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A trunk road, trunk highway, or strategic road is a major road, usually connecting two or more cities, ports, airports and other places, which is the recommended route for long-distance and freight traffic. Many trunk roads have segregated lanes in a dual carriageway, or are of motorway standard. [1]
| Trunk Roads Act 1936 | |
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| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to provide that the Minister of Transport shall be the highway authority for the principal roads in Great Britain which constitute the national system of routes for through traffic; to make consequential amendments in the law relating to highways; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid. |
| Citation | 1 Edw. 8. & 1 Geo. 6. c. 5 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 18 December 1936 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1937 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
| Trunk Roads Act 1946 | |
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| Act of Parliament | |
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| Long title | An Act to amend the law relating to Trunk Roads; and for purposes connected therewith. |
| Citation | 9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 30 |
| Dates | |
| Royal assent | 6 March 1946 |
| Commencement | 1 April 1946 |
| Text of statute as originally enacted | |
In the United Kingdom, trunk roads were first defined for Great Britain in the Trunk Roads Act 1936 (1 Edw. 8. & 1 Geo. 6. c. 5). Thirty major roads were classed as trunk roads, and the Minister of Transport took direct control of them and the bridges across them. The Trunk Roads Act came into force in England and Wales on 1 April 1937, and in Scotland on 16 May 1937. This development did not extend to Northern Ireland, which has always had a separate system of highway and road traffic law.
At that time, 4,500 miles (7,200 km) of British roads were classified as trunk roads. Additional roads have been "trunked", notably in the Trunk Roads Act 1946 (9 & 10 Geo. 6. c. 30). Others, like virtually all British motorways, have entered the system as a result of new construction. As of 2004, Great Britain had 7,845 mi (12,625 km) of trunk roads, of which 2,161 mi (3,478 km) were motorways. [2]
Since 1994, trunk roads in England have been managed by National Highways (formerly Highways England, and before that, Highways Agency), while Scotland has had responsibility for its own trunk roads since 1998; these are currently managed by Transport Scotland, created in 2006. The Welsh Government has had responsibility for trunk roads in Wales since its establishment in 1998.
England has 4,300 miles (6,900 km), [3] Scotland has 1,982 miles (3,190 km) and Wales has 1,048 miles (1,687 km) of trunk roads, inclusive of motorways. National Highways publishes a full network map of trunk roads and motorways in England.
Most interurban trunk roads are primary routes, the category of roads recommended for long distance and freight transport. Not all primary routes are trunk roads, the difference being that maintenance of trunk roads is paid for by national government bodies rather than the local councils in whose area they lie. Primary routes are identified by their direction signs, which feature white text on a green background with route numbers in yellow. Trunk roads, like other "A" roads, can be either single- or dual-carriageway.
Historically, trunk roads were listed on maps with a "T" in brackets after their number, to distinguish them from non-trunk parts of the same road, however this suffix is no longer included on current Ordnance Survey maps, which simply distinguish between primary and non-primary "A" roads. A trunk road which has been upgraded to motorway standards may retain its original "A" number, but with an "M" in brackets to denote that motorway regulations apply on it. Long distance examples of this are the A1(M) in England, and the A74(M) in Scotland. [1]
It is possible for roads to be "de-trunked" – for example, when superseded by a motorway following a similar route – in which case they normally become ordinary "A" roads. When a road is de-trunked, signposts are often replaced, and sometimes route numbers are changed, making the original route of the road harder to follow. Roads are formally and legally detrunked by statutory instruments named 'Detrunking (or sometimes De-Trunking) Orders' which include a plan of the route being detrunked. [4] The routes to be detrunked (as set out in detrunking orders) are not always linear sections, but can be split into multiple sections, and span multiple counties.
In England, the government has de-trunked much of the trunk road network since the late 1990s, transferring responsibility to local councils to allow National Highways to concentrate on a selection of core trunk routes, mostly dual carriageways and motorways.
In Ireland, major roads were previously classified under an old system as "trunk roads", and had route numbers prefixed by a "T". Connecting roads were classified as 'link roads", and had route numbers prefixed by an "L". Many of these roads had their origins in historic routes, including turnpike roads.
Although a number of old road signs using these route designations may still be encountered, Ireland has adopted a newer classification scheme of national primary and national secondary routes ("N" roads), regional roads ("R" roads), and local roads ("L"-prefixed roads). Local road numbers were previously not signposted, although they are now indicated on signs in many areas of the country.
The current "L"-prefixed local roads are unrelated to the previous "L"-prefixed link road classification.
Some former trunk roads, or sections of former trunk roads, became non-trunk regional roads under the new road numbering system introduced in the 1970s and 1980s. More recently, sections of former national primary routes which have been bypassed by motorways or other road improvement schemes have been downgraded to regional road status.
