A42 road

A42 road
Route information
Length:	15 mi (24 km)
History:	Completed in 1989
Major junctions
North east end:	Kegworth 52°49′25″N 1°18′17″W / 52.8235°N 1.3047°W / 52.8235; -1.3047 (A42 road (northeastern end))
	M1 motorway M42 motorway A444 road A453 road A511 road A512 road
South west end:	Appleby Magna 52°41′07″N 1°33′00″W / 52.6854°N 1.5499°W / 52.6854; -1.5499 (A42 road (southwestern end))
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

A42 looking north bound towards the restricted junction 14.

The A42 is a major trunk road in the East Midlands region of 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 6-mile (9.7 km) 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 possible East Midlands locations for a proposed piece of public art called the Sky Vault.

Junctions

Bridging Link

The A42 was built by the Government in 1982 to link the M42 Northern Section to the M1; although it wasn't designated as motorway, and has no hard shoulder, the road is fully grade separated and runs with two lanes each way, the same as the M42 below it.

The original planned line of the M42 saw it taking a more northbound line, crossing what is now the A50 Derby Southern Bypass and meeting the M1 north of Bardills Island (A52/M1 interchange).

Service 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 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 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).

See also

• Anomalously numbered roads in Great Britain.

External links

• SABRE Roaders Digest - A42
• Road to Nowhere: A42
• Sky Vault website
• BBC news article on Sky Vault

v t e A roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme A4 A40 A41 A42 A43 A44 A45 A46 A47 A48 A49 A403 A404 A405 A406 A412 A413 A414 A415 A417 A418 A419 A420 A421 A422 A423 A425 A426 A427 A428 A429 A431 A432 A433 A435 A441 A442 A444 A445 A446 A448 A449 A452 A453 A454 A456 A458 A461 A465 A468 A469 A470 A472 A473 A474 A475 A476 A477 A478 A482 A483 A484 A485 A486 A487 A488 A489 A490 A491 A493 A494 A496 A497 A498 A499 A4005 A4006 A4008 A4010 A4012 A4018 A4025 A4032 A4037 A4040 A4042 A4050 A4053 A4054 A4055 A4059 A4060 A4061 A4063 A4067 A4069 A4074 A4076 A4080 A4085 A4094 A4103 A4107 A4109 A4113 A4117 A4118 A4119 A4123 A4130 A4133 A4135 A4136 A4138 A4142 A4146 A4148 A4150 A4155 A4160 A4161 A4169 A4173 A4174 A4202 A4212 A4216 A4217 A4221 A4226 A4230 A4232 A4234 A4240 A4241 A4260 A4289 A4361 A4400 A4536 A4540 List of A roads in Zone 4 List of B roads in Zone 4

Coordinates: 52°45′17″N 1°26′27″W / 52.7548°N 1.4408°W / 52.7548; -1.4408 (A42 road)