North Circular Road
The route of the North Circular Road in Greater London, with the South Circular Road and Woolwich Ferry
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| Part of | A406 |
|---|---|
| Maintained by | Transport for London |
| Length | 25.7 mi (41.4 km) |
| West end | Chiswick (M4 Junction 1) |
| Major junctions |
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| East end | Beckton |
| Construction | |
| Completion | c. 1930 |
| Inauguration | 1910 |
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The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a 25.7-mile-long (41.4 km) ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east, and connects the various suburbs in the area, including Ealing, Willesden, Wembley, Southgate, Tottenham, Woodford and Barking. Together with its counterpart, the South Circular Road, it forms a ring road through the Outer London suburbs. This ring road does not make a complete circuit of the city, being C-shaped rather than a complete loop as the crossing of the River Thames in the east is made on the Woolwich Ferry.
The road was originally designed to connect local industrial communities together in addition to bypassing London, and was constructed in the 1920s and '30s. It received significant upgrades after the Second World War, and was at one point planned to be upgraded to motorway as part of the controversial and ultimately cancelled London Ringways scheme in the late 1960s. In the early 1990s, the road was extended to bypass Barking and meet the A13 north of Woolwich.
The road's design varies from six lane dual carriageway to urban streets, the latter of which contribute to traffic congestion in London and are regularly featured on local traffic reports, particularly at Henlys Corner and Bounds Green in Northwest London. The uncertainty of development has caused urban decay and property blight along its route, and led to criticism over its poor pollution record. Several London Borough Councils have set up regeneration projects to improve the environment for communities surrounding the North Circular.
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