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Though the term "trunk road" is not commonly used in American English, the U.S. Highway and Interstate Highway systems can be considered American trunk highways. However, individual states are responsible for actual highway construction and maintenance, even though the federal government helps fund these activities as long as the states enact certain laws and enforce them (such laws have included the raising of the minimum drinking age and the lowering of speed limits). Each state maintains all of its roads and tries to integrate them into a system appropriate for that state. The states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin designate their highways as "state trunklines" or "(state) trunk highways". In many states, highways beyond those that are part of the U.S. Highway and Interstate Highway systems may also serve as trunk highways; these are often numbered and posted as state highways or state routes. Not all state highways and state routes, however, serve this purpose or are constructed to these standards; many in rural areas are simple two-lane roads.
Trunk highways in Canada consist of core routes within its National Highway System.
Trunk highways in China consist of China National Highways and Expressways of China.
Trunk highways in India consist of national highways, expressways in India, and state highways. The most famous is the Grand Trunk Road.
Trunk highways in Italy consist of autostrade (i.e. roads forming the Italian national system of motorways) and state highways of Italy.
The most important roads in Sweden are labelled "national trunk road". In 1982, the parliament decided upon which roads were to become national trunk roads. They are considered recommended main roads for long-distance traffic. They were also supposed to be used for movement and transport of heavy military vehicles, ordnance and logistics and during wartime were to be guarded and defended at all odds.
National trunk roads are planned nationally, as opposed to other roads, which are planned locally. They also have a special, slightly larger budget. However, they are not signed in any special way. Therefore, there is no difference in signage, numbering, road standard or map marking from other national roads. Some national roads are only considered trunk for part of their length. National Roads 73 and 75 are both built to motorway standard and have high traffic, but are not considered trunk. European routes are always trunk in Sweden, and are more visible with special numbering.
The A1, also known as the Great North Road, is the longest numbered road in the United Kingdom, at 410 miles (660 km). It connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The numbering system for A-roads, devised in the early 1920s, was based around patterns of roads radiating from two hubs at London and Edinburgh. The first number in the system, A1, was given to the most important part of that system: the road from London to Edinburgh, joining the two central points of the system and linking the UK's (then) two mainland capital cities. It passes through or near north London, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Stevenage, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Biggleswade, Eaton Socon, Buckden, Peterborough, Stamford, Grantham, Newark-on-Trent, Retford, Doncaster, Pontefract, York, Wetherby, Ripon, Darlington, Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle upon Tyne, Morpeth, Alnwick and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
The Great Britain road numbering scheme is a numbering scheme used to classify and identify all roads in Great Britain. Each road is given a single letter and a subsequent number. Though this scheme was introduced merely to simplify funding allocations, it soon became used on maps and as a method of navigation. There are two sub-schemes in use: one for motorways, and another for non-motorway roads.
The A34 is a major road in England. It runs from the A33 and M3 at Winchester in Hampshire, to the A6 and A6042 in Salford, close to Manchester City Centre. It forms a large part of the major trunk route from Southampton, via Oxford, to Birmingham, The Potteries and Manchester. For most of its length, it forms part of the former Winchester–Preston Trunk Road. Improvements to the section of road forming the Newbury Bypass around Newbury were the scene of significant direct action environmental protests in the 1990s. It is 151 miles (243 km) long.
The A66 is a major road in Northern England, which in part follows the course of the Roman road from Scotch Corner to Penrith. It runs from east of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire to Workington in Cumbria. The road has been progressively improved with dual carriageway sections, but with stretches of single carriageway road. The road is set to be completely dualled between Scotch Corner and Penrith, with a £1.3 billion scheme being announced in March 2024.
The island of Ireland, comprising Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries, from trackways suitable only for walkers and horses, to surfaced roads including modern motorways. Driving is on the left-hand side of the road. The major routes were established before Irish independence and consequently take little cognisance of the border other than a change of identification number and street furniture. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has a well-developed network of primary, secondary and local routes. The Republic started work on its motorway network in the early 1980s; and historically, the road network there was once somewhat less well developed. However, the Celtic Tiger economic boom and an influx of European Union structural funding, saw national roads and regional roads in the Republic come up to international standard quite quickly. In the mid-1990s, for example, the Republic went from having only a few short sections of motorway to a network of motorways, dual carriageways and other improvements on most major routes as part of a National Development Plan. Road construction in Northern Ireland now tends to proceed at a slower pace than in the Republic, although a number of important bypasses and upgrades to dual carriageway have recently been completed or are about to begin.
