the uk trunk road network
The United Kingdom has a vast and complex network, consisting of various grades of roads, from quiet country tracks to full blown motorways. A large proportion of the road network are Trunk Roads, providing a strategic network of major routes linking centres of national importance.
This enhanced section will take an in-depth look at the Trunk Road network, explaining what these roads are, who manages them and why they were introduced. There are also a number of maps that put it all into perspective too.
How It All Began
Back in the 1930s, car use was increasing, and people were beginning to travel further afield and more frequently. The government realised this, and realised the importance of a simple system of roads that would link the major urban centres. In addition, the upkeep and quality of these major routes seemed to be a little inconsistent, with standards seeming to vary between local authorities.
Only a few years earlier, in 1922, had a numbering system been introduced to make navigating the United Kingdom easier. Previously, you had to know which towns you had to pass through, like a giant road dot-to-dot. Numbering meant that you only needed to remember a couple of roads.
So the government decided that a new system of road classification was needed, one that would highlight the importance of specific roads. By doing so, a strategic network could be established that would link together the major cities, ports and other principal places.
A network of essential routes had already been drawn up by the government previously, as they were already giving councils additional grants for their upkeep. However, with the new network, politicians realised that other roads that were not included needed to be added to the list.
The Transport Act 1936
In order to create this network, an Act of Parliament was passed to establish this new tier of road. And so the Trunk Road was born. A series of thirty routes were converted to Trunk Roads, covering the length and breadth of the country. In all, some 4,500 miles of classified road - making up 17% of all "Class I" roads - became the responsibility of the Minister of Transport, Leslie Hore-Belisha.
The Trunk Road network came into force from the 1st April 1937, with Scottish roads transferring on 16th May 1937. With the Act came a new set of responsibilities for the Minister. This meant he and his department, the Ministry of Transport, were responsible for the administrative and financial requirements of the upkeep of the new network.
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1936 Trunk Road Map |
| PDF document (82 Kb) |
However, some councils still retained control over the maintenance of the trunk roads. In some areas, the Ministry delegated responsibility to the local council, and also for neighbouring councils upon gaining permission to do so. Basically, if the Ministry wanted Council A to maintain the trunk roads in Council B's area, the Ministry would have to gain written permission from Council B to do so! That responsibility could also be revoked if maintenance was not carried out to a high enough standard.
But to make things confusing, the Ministry could only serve notice of a transfer of control (or to have it revoked) after 1 October of any particular year - and that could only come into force from the following 1 April!
Infrastructure
In addition, the Ministry was also permitted to install new lighting and signage, as well as improve existing stock. However, if new lighting was to be erected, the Ministry had to gain permission from the local authority, in order for the supplies to be connected. The Ministry was also permitted to install new signage on other approaching roads to advise of the trunk road.
The Ministry was also responsible for any bridges under or over the trunk road, plus any access roads linking the trunk road with the local road it passes over or under. The department also had to construct or improve any approaches to the bridges, although if they were a local road, their responsibility would pass to the local authority.
New Roads
As the Act was being passed through Parliament, a number of new bypasses were in the course of being constructed. These were intended to form part of the new trunk routes, but as the routes had already been decided, they couldn't become trunk roads. It meant that a special Order was placed within the Act, which allowed the Ministry to change the routes of trunk roads to include the new bypasses should they have opened before the Act came into force. The bypassed sections of road would therefore not be trunked and their responsibility would remain with the relevant local authority.
However, for roads built or opened after 1 April 1937, the strange occurrence of both the existing and new road being trunked would take effect. The Ministry would maintain responsibility of the old road until the end of the financial year, and had to ensure the road was maintained to the required standard until that time. Once the financial year ended, the old road could cease to be a trunk route, and responsibility was handed back to the local authority.
New Numbers?
During the planning stages, the Ministry suggested that a new numbering system be introduced. The reason for this was to highlight the importance of the new trunk routes, and the Act required all trunk roads to be numbered, so drivers could identify them easily.
So, after some umming and arring, the Ministry decided that trunk roads should receive T-numbers, as they would eventually replace the A-numbers that were currently in place. In the most part, the numbers would stay the same - it would have just been a simple case of swapping the A with a T. Where the existing number changed (such as the A1 to A555, A406, A555 again, A500, A555 once more and back to A1), the whole lot would have received the number that clocked up the greatest mileage (so the A1 would become T1, and so would the A555!).
