A4123 | |
---|---|
Route information | |
Length | 12 mi (19 km) |
History | Construction completed 1927 |
Major junctions | |
Northwest end | Wolverhampton Ring Road 52°34′46″N2°07′32″W / 52.579389°N 2.125453°W |
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |
Southeast end | Harborne, Birmingham 52°27′32″N1°57′48″W / 52.458971°N 1.963203°W |
Location | |
Country | United Kingdom |
Primary destinations | Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton |
Road network | |
The A4123, is a major road in the West Midlands of the UK linking Wolverhampton with Birmingham via Dudley, also known as the Birmingham New Road (Wolverhampton to Dudley) and Wolverhampton Road (Dudley to Birmingham). It was one of the first major new roads constructed for use by motor traffic, and was designed as an unemployment relief project. [1] It runs roughly northwest to southeast from the Wolverhampton Ring Road via Dudley to Harborne, west Birmingham. [2] Until the 1960s, the road continued along the former B4123 to the A441 near Kings Norton. This became part of the A4040 during the 1960s when the Outer Ring Road came into existence.
Construction of the road began on 4 February 1924, and was built in individual sections. [3] The route went through Bury Hill Park in Rounds Green, which resulted in the park lodge and refreshment rooms having to be demolished and rebuilt. [4] It provided jobs for at least 470 unemployed workers in surrounding areas including Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley, West Bromwich, Smethwick and Oldbury. [5] It was opened by the then Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII of the United Kingdom) on 2 November 1927. [6]
The road has previously been a Trunk Road (looked after by the Highways Agency), but was detrunked on 13 November 2008. [7]
National Express West Midlands services 8 and X8 serve the majority of the A4123 from Wolverhampton to Dudley while National Express West Midlands service 126 serves the section from Dudley to Birmingham (Hagley Road).
West Midlands is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north and west, Worcestershire to the south, and is almost surrounded by Warwickshire to the east. The largest settlement is the city of Birmingham.
The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over 230 miles (370 km) from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at the Catthorpe Interchange, near Rugby before heading north-west. It passes Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle before terminating at Junction 45 near Gretna. Here, just short of the Scottish border it becomes the A74(M) which continues to Glasgow as the M74. Its busiest sections are between junctions 4 and 10a in the West Midlands, and junctions 16 to 19 in Cheshire; these sections have now been converted to smart motorways.
Tipton is an industrial town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It had a population of 38,777 at the 2011 UK Census. It is located northwest of Birmingham and southeast of Wolverhampton. It is also contiguous with nearby towns of Darlaston, Dudley, Wednesbury and Bilston.
The A38, parts of which are known as Devon Expressway, Bristol Road and Gloucester Road, is a major A-class trunk road in England.
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Bromwich and west of Birmingham through Sandwell Valley. It continues past Bromsgrove, Droitwich Spa, Worcester, Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Gloucester, Bristol, Portishead, Clevedon, Weston-super-Mare, Bridgwater, Taunton, Tiverton, Cullompton terminating at junction 31 for Exeter.
Smethwick is an industrial town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It lies 4 miles (6 km) west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire and then Worcestershire before being placed into West Midlands county.
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen.
Bilston is a market town in the City of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands, England. It is in the Black Country, 2.5 miles south east of Wolverhampton city centre and close to the borders of Sandwell and Walsall. The town was known for enamalling from the mid-17th century, and is a former coal and iron mining district. Iron works dominated in Victorian times and the area became a centre for steel production. The town had a population of 34,639 at the 2021 Census.
The A31 is a major trunk road in southern England that runs from Guildford in Surrey to Bere Regis in Dorset. Its best-known section is the Hog's Back, a ridge forming part of the North Downs between Guildford and Farnham in Surrey.
The A500 is a major primary A road in Staffordshire and Cheshire, England. It is dual carriageway for most of its length and connects Nantwich, junctions 16 and 15 of the M6 motorway with the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is 19 miles (31 km) long.
Coseley is a village in the Dudley district, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is situated three miles north of Dudley itself, on the border with Wolverhampton and Sandwell. It falls within the Tipton and Wednesbury parliamentary constituency.
The A299, better known as the Thanet Way, is a major road of 22 miles (35 km) in the county of Kent, England, and runs from Brenley Corner near Faversham to Ramsgate via Whitstable and Herne Bay.
Birmingham Corporation Tramways operated a network of tramways in Birmingham from 1904 until 1953. It was the largest narrow-gauge tramway network in the UK, and was built to a gauge of 3 ft 6 in. It was the fourth largest tramway network in the UK behind London, Glasgow and Manchester.
The Stourport Ring is a connected series of canals forming a circuit, or canal ring, around Worcestershire, The Black Country and Birmingham in The Midlands, England. The ring is formed from the River Severn, the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, the Stourbridge Canal, the Dudley Canals, the Birmingham Canal Navigations and the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.
The A491 is an A road in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme.
The BCN Main Line, or Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line is the evolving route of the Birmingham Canal between Birmingham and Wolverhampton in England.
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England, 13 miles (21 km) northwest of Birmingham. The population in 2021 was 263,700.
The Ridgacre Branch is a canal branch of the Wednesbury Old Canal, part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, in the West Midlands, England. It opened in 1828, to serve collieries and iron works, and was disused by the 1960s. Except for its branches and a small section at the eastern end, which have been filled in, most of it is still in water, but it is not navigable as a low-level bridge carrying the Black Country New Road spans the entrance.
Stephen (Steve) Field RBSA is an English sculptor, muralist and mosaicist, active mainly in the West Midlands, particularly the Black Country, where a number of his works are on public display. He has been resident artist and public art adviser to Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, since 1988, and is a member of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, the Contemporary Glass Society and the British Association of Modern Mosaic. He coordinated Dudley's Millennium Sculpture Trail.