 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
 The divergence of the A419 andA417 | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 36 mi[1] (58 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| Southeast end | Swindon | |||
| Major intersections |  M4 J15 M5 J13 A420 A361 A417 A433 A429 A46 A38 | |||
| Northwest end | Whitminster | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | Cirencester Stroud | |||
| Road network | ||||
| ||||
TheA419 road is aprimary route betweenChiseldon nearSwindon at junction 15 of theM4 with theA346 road, andWhitminster inGloucestershire, England near the M5 motorway. The A419 is managed and maintained by a private company, Road Management Group, on behalf of the UKDepartment for Transport.
From the M4 to Cirencester it is adual carriageway road, which generally follows the course of the Roman roadErmin Way, but dualling work completed in the late 1990s, and the bypass of Cirencester, has taken it off-course in some places. East ofCirencester theA417 continues straight ahead as the major road and the A419 separates through Cirencester andStroud, becoming mainly single carriageway. West of Cirencester the road loses its primary status; it crosses theM5 at junction 13 close to a formerLittle Chef restaurant, then finishes 0.4 miles (0.64 km) further west at a roundabout with theA38.[1]
TheA419 Road Bridge is a modern bridge carrying theCricklade by-pass section of the A419 across theRiver Thames in the county of Wiltshire.
The bridge is just east of the town and is a concrete construction carrying a dual carriageway, built as part of the two-mile (3.2 km) £2.4m Blunsdon-Cricklade Improvement which opened in June 1988.
When it was first designated in 1922, the A419 ran fromHungerford,Berkshire, to Gloucester.[2] Before the war, the section from Cirencester to Gloucester was renumbered the A417, and the A419 was extended from Cirencester to Stroud and then on part of the route of the former A434 throughStonehouse to a junction with the A38 atHardwicke, just south of Gloucester.
Following the opening of theM4 motorway, the section from Hungerford viaAldbourne andLiddington to Commonhead was downclassified to the B4192. The old lay-bys remain, showing that this was once a major route south. The road was extended south from Commonhead for 0.8 miles (1.3 km) to the M4, on the route of the oldA345.
When theM5 motorway was opened, the road was rerouted west of Stroud. A new alignment, known as theEbley by-pass, was built south of the old route fromCainscross to a point just south of Stonehouse, and from there the road was rerouted on the former line of the A4096 toEastington, and then to the M5 and the A38 at Whitminster. The old route became theB4008.
Around 1971, a junction was created north of Cricklade with the newly built Spine Road (B4696) which runs west through theCotswold Water Park.[3]
The 3-mile (4.8 km) £4m Stratton St. Margaret (Swindon) Bypass opened in October 1977, the 2-mile (3.2 km) £2.4m Blunsdon-Cricklade Improvement opened in June 1988 and the 4-mile (6.4 km)Latton Bypass opened on 24 December 1997.
Abottleneck in Swindon atBlunsdon traffic lights and the nearby Turnpikeroundabout, where local traffic mixes with through traffic for the M4 and theCotswolds, was addressed by construction of a dual-carriageway bypass in 2006–2009.[4] Aflyover at Commonhead, the main junction for southeast Swindon and another source of congestion, was opened to traffic in 2007.
Parts of the newly dualled sections of road are surfaced inconcrete, which is relatively unusual in the UK. The high tyre noise generated by this surface is unpopular with nearby residents.[5]
The A419 is managed and maintained by Road Management Services (Gloucester) Ltd which receives income in the form ofshadow tolls based on the volume of traffic.[6][7] The 30-year contract expires in 2026.[7] In 2018, the company made aprofit before tax of £4.5 million onturnover of £17.8 million.[7]
51°42′50″N2°00′17″W / 51.71395°N 2.00475°W /51.71395; -2.00475
