History and Renumbering
- For further information, see Great Britain road numbering scheme.
The original (1922) route of the A34 was Winchester to Oxford, much shorter than it is today. It was extended to Manchester on 1 April 1935, replacing part of the A42 (Oxford to Birmingham through Shipston-on-Stour, Stratford-upon-Avon and Henley-in-Arden), A455 (Birmingham to Stafford), part of the A449 (Stafford to Newcastle under Lyme) and A526 (Newcastle to Manchester).
By 1953 the route was as follows:
- Manchester
- Levenshulme
- Burnage
- East Didsbury
- Cheadle
- Wilmslow
- Alderley Edge
- Congleton
- Talke
- Newcastle-under-Lyme
- Stone bypass
- Stafford
- Cannock
- Bloxwich
- Walsall
- Birmingham
- Shirley
- Henley-in-Arden
- Wootton Wawen
- Stratford-on-Avon
- Newbold-on-Stour
- Shipston-on-Stour
- Long Compton
- (1 mile (1.6 km) east of Chipping Norton)
- Enstone
- Woodstock
- Oxford
- Abingdon
- Steventon
- East Ilsley
- Newbury
- Litchfield
- Whitchurch
- Sutton Scotney
- Winchester
When the Oxford Ring Road was completed to the west of Oxford in 1962, the old route through the city was renumbered the A4144. On completion of the Abingdon Bypass in the 1970s, the old route from the Oxford Ring Road through Abingdon and Steventon to Chilton was partly declassified (for 5 miles (8.0 km)) and the rest renumbered A4183, B4017, A4130 and A4185.
In 1991, shortly after the completion of the M40 motorway, the road between Oxford and Solihull was renumbered. Between Chipping Norton and Solihull the road lost its primary route status and was renumbered A3400, and south of Chipping Norton the route became part of an extended A44. The A34 was diverted north from the Oxford Ring Road to the M40 along parts of the former routes of the A43 and A421. Much of the long-distance traffic carried by what is now the A3400 now uses the M40 to Birmingham, and the M42 and M6 to by-pass the city.
When the Newbury Bypass was opened in 1998, the old route through Newbury became part of the A339 and the B4640.
The long planned and often postponed Alderley Edge bypass was completed in November 2010, ahead of schedule and within the £52 million budget. The official opening ceremony was conducted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon George Osborne MP, on 19 November 2010.
Read more about this topic: A34 Road
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