4540 and signposted asring road, is anorbital road inBirmingham, England. Serving as the sole ring road of the city, it runs aroundBirmingham city centre at a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 km). TheA38 (including theQueensway tunnels) cuts through it vertically.
The ring road was planned and designed byHerbert Manzoni. It was then known as theMiddle Ring Road, due to the existence of the now-defunctInner Ring Road, and as a result it is now often referred to as simply the "Ring Road".
The Middleway forms the boundary toBirmingham Clean Air Zone, although the road itself is not part of the zone.[1]
Plans to make The Middleway ared route were proposed as early as 2008 but dropped in 2021.[2][3]
The A4540 covers the following route: –
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.
All but four of the numbered A4540 junctions have signal-controlledpedestrian crossings of the ring road. Of the four, Dartmouth Circus, Ashted Circus and Five Ways havesubways; Bordesley Circus has uncontrolled pedestrian crossings despite often heavy traffic. There are mostly lightly usedpavements 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 designatedcycle 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.
| Location | Coordinate |
|---|---|
| Northern point | 52°29′39″N1°54′31″W / 52.49417°N 1.90853°W /52.49417; -1.90853 |
| Eastern point | 52°28′28″N1°52′30″W / 52.47457°N 1.87497°W /52.47457; -1.87497 |
| Southern point | 52°27′48″N1°53′12″W / 52.46323°N 1.88656°W /52.46323; -1.88656 |
| Western point | 52°28′43″N1°55′36″W / 52.47849°N 1.92664°W /52.47849; -1.92664 |
The traffic island at Dartmouth Circus houses a preserved Boulton and Watt steam engine, theGrazebrook beam engine.
| City centre streets | |
|---|---|
| City centre squares | |
| Suburban streets | |
| A roads | |
| Motorways | |
| Defunct | |
 | This England road or road transport-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
