OK - I might be putting myself up for the old 'tut, that's just so typical of a woman' replies here but I have strong shoulders and thick skin and I can take it!

I got to thinking the other day about the A61 that runs through Woodseats and I know the A1 which runs err.. London-ish way;)

What I need to know is did the highway planner people start with the A1 then number the next roads A2, A3 and so on as they created them??? If not - how do they think of the numbers for the next A road that they build??

PS - If I get ANY replies about dipsy women I will be calling a mod on my special mod-hotline immediately - if not sooner. So theyaaarrr!:hihi:

Just wanna say I have no idea! But I've also wondered this for ages, same with motorways and especially 'B' roads that seem to have at least 4 digits in them...

Definitely not a 'typical woman' question either, you should be proud of yourself! lol :thumbsup: :hihi:

OK, not a daft question, but not one that's too easy to answer either.

The roads were (mostly) built before they were numbered, so a system had to be developed, which went something like.

Start at London (A1) and name the biggest roads out A2, A3 etc

Look on a motoring atlas, you'll see them.

Now, starting at London again, name the first smaller road off the A1 the A1-1, and the second the A1-2, or A11, A12 etc

So the A38 is the 8th road off the A3, the A57 is the 7th road off the A5, etc

And further down, the A616, is the 6th road off the A61

Well that's the theory, but there are I'm sure oddities out there.

Smaller roads are numbered the same, but prefixed B, or C.

Hope that sorta made sense. :)

thanks Foo - that makes sense now!

Thanks Briano too for making me feel better!

:clap: :clap:

interestingly though you see some road numbers crop up all over the country without the road seemingly being the same one.

For example the A38 pops up from just outside london all the way upto nearly sheffield. But i'm sure you can't just get on the A38 and drive right the way through.
And the A57 has been spotted as far south as Northampton, as well as crossing the penines. Again I don't think the sections of this 'road' actually link together.

Or maybe they do and it's just that i only ever see bits of each road.

Originally posted by Cyclone
interestingly though you see some road numbers crop up all over the country without the road seemingly being the same one.

For example the A38 pops up from just outside london all the way upto nearly sheffield. But i'm sure you can't just get on the A38 and drive right the way through.
And the A57 has been spotted as far south as Northampton, as well as crossing the penines. Again I don't think the sections of this 'road' actually link together.

Or maybe they do and it's just that i only ever see bits of each road.

Ther's also a good sized bit of the A38 in Devon, perhaps the surveyor just liked A38.:P

I know this.
the A roads were named starting from London like a clockface.
A1 is basically built on top of a roman road (watling street?)

Anyway A1 goes stright up from london,
A2 goes into kent easterly direction
A3 goes southwest from london into surrey
A4 goes west from london to wales

then it jumps to birmingham where the A5 goes down toward the west country and cornwall
and the A6 goes up toward glasgow

Then it jumps to Edinburgh where the A7 goes south to Carlisle
and A8 goes to Glasgow.

When you get roads like A11, these are clockwise from A1

A40 is clockwise from A4 etc.

Many of the old A roads have been upgraded to motorways of course

Originally posted by Cyclone
For example the A38 pops up from just outside london all the way upto nearly sheffield. But i'm sure you can't just get on the A38 and drive right the way through.
And the A57 has been spotted as far south as Northampton, as well as crossing the penines. Again I don't think the sections of this 'road' actually link together.

The A38 goes from Bodmin to Mansfield, and apart from a small section where it disappears "under" the M5 (near Exeter) you can drive it pretty much continuously.

The A57 starts in Manchester (although as the A570 it starts in Southport) and runs to Lincoln, and again, except for a small bit where it goes "under" the A1 you can pretty much drive it continuously. Not seen it near Northampton though. :suspect:

As I said, there are oddities with the passing of time, but the rule still pretty much stands.

:)

On a related but slightly different point.

In mainland europe, the main trunk roads
A roads are even if they mainlt go North -South
and odd if they mainly go East - West

or it might be the other way around

for the first motorways, they were numbered starting with london and following the compass points, so the M1 is north, m2 is east, m3 is south, M4 is west. I think then any further motorways were just numbered in the order they were built - M5 is no where near london, neither is M6, M11 however goes north from london to cambridge and yet it is a higher number than the other london motorways.

Originally posted by foo_fighter

The A57 starts in Manchester (although as the A570 it starts in Southport) and runs to Lincoln, and again, except for a small bit where it goes "under" the A1 you can pretty much drive it continuously. Not seen it near Northampton though. :suspect:

:)

A57 starts at the Pier Head in Liverpool, passing through Knotty Ash and under the motorway, M57. It ends up in Lincoln, which is a pity because you'd have thought that it would carry on to the East coast.

A pedant :thumbsup:

I have a 1950's "AA New Book of the Road" somewhere and there is a diagram which shows how the road network was established.

There are a number of 'sectors' numbered 1-7. Sheffield is in the '6' category, so almost all B roads (and some 'A') the area will be B6xx, A61 etc.

Originally posted by Cyclone
interestingly though you see some road numbers crop up all over the country without the road seemingly being the same one.

For example the A38 pops up from just outside london all the way upto nearly sheffield.
Are you sure about that Cyclone? Last time I looked the A38 ran NE-SW all the way to the West Country. I usually pick it up at the M! near Alfreton and follow it past Derby, Burton etc all the way to just north of Exeter. If it crops up near London that must be a heck of a bend somewhere! :)

Originally posted by algy
Are you sure about that Cyclone? Last time I looked the A38 ran NE-SW all the way to the West Country. I usually pick it up at the M! near Alfreton and follow it past Derby, Burton etc all the way to just north of Exeter. If it crops up near London that must be a heck of a bend somewhere! :)

could be mistaken, just based on mway spottage.

Good question msb - I never knew how the numbering system was worked out. Thanks foo-fighter for that really easy and understandable explanation ... :)

I always thought the A1 was the first as it's the Great North Road and the route the stagecoaches took, from London to the North. I know Doncaster was an important stop on the route ... in the days when Sheffield was still only a small town.

Before the motorways, going anywhere was always more interesting as you passed through all the towns and villages on the way. Now you could be anywhere at all when travelling ...

It can't be completely right though, because the A47 goes from Birmingham to Great Yarmouth, and doesn't even get close to the A4.