M40 motorway (Great Britain)

M40
Route information
Part of E05
Length:	89.0 mi (143.2 km)
Existed:	1967 – present
History:	Constructed 1967–90
Major junctions
From:	Denham, Buckinghamshire (J1, A40 Western Avenue)
	M25 Junction 16 M42 Junction 3A
To:	Earlswood, Warwickshire (J3A, M42 Birmingham Box)
Location
Primary destinations:	Uxbridge, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Maidenhead(for M4 motorway) Oxford, Banbury, Warwick, Royal Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Birmingham
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

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The M40 is a motorway connecting London and Birmingham; part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05. It provides an alternative route from Southern England to the West Midlands, to the M1 and the A34.

The motorway is dual three lanes except for Junction 1A to J3, which is dual four lanes, a short section past J4, which is dual two lanes, and a short section past J9, two lanes southbound.

The motorway has four service areas:

In 2011 several of the company logos on the signs for these services were incorrect.

An Active Traffic Management system operates on the short section northbound from J16 (A3400) to the M42.

The motorway between London and Oxford was constructed in stages between 1967 and 1974. The first section from the High Wycombe Bypass from Handycross to Stokenchurch (J4–5) opened in June 1967 with a temporary junction (J2*) opening in 1969, extending in a southerly direction to Holtspur just outside Beaconsfield. The 'Beaconsfield bypass' to J2 was built in 1971 and the 'Gerrards Cross Bypass' to J1 was completed in 1973. The section northbound from J5 to J8 (Pitmore to Chilworth Farm at Great Milton just outside Oxford) was completed in 1974.

At the design stage a service area was planned for Abbey Barns between Beaconsfield and High Wycombe, between J3 and J4, and the road has the beginnings of slip roads on both carriageways at this point. The plans never reached fruition.

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Wikipedia