Ring roads form an essential part of life on the road. They are there to help traffic get around towns, and are handy for distributing through traffic towards where vehicles are wanting to go, in a similar way to bypasses. Yet, they are also magnets for congestion, and can often be very busy during peak times and shopping hours, as industrial areas and retail parks are often built alongside or close to them.

Some ring roads are custom built, and are often found with wide expanses of tarmac and big junctions, sometimes even grade separated. Yet many fall short of anything close to out, being made up of a collection of back routes and narrow town roads. However, their aim is the same - getting traffic around a town or city centre, rather than the entire conurbation (although some do that too).

In addition, the term Ring Road should imply that the route should form a complete orbit; however, many don't get that far, and only form an arc that travels half or three-quarters of the way around the urban area. And of course, coastal towns can't have a road that makes a complete loop, because it simply isn't possible! Many ring roads receive the luxury of having their own number, making identifying the route easier in the occasional absence of "R" signs. But some have more than one number, generally where existing routes are used as it saves renumbering principal roads that would provide through route of their own.

Below is a list of ring roads and one-way orbital loops (which are still technically ring roads!). If any are missing, or should not be here as they are not signposted - or if you have any additional info on the roads listed, please get in touch and we'll update the page accordingly!

 

Signposted ring roads

Ashford
A292
A orbital route with an interesting history - it was made into a one-way orbital route around the town centre, but due to safety problems, the road was turned back into a two-way route, with a shared space installed along part of the southern section of the road.

Avon
A1174
A half-loop relief route that provides an option for getting from the M4 to the south side of Bristol without the need to touch the M32. It should have been a motorway, and there are still spaces for a road to the M5 to be built.

Ayr
A70, A79, A719
A town centre orbital route consisting of some purpose built dual carriageway and some single carriageway sections made up of existing roads.

Basingstoke Ringway
A30, A339, A340
A dual carriageway ring road with large roundabouts; also has a east-west link road slicing across the middle of the ring, in the form of the A3010 Churchill Way.

Birmingham Inner
A4440
A dual carriageway ring road, once a complete ring but partly remodelled due to the Bull Ring redevelopment, with the section beneath the shopping centre now only open to buses and taxis.

Birmingham Middleway
A4540
A dual carriageway ring road with recently-added junction numbers.

Birmingham Outer
A4040
A relatively decent, but poorly signed, ring road that is home to Europe's longest urban bus route (the 11 Outer Circle). Unlike the other two purpose-built ring roads in Birmingham, the Outer Ring Road is made up of a mixture of existing suburban roads.

Blackburn Northern
A6119
A half-ring, once a major strategic route, but has lost some importance since the M65 came along.

Blackburn Orbital Route
A6078
A recently created orbital route, formed through the widening of several roads and junctions around the town centre.

Bolton
A58
A 1930s semi-circular route around the northern side of the town. A southern section was proposed in the 1949 Road Plan for Lancashire, but never came to fruition.

Bradford Central
A6181
A dual carriageway orbital route around the city centre.

Bradford Outer
A6177
A primary route ring road that encircles the entire city; it's mostly single carriageway though.

Cambridge
A1134
A complete loop made up of a series of existing urban roads. It was meant to be a lot bigger and better!

Canterbury
A28, A290
An incomplete ring road encompassing three-quarters of the medieval city centre.

Cardiff Peripheral Distributor Road
A4232
A dual carriageway arc route to carry traffic from the M4 into the city centre - yet it isn't finished!

Chelmsford
A138
A nice, simple town centre ring road.

Chester Inner
A5268
An ultra-modern dual carriageway ring, with lots of traffic lights and gyratories.

Chichester
A259, A286
A very well signposted primary ring road encircling the city centre.

Coventry Ringway
A4053
A high quality ring road with numbered junctions, and a few tight corners thrown in for good measure too.

Croydon
A212, A232, A236
A horrid ring road made out of over-engineered dual carriageways in cuttings and on viaducts, yet the north side was never built.

Darlington
A68, A167
An incomplete primary ring road encompassing three-quarters of the town centre.

Derby Inner
A601
Nowhere near the similarly numbered Lancashire motorway, but encircles central Derby in a mix of single and dual carriageways and gyratories.

Derby Outer
A38, A61, A5111
The A5111 forms the main part of the ring road around the south of Derby, with the A61 and the A38 Bypass completing the orbit.

Dundee Inner
A991
A collection of dualled Marketgaits that encircle the city centre.

Hinckley
B590
A partial ring road around the southern end of Hinckley town centre.

Huddersfield
A62
A simple at-grade dual carriageway around the edge town centre. Gets congested when the rugby's on!

Ipswich
A1022, A1156
A mixed bag of single and dual carriageway road mixed in with gyratories and one-way systems.

Kidderminster Ringway
A451
A semi-circular dual carriageway around the eastern side of the town centre. The western side was planned, but never built.

Leeds Inner
A58(M), A64(M)
More of a relief road than a ring road, as it simply arcs around the northern side of the city centre. The City Loop provides more of a proper ring road than the motorway, which is more of a route for getting through traffic across Leeds.

