A422 road

A422 road
Route information
Length:	83 mi (134 km)
Major junctions
East end:	A428 near Bromham 52°08′27″N 0°32′43″W / 52.14073°N 0.54537°W
	A428 road A509 road A5 road A413 road A43 road [[Image:Motorway Left.svg|[ |x30px|link=]] M40 motorway A361 road A46 road A44 road
West end:	A44 near Broughton Hackett 52°11′01″N 2°08′18″W / 52.18351°N 2.13821°WCoordinates: 52°11′01″N 2°08′18″W / 52.18351°N 2.13821°W
Location
Primary destinations:	Bedford Milton Keynes Banbury Stratford upon Avon Worcester
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The A422 is an "A" road for east-west journeys in south central England, connecting the county towns of Bedford and Worcester by way of Milton Keynes, Buckingham, Banbury and Stratford-upon-Avon. For most of its length, it is a narrow single carriageway.

Route (east to west)

The eastern end of the road is at Bromham on the outskirts of Bedford, where it branches off the A428. Its route then crosses into the Borough of Milton Keynes. It briefly merges with the A509 to bypass Newport Pagnell. Entering Milton Keynes itself, it crosses the northern part of the city as a dual carriageway known locally as the H3 Monks Way. It has followed these routes since they were developed in the 1970s as part of the grid road system in Milton Keynes.

Upon meeting the A5 the A422 follows its route for 3 miles (4.8 km) before crossing briefly into Northamptonshire and regaining its identity (and single carriageway status).It then bypasses Deanshanger, goes through the centre of Buckingham, around Brackley in Northamptonshire, into Oxfordshire, just before crossing the M40 at Junction 11 and into Banbury. From the A422/B4525 roundabout, on the western edge of Middleton Cheney, Banbury (east of Junction 11), the Road is dualled until it meets the A423 and resumes as a single carriageway. From there to Stratford upon Avon, it is a minor road crossing into Warwickshire at the Battle of Edgehill site, from there it declines steeply down the Sunrising Hill escarpment and then across the Fosse Way.

From the western side of Stratford-upon-Avon the road becomes the A46 until the junction of the A435 trunk road at Oversley on the outskirts of the historic market town of Alcester. At that roundabout junction the A422 heads briefly north to cross the River Arrow before heading west into the village of Arrow. In the village the road takes a right hand turn at the old Toll House, heading for the border with Worcestershire and passing through the village of Inkberrow, said^[1] to be the village that was the inspiration for Ambridge, the centre of the world for fans of the long-running BBC radio series The Archers, which began in 1951.

The last section to Worcester is narrow and winding until it meets the A44 just south of M5 junction 6.

The road is 83 miles (134 km) long.^[2]

References

1. "The Archers now priced out of Ambridge" The Telegraph
2. "A422 to A422". Google. Retrieved 23 March 2013.