A40(M) Westway advance sign

County:

Middlesex

Length:

2.5 miles

4 km

Built:

1970

Status:

Former

See Also:

M41

A40(M) High Wycombe

A41(M)

On other websites:

CBRD Histories: Ringways

 

 

 

 

 

 

M41

County:

Middlesex

Length:

0.7 miles

1.3 km

Built:

1970

Status:

Former

See Also:

M15

M16

A40(M) Westway

A41(M)

A102(M) East Cross Route

On other websites:

CBRD Histories: Ringways

The Westway and West Cross Route (passenger's eye view)

© Tom Sutch - used with grateful thanks. Originally hosted on Apex Corner.

I've put up these photos (taken by my front seat passenger) to complement the ones I took from underneath and around the road.

A40 westbound

Please excuse the state of some of these photos -- we are looking into the sun, and my windscreen evidently wasn't as clean as I thought it was!

Approaching the Marylebone Flyover (in the centre of the picture) from the Marylebone Road.

On the flyover. Two lanes, no hard shoulder.

Still on the flyover, going over the A5 Edgware Road. The big building to our left is the Hilton Metropolis. (I wonder if a room with a view of the flyover goes for more or less than one overlooking the other side?!)

Coming down the other side. A great big expanse of empty road yawns up in front of us. Exiting left here will take you onto the A404 Harrow Road. The gantry up ahead was where the A40(M) started.

OK, we've just passed that exit, so we're on to the Westway proper. A hard shoulder appears on our left and we start climbing again.

Climbing. The building on the left is part of the new Paddington Basin complex.

Past the Monsoon building, which used to be a London Transport depot. The top floor (boardroom?) overlooks the Westway.

At this point the westbound A404 is underneath us in a double-deck structure.

The Paddington on-slip joins us from the left...

...and contributes an extra lane.

Now we're on wide dual 3-lane road with hard shoulder. The big building up ahead is the Trellick Tower, designed by Ernö Goldfinger and visible from just about anywhere in West London.

Gantry with holes for emergency signals (flashing orange lights).

Rounding another bend... This road is great fun to drive along, even when there's a moderate amount of traffic.

The Westway runs at about the level of tree-tops, and the top storey of the Victorian housing in North Kensington.

Coming up to the A3220 junction -- the gantry is up ahead.

At the junction we lose the inside lane, and the hard shoulder. Now we're flying over the A3220 roundabout.

Coming down from the flyover to meet the slip road up from the A3220.

We promptly hit a queue -- the next stretch of the A40 is notorious for congestion, caused by the signalised Savoy Circus and Gipsy Corner junctions.

Here's where the end of motorway sign was -- where the slip road up from the A219 Wood Lane joins us.

 

A3220 northbound

Having just joined the A3220 (ex-M41) from the Shepherd's Bush roundabout, we are confronted with this unopened junction. It's there to serve a new retail and leisure development at White City, as yet unfinished.

Here we are under the new junction. No hard shoulder here -- unfortunately I can't remember whether it did in M41 days.

This bridge carries the Hammersmith and City line over the road. Ahead is the elevated roundabout with the A40 -- notice the gap between the two carriageways where the West Cross Route would have ploughed straight through...

...and the sharp bend at the top of what would have been the slip road, but carries all the A3220 traffic.

Here we are on the elevated roundabout.

Just passing the A40 westbound exit.

In the centre of the picture, between the lamppost and the "No Stopping" sign, a stub points threateningly at some North Kensington chimney pots (it's behind the barrier, unfortunately). This is where the West Cross Route would have continued.

A40 eastbound

Joining the A40 eastbound from the A3220 roundabout. There's no slope between the roundabout and the merge -- the flyover does all the rising and falling.

Back on the main carriageway.

The sign on the gantry informs of overnight road closure for maintenance -- sadly a regular occurrence for ageing structures such as this.

The parapet rail... and the Trellick Tower again, with its distinctive service tower. There's more information at Portowebbo.

 

A rare sighting on the Westway -- a double-decker London bus! This doesn't form part of its route, but it's on the way to or from the depot.

The number 205, which plies its trade along the Marylebone and Euston Roads.

I'm not obsessed by it -- honest!

I like this view. There's a row of tower blocks, and the perspective makes them look like they're stepped. I think they're all the same height though. This right-hander takes the Westway over the Paddington mainline railway.

Approaching the Paddington off-slip, as the gantry up ahead says.

The slip road immediately turns sharp right and crosses a weak railway bridge, hence the weight restriction.

The diverge.

Now the slip's left us, we're back to two lanes plus hard shoulder again.

There's the Monsoon building again.

Another queue, at the Marylebone flyover... This is where the 'End of motorway' sign used to be at the eastern end. It's now been replaced by a congestion charge sign. Don't believe it though -- the Marylebone Road, which this becomes, is the CC zone boundary and you do not have to pay unless you turn right off it.

Slow going...

And that's the end of our little jaunt. Hope you enjoyed it.

The most picturesque time to travel on the Westway is at sunset on a clear day (travelling westbound). Here's one of the photos I took.


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