185-564: The A4053 Coventry ring road is a 2.25-mile (3.62 km) ring road in Coventry , England , which forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre . The road encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals , the city's shopping areas and much of Coventry University . With the exception of one roundabout at junction 1, the ring road's nine junctions are entirely grade separated and closely spaced, with weaving sections between them, some as short as 300 yards (270 m), giving
370-541: A (now long vanished) schoolhouse north of St Andrew's Church, to its present location south of the town centre by 1750. By the time of the first national census in 1801, Rugby had a population of 1,487 with 278 houses. By 1831 this had increased further to 2,501 in 415 houses. This growth was driven by parents who wished to send their boys to Rugby School, but were unable to afford the boarding fees and so took up residence in Rugby, this in turn attracted domestic staff and tradesmen to
555-476: A blueprint for the city centre. Shortly after the first bombing, they met Lord Reith , the government minister responsible for rebuilding , who advised them to plan the reconstruction "boldly and comprehensively" even if this meant high costs. The two men did not work well together and they eventually produced two separate plans; Ford's emphasised maintaining as much of the existing architecture as possible while getting businesses running again, while Gibson advocated
740-413: A city or town, with the standard of road being anything from an ordinary city street up to motorway level. An excellent example of this is London's North Circular/South Circular ring roads, which are largely made up of (mainly congested) ordinary city streets. In some cases, a circumferential route is formed by the combination of a major through highway and a similar-quality loop route that extends out from
925-662: A complete belt road around Hawaii Island . Other major U.S. cities with such a beltway superhighway: There are other U.S. superhighway beltway systems that consist of multiple routes that require multiple interchanges and thus do not provide true ring routes. Two designated examples are the Capital Beltway around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania using Interstate 81 , Interstate 83 , and Pennsylvania Route 581 and "The Bypass" around South Bend, Indiana using Interstate 80 , Interstate 90 , U.S. Route 31 , and Indiana State Road 331 . Edmonton , Alberta, has two ring roads. The first
1110-576: A comprehensive redesign with a new layout and modern architecture. Gibson's plan included the use of ring roads to divert traffic away from the city centre. The pair presented their competing visions in February 1941, and the council decided to adopt Gibson's. Gibson developed his plan throughout the war, releasing an updated version in October 1945 at the "Coventry of the Future" exhibition. The council started work on
1295-772: A defended Dobunni watch settlement. During the Roman period the Roman town of Tripontium was established on the Watling Street Roman road around 3.4 miles (5.5 km) north-east of what is now Rugby, this was later abandoned when the Romans left Britain. The small settlement at Rugby was taken over by the Anglo-Saxons around 560 AD, and it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Rocheberie ; there are several theories about
1480-436: A fortified manor house . In any event, the 'castle' may have been short lived: It has been speculated that it was constructed early in the reign of King Stephen (1135–1154) during the period of civil war known as The Anarchy , and then, as a so-called adulterine castle , built without Royal approval, demolished in around 1157 on the orders of King Henry II . The earthworks for the castle were still clearly visible as late as
1665-493: A full-time public car park. Junction 2 has a coach park, constructed in the spaces enclosed by the junction's curved slip lanes. The city council and the ring road's engineers generally regarded it as a success. Speaking in a 2009 documentary produced in partnership with the Coventry Transport Museum , Duncan Elliott, the council's head of city centre property development, said that the road "works brilliantly", citing
1850-431: A further few months. By 1960, despite stage one being open and stage two underway, the council realised that it needed a better understanding of Coventry's long-term traffic requirements. There was little vehicle-movement data recorded at the time, and theory for large-scale car use in cities was not well developed. The council therefore carried out a survey to establish traffic patterns. Interviewers were stationed close to
2035-520: A lack of traffic congestion in the area as well as the low accident rate – he described it as "probably the safest road in Coventry". In the same production Redknap noted that it was designed for the predicted traffic flows in 1981, but said that in 2009 it "still worked extremely well, considering it was 25 years beyond the design period". The road also has some critics, for example architects Caroline and Jeremy Gould, who wrote that "the tight circle drawn by
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#17331145755802220-669: A mile (0.8 kilometres) to the east. Continuing clockwise, the road runs due south to junction 4 with the A4114 London Road. This road links to both the A46 southbound towards the M40 motorway , and also to the A45 eastbound, taking traffic to the M45 and M1 motorways towards London . The main lanes of the anticlockwise carriageway at junction 4 lead to the exit, meaning through ring road traffic must move to
2405-401: A national reputation and gradually became a mostly fee-paying private school, with most of its pupils coming from outside Rugby. The Lawrence Sheriff School was eventually founded in 1878 to continue Sheriff's original intentions. Until the 19th century, Rugby was a small and relatively unimportant settlement, with only its school giving it any notability. Its growth was slow, due in part to
2590-561: A pair of subways under the radial and the Moat Street roundabout allowing pedestrian access to the