A42 road

UK road routebox
road= A42
length-mi= 15
length-km= 24
direction= North east - South west
end= Appleby Magna
start= Kegworth
construction-date=
completion-date= 1989
junctions=
ukroadsmall|444
ukroadsmall|453
ukroadsmall|511
ukroadsmall|512

The A42 is a major trunk road in the United Kingdom. It links junction 23A of the M1 motorway to junction 11 of the M42 motorway. The A42 is in effect a continuation of the M42, and its junctions are numbered accordingly.

It is built to a similar standard to the M42 being a grade separated dual carriageway. The six mile Measham and Ashby-de-la-Zouch bypass section was opened in August 1989 at a cost of £33m.

A stretch of the A42 near Ashby has been selected as one of 5 East Midlands locations for a proposed structure called the Sky Vault.

Junctions

ervice stations

*Donington Park services

History of the road number

The current road is the second incarnation of the A42. The original (1923) route was Reading, Berkshire to Birmingham via Oxford. The whole road disappeared in 1935 - the section from Reading to Shillingford became part of the A329, Shillingford to Oxford became part of the A423 and Oxford to Birmingham became part of the A34. In 1993 the A423 was itself renumbered, with the section formerly the A42 becoming part of the A4074 from Reading, Berkshire to Oxford. Interestingly, the modern M42 does interchange with the ghost of the old A42 at J4 (Stratford Road now being numbered A34 to the north, A3400 south of there).

ee also

*Anomalously numbered roads in Great Britain.

External links

* [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/f99/42.shtml SABRE Roaders Digest - A42]
* [http://www.road-to-nowhere.co.uk/route-guides/A42/ Road to Nowhere: A42]
* [http://www.skyvault.info/index.html Sky Vault website]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/nottinghamshire/4534538.stm BBC news article on Sky Vault]