As a result, this created a couple of numbering oddities, given that most roads were given one or two digit numbers - the T483 and T580. This was even more odd given there were two digit A-roads that would be completely swallowed up - why not use T62 or T63 instead of T580?
Mind you, there would have been some anomalies too - the A41 from Birmingham to Birkenhead would have become T42 (why not just keep the "41" number?) and the Doncaster to Grimsby route would be renumbered from A18 to T22!
The full list of proposed numbers would have been:
| T1 | London - Hatfield - Newcastle - Edinburgh - Thurso |
| T2 or T20 | London - Maidstone - Folkestone - Dover |
| T3 | London - Guildford Bypass - Portsmouth |
| T4 | London - Reading - Bath - Bristol |
| T5 | London - St Albans - Coventry - Birmingham - Shrewsbury - Bangor - Holyhead |
| T6 | London - Luton - Manchester - Preston - Carlisle - Glasgow - Fort William - Inverness |
| T7 | Edinburgh - Galashiels - Carlisle |
| T8 | Edinburgh - Harthill - Glasgow |
| T11 | London - Norwich |
| T12 | London - Ipswich - Great Yarmouth |
| T16 | Norman Cross - Peterborough - Market Deeping - Boston - Grimsby |
| T18 | Sheffield - Doncaster - Brigg - Grimsby |
| T23 | London - Crawley - Brighton |
| T34 | Winchester - Newbury - Oxford - Birmingham - Stoke-on-Trent - Warrington - Preston |
| T30 | London - Salisbury - Yeovil - Exeter - Bodmin - Redruth - Penzance |
| T33 | Basingstoke - Winchester - Chandler's Fold - Southampton |
| T38 | Exeter - Bristol - Birmingham - Burton-upon-Trent - Derby - Sheffield - Leeds |
| T42 | Stourbridge - Birmingham - Wolverhampton - Chester - Birkenhead |
| T47 | Birmingham - Nuneaton - Peterborough - Norwich - Great Yarmouth |
| T49 | Newport - Pontypool - Hereford - Shrewsbury |
| T55 | Chester - Colwyn Bay - Bangor |
| T59 | Liverpool - Preston - Skipton - Leeds |
| T66 | Penrith - Scotch Corner - Middlesborough |
| T77 | Gretna - Stranraer - Dumfries - Ayr - Glasgow - Stirling |
| T88 | Tyndrum - Oban |
| T92 | Perth - Dundee - Aberdeen - Fraserburgh - Inverness |
| T483 | Swansea - Welshpool - Chester - Northwich - Manchester |
| T580 | Liverpool - Manchester - Huddersfield - Leeds - Selby - Hull |
| T69 | Carlisle - Hexham - Newcastle-upon-Tyne - Sunderland |
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Detailed T-Road List |
| PDF document (288 Kb) |
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Proposed T-Road Network Map |
| PDF document (288 Kb) |
The new numbering system was so close to being introduced that the Ministry had even created new signage to depict the trunk roads. Based on the French Route Nationales, the signs would be marker posts displaying the road number and distance, plus the letters "MT" to denote the road was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport. This would make it easier for maintenance crews to find faults and other problems. In effect, they are similar to the small blue signs found on many motorways today!
Yet, the road numbers were never made public, and the renumbering scheme cancelled. The reason, as discovered by Chris Marshall, was due to the Ordnance Survey creating the National Grid, meaning any point could be located on a map to within a matter of metres. A draft leaflet from the OS was sent by a senior cartographer to a friend. The friend so happened to work in the Ministry! It meant that those crews could be given co-ordinates on a map, thus eliminating the need to put up new signs and confuse Joe Public with new road numbers.
The Exceptions
As is the case, there were exceptions to the rule. No road within the County of London, or any other County Borough (or County Burgh in Scotland), was allowed to be trunked. It meant that trunk roads had big gaps in them, where the relevant council maintained responsibility for the roads within it, even if they were of national strategic importance. Trunk roads also ceased to be trunk if the County area was extended to cover additional areas.
The Network Expands
Following the end of the Second World War, the country was beginning the slow process of returning to normality. The government wanted to make it easier for goods and produce to be transported around the country, as well as provide a network that could suitably meet local and national planning needs.