Leeds Outer
A647, A6110, A6120
A huge city with only half a ring road, as it was only ever built around the north of the city. A loop is possible though, utilising the M1 and M621 (although this is not official).

Leicester Central
A594
A mixed route in terms of the types of road used - the northern arc was purpose-built, but the rest of it was put together using existing urban streets.

Leicester Outer
A563, A6030
A complete orbital route - however, part of it wasn't meant to be the ring road! The A6030 section was incorporated into the ring road to replace a part of the planned route that was never built.

Liverpool Inner
A5058
More well known by the name it holds for most of its length, Queen's Drive; this is a 1930s dual carriageway that forms a semi-circle around the city centre. It gets stopped in its tracks by a certain river that's famous for its ferry.

London Inner
A3, A5, A100, A201, A202, A302, A501, A1202, A1210, A3204, A4202, A5201
A complicated ring route made out of a motley collection of urban A Roads - why did the government not just allocate a single number?

London - North / South Circulars
A406, A117, A1020 / A205
The much discussed - and dreaded - ring road that winds its way through the London Suburbs. Great on the north side, not so good on the south - and has a ferry on the eastern side to link the two bits together!

London Orbital
M25, A282
An incomplete motorway ring, that cannot be completed as the Dartford Crossing must be an all-purpose route.

Loughborough
A6004
A three-quarter loop around the edge of town, with no signs of the ring being completed (particularly due to the proximity of the M1).

Manchester and Salford Inner
A57(M), A635, A665, A6043
A ring road that took nearly 40 years to complete, formed from a variety of urban dual carriageways, and a little bit of motorway too.

Manchester Outer
M60
Manchester's infamous and notorious orbital motorway, and the only one which entirely encircles its resident city.

Mansfield Inner
A6009
A circular route around the town centre, consisting of a mixture of dual and single carriageway sections.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Inner
B1600
A signposted partial ring road through Newcastle's university district and around the northern side of the city centre.

Norwich Inner
A147
A dualled circle around the city centre. Most orbital traffic uses the outer ring instead, or the further out A47 bypass.

Norwich Outer
A140, A1042
An incomplete ring road encompassing the north, west and south sides of Norwich. To finish the loop, drivers need to (rather oddly) head inwards to use the Inner Ring Road, or outwards onto the A47 Norwich Bypass (before back-tracking along the A1042).

Nottingham Outer
A52, A6514
An incomplete loop that encircles three sides of Nottingham; however it could be completed if the A6211 was to be used as part of the ring road, and a short link over to the A52 was built.

Northampton
A428, A4500, A5123
A mostly-dualled ring made up of a variety of local roads. The loop is also dissected in the form of the A508, meaning north-south traffic can avoid having to use the ring road.

Oxford Outer
A34, A40, A44, A423, A4142
A Ring Road made up of four separate bypasses (Northern Bypass Road, Eastern Bypass Road, Southern Bypass Road, Western Bypass Road).

Paisley
A726, A761, B7050
A mostly dual carriageway route, with a short section of single carriageway road, and a one way system thrown in for good measure.

Perth Inner
A989
A single carriageway road cobbled together from a number of existing routes, and simply given a single number.

Reading Inner Distribution Road
A329
An entirely dual carriageway ring road, that saves the confusion of having to use the complex one way systems and gyratories.

Romford
A118, A125, A1251
A dual carriageway town centre ring with six roundabouts along its route.

Rotherham Eastern
A6123
A single carriageway route that curves its way around the eastern and southern side of Rotherham.

Sheffield Inner
A61
A 1980s ring road, built by improving a widening several roads to form a continuous curve around the west side of the city. Recently completed through improvements to Sheaf Street and the area between the bus and rail stations.

Sheffield Outer
A6102
An incomplete ring road around the eastern side of the city, but forms an ideal route to Meadowhall Shopping Centre whilst avoiding the centre of Sheffield.

Stafford
A34, A5187
A combination of bits of road - the eastern side is purpose built dual carriageway, whilst the western section is made up of existing urban roads cobbled together to form a through route.

Walsall Broadway
A4148
A complete ring formed by the purpose built Broadway around the northern, eastern and southern sides of the town, with the western side formed from an existing suburban road.

Wolverhampton
A4150
A dual carriageway ring road, split into sections named after saints.

Wrexham
A5152
An urban orbital route around the town centre with many roundabouts.

York Inner
A1036
A twisty route encircling the city centre.

York Outer
A64, A1237
Originally just a southern bypass provided by the A64 until the A1237 was built around the north of the city during the 1980s.

 

One-way loops

Cheltenham
A46
A one-way loop that snakes its way around the town centre; doesn't look like a proper ring road on a map, but there are signs that say it is!

Huntingdon
B1514
A clockwise loop that encircles the edge of the town centre area.

Leeds City Loop
Unclassified
An orbital loop that runs clockwise around Leeds City Centre. Made up from existing city streets, with some changes to the one way systems to make sure access is maintained. Very well signposted, with each main junction numbered.

Mansfield Circuit
Unclassified
An inner one-way circular route within the Ring Road.

Stourbridge
A491
A primary clockwise one-way loop that hugs the edge of the central shopping area.

Based on a list originally compiled by Paul Berry.