Highways in Australia are generally high capacity roads managed by state and territory government agencies, though Australia's federal government contributes funding for important links between capital cities and major regional centres. Prior to European settlement, the earliest needs for trade and travel were met by narrow bush tracks, used by tribes of Indigenous Australians. The formal construction of roads began in 1788, after the founding of the colony of New South Wales, and a network of three major roads across the colony emerged by the 1820s. Similar road networks were established in the other colonies of Australia. Road construction programs in the early 19th century were generally underfunded, as they were dependent on government budgets, loans, and tolls; while there was a huge increase in road usage, due to the Australian gold rushes. Local government authorities, often known as Road Boards, were therefore established to be primarily responsible for funding and undertaking road construction and maintenance. The early 1900s saw both the increasingly widespread use of motorised transportation, and the creation of state road authorities in each state, between 1913 and 1926. These authorities managed each state's road network, with the main arterial roads controlled and maintained by the state, and other roads remaining the responsibility of local governments. The federal government became involved in road funding in the 1920s, distributing funding to the states. The depression of the 1930s slowed the funding and development of the major road network until the onset on World War II. Supply roads leading to the north of the country were considered vital, resulting in the construction of Barkly, Stuart, and Eyre Highways.
A dual carriageway (BrE) or a divided highway (AmE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are designed to higher standards with controlled access are generally classed as motorways, freeways, etc., rather than dual carriageways.
The A74 also known historically as the Glasgow to Carlisle Road, is a formerly major road in the United Kingdom, linking Glasgow in Scotland to Carlisle in the North West of England, passing through Clydesdale, Annandale and the Southern Uplands, and forms part of the wider arterial route between Glasgow and London. A road in this area has existed since Roman Britain, and it was considered one of the most important roads in Scotland, being used as a regular mail service route.
The A580 is the United Kingdom's first purpose-built inter-city highway. The road, which remains a primary A road, was officially opened by King George V on 18 July 1934. It links Liverpool to Salford, 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Manchester city centre.
A routenumber, designation or abbreviation is an identifying numeric designation assigned by a highway authority to a particular stretch of roadway to distinguish it from other routes and, in many cases, also to indicate its classification, general geographical location and/or orientation. The numbers chosen may be used solely for internal administrative purposes; however, in most cases they are also displayed on roadside signage and indicated on maps.
The road hierarchy categorizes roads according to their functions and capacities. While sources differ on the exact nomenclature, the basic hierarchy comprises freeways, arterials, collectors, and local roads. Generally, the functional hierarchy can more or less correspond to the hierarchy of roads by their owner or administrator.
A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The first section, the Doncaster Bypass, opened in 1961 and is one of the oldest sections of motorway in Britain. Construction of a new section of A1(M) between Leeming and Barton was completed on 29 March 2018, a year later than the anticipated opening in 2017 due to extensive archaeological excavations. Its completion linked the Barton to Washington section with the Darrington to Leeming Bar section, forming the longest A1(M) section overall and reducing the number of sections from five to four.
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms include throughway or thruway and parkway. Some of these may be limited-access highways, although this term can also refer to a class of highways with somewhat less isolation from other traffic.
The United Kingdom has a well developed and extensive network of roads totalling about 262,300 miles (422,100 km). Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour (mph) or by the use of the national speed limit (NSL) symbol. Some vehicle categories have various lower maximum limits enforced by speed limiters. A unified numbering system is in place for Great Britain, whilst in Northern Ireland, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers.
A national primary road is a road classification in Ireland. National primary roads form the major routes between the major urban centres. There are 2649 km of national primary roads. This category of road has the prefix "N" followed by one or two digits. Motorways are prefixed "M" followed by one or two digits.
There have been routes and trackways in Ireland connecting settlements and facilitating trade since ancient times and the country now has an extensive network of public roads connecting all parts of the island.
A highway location marker is the modern-day equivalent of a milestone. Unlike traditional milestones, however, which were originally carved from stone and sited at one-mile intervals, modern highway location markers are made from a variety of materials and are almost invariably spaced at intervals of a kilometre or a fraction thereof. In some countries they may be known as driver location signs, milestones or kilometre stones.
This article describes the highway systems available in selected countries.
Trunk roads in Wales were created in the Trunk Roads Act of 1936 when the UK Ministry of Transport took direct control over 30 of the principal roads in Great Britain from English, Welsh and Scottish local authorities. The number of trunk roads was increased from 30 to 101 in the Trunk Roads Act of 1946. These roads formed what the Act called "the national system of routes for through traffic". Since Welsh devolution the trunk road system in Wales has been managed by the South Wales Trunk Road Agent and the North and Mid Wales Trunk Road Agent on behalf of the Welsh Government. As of April 2019, out of a total of 34,850 miles (56,090 km) of roads in Wales, 1,576 miles (2,536 km) are trunk roads.
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