The Transport Act 1946
It was decided that a second Trunk Road Act would be passed, which would allow for the reorganisation of the Trunk Road network. Principally it added more roads to the trunk road network, and upheld the requirements of the original Act of 1936. In addition, the Minister of Transport was given additional powers over these roads, plus the newly allocated routes.
The new act came into force on 1 April 1946 (16 May 1946 in Scotland), and added some 72 new trunk routes to the network. It also meant that roads within the County of London could now be trunked, so existing trunk roads were extended from the boundary into the County. The only exception was the City of London, where any road within that area could still not be trunked.
Again, however, this act did not include Northern Ireland, as it had its own road system.
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List of Trunk Roads added in 1946 |
| PDF document (78 Kb) |
New Bridges and Junctions
Most of the new regulations that were introduced under the Act related to bridges and junctions. The Ministry was given new powers that allowed new or upgraded junctions to be built. It was now possible to provide road junctions on more than one level, known today as a Grade Separated Junction. Existing side roads could be closed off to traffic, forcing motorists to use new connecting roads or junctions further down the road; this could only be undertaken where safety records were poor, and the alternative access points had to be within 440 yards of the closed ones.
The Ministry also had the power to build new link roads to other roads that crossed the trunk road, but once built, they would be handed over to the control of the local authority. The Ministry was also permitted to buy land at either side of the road, up to a maximum of 220 yards from the centre of the road - this was done to stop buildings being built too close to the new roads and preserve local amenities and utilities.
With regards to bridges, the Ministry had several new responsibilities. Firstly, the department gained control of all privately-owned bridges that carried trunk roads over them. There were exceptions, though. Swing bridges, toll bridges and those carrying both the road and a railway were not included in the transfer - they remained with their current owners. The Rochester, Barnstaple and Bideford Bridges also stayed with their owners too.
Also, any trunk road bridges passing over navigable waterways had to maintain a certain headroom - if the land subsided, causing the bridge to sink slightly to a height below the permitted level, the Ministry had to replace it back to its original height. The same applied to any tunnels that were built - they had to built to a certain depth below the riverbed to maintain navigability there.
In addition, before replacing a bridge over a waterway or railway, the Ministry had to seek permission from the relevant owners in order to access their land!
Trunk Decline
The mass expansion of the motorway network during the 1960s saw these roads join the trunk road system. The result was a large number of parallel routes, such as the M6 alongside the A6, A49, A50 and A34. This eventually led to a review of the trunk system, with a large number of roads losing their trunk road status.
The first mass declassification of the trunk road network in England took place during the early 1990s, with a huge part of the network being detrunked. Many of the traditional roads were affected, including sections of the A2, A4, A5 and A6 - all being bypassed by motorways.
One reason for this was to allow the trunk road network to be passed to a new agency, operating somewhat at arms length to the government. This new agency, aptly named the Highways Agency, was established on 30 March 1994. The reason for the Agency being set up was due to the belief of the then Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, that a separate managing agency could provide faster improvements and better management of the trunk network. By shrinking the trunk network, and passing the remaining roads into the control of the local authorities, the Highways Agency would be able to better manage its time and resources onto the most important roads, to be known as the Strategic Road Network.
A further look at the trunk network during the mid 1990s, and published in the 1998 white paper, "A New Deal for Transport" would see more trunk roads lose their status. In fact, some sections of motorway - the M65 (J8-J10) and M32 - were to be included; however, they were removed from this programme and would remain under the control of the Highways Agency.
Within the white paper, the government concluded:
The trunk road network varies greatly from place to place, although most trunk roads are of clear national significance. We have identified a core network in England of nationally important routes. In defining this network we have taken the following factors into account: - linking main centres of population and economic activity;
- accessing major ports, airports and rail intermodal terminals;
- joining peripheral regions to the centre;
- providing key cross-border links to Scotland and Wales;
- classification as part of the UK Trans-European Road Network.
There are a number of trunk roads which mainly serve local and regional traffic. Such roads would be more appropriately managed by the local highway authority, to enable decisions to be taken locally and to be better integrated with local transport and land use planning issues. Our consultation on the strategy for trunk roads in England showed significant support for the 'de-trunking' of these roads. We will consult the Local Government Association and individual local highway authorities in taking forward these proposals for devolving powers.
This led to a large portion of the remaining trunk road network being detrunked. The general consensus was that the trunk network would be a more compact network of the most important roads - generally, these would be the motorway network, the major dual carriageway routes, and those lower quality trunk routes that provided very important links. Most of the roads to be detrunked would be single carriageway rural routes, some "corner-cutting" routes, and some of the remaining parallel routes - this would include the A580, the UK's first purpose-built intercity highway.
These routes would be the roads deemed to be less strategically important as better roads provide an alternative route, particularly the faster, wider motorways. This has seen responsibility of the lesser important roads transferred to the local authorities, allowing the Highways Agency to concentrate on the more important core routes.
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2006 Trunk Road Network Map |
| PDF document (422 Kb) |
The Trunk Network Today
The United Kingdom still retains a dense and comprehensive network of trunk roads, covering the length and breadth of the country. These vary from six lane super motorways to small twisty single carriageway routes through mountainous regions.
All in all, there is approximately 8,500 miles of trunk road across the British mainland, of which about 2,160 miles are in the form of motorways.
There has been a fall in the length of trunk road across the UK, particularly in England. In Scotland and Wales, the reductions are much smaller, as generally all primary routes are also trunk roads - these networks have remained pretty much consistent, with the only major changes resulting from the construction of bypasses and motorway upgrades.
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Current Trunk Road Network Map |
| PDF document (412 Kb) |
England
The Highways Agency is responsible for the 5,130 miles of road that forms the Strategic Road Network, consisting of England's trunk roads. Despite being a small percentage of the road network, the trunk road network carries over 30% of all traffic and over 60% of all freight traffic.
The trunk road network is split into 10 Areas, with each region having its own Agency office located within it. The network is further broken down into a 14 Managing Areas, details of which can be found here.
Prior to the New Deal for Transport being introduced in 1998, there was around 6,500 miles of trunk road in England.
Scotland
There are 35,572 miles of public roads in Scotland (as of 1 April 2006). Of that total, 2,271 miles are trunked, forming 6% of the total network. Over a quarter of the trunk road network is located in the Highlands region, 10% is in Aberdeenshire, and 8% is to be found in Dumfries and Galloway.
The managing authority of the Scottish trunk road network is Transport Scotland, Scotland's equivalent of the Highways Agency and Network Rail (all rolled into one).The table below show how the trunk road network has changed between 1996 and 2006. Figures quoted are the lengths of each type of road, and are shown in miles:
| 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | |
| Motorways | |||||||||||
| excluding slip roads | 207 | 219 | 246 | 247 | 252 | 252 | 252 | 255 | 255 | 255 | 261 |
| including slip roads | 307 | 322 | 355 | 362 | 358 | 358 | 358 | 359 | 359 | 359 | 373 |
| A-Roads | |||||||||||
| dual carriageway | 384 | 352 | 317 | 309 | 321 | 321 | 321 | 332 | 341 | 341 | 351 |
| single carriageway | 1,621 | 1,615 | 1,640 | 1,649 | 1,647 | 1,647 | 1,647 | 1,597 | 1,587 | 1,587 | 1,547 |
| total | 2,005 | 1,967 | 1,957 | 1,958 | 1,968 | 1,968 | 1,968 | 1,929 | 1,928 | 1,928 | 1,898 |
| Total* | 2,312 | 2,289 | 2,312 | 2,320 | 2,326 | 2,326 | 2,326 | 2,288 | 2,287 | 2,287 | 2,271 |
| * - includes motorway slip roads. | |||||||||||
A change to a Geographical Information System by Transport Scotland over the past few years has resulted in some minor differences in totals, for example the way the length of road around a roundabout is calculated.
Wales
Of the 1,047 miles of trunk roads in Wales, 75 miles are made up of motorway. The rest of the network is a mixture of dual and single carriageway A-Roads. All trunk roads fall under the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly.
The trunk network is split into core and secondary trunk routes. Traffic Wales, the Welsh Assembly's traffic management service, monitors the core network, gathering real-time information on traffic flows and incidents. The core network consists of the M4, M48, A48, A48(M), A470, A494, A4042, A4232, A449, A465, A55 and A550.The Trunk Road network is split into three areas, North, Mid and South, with each area being managed by its own Trunk Road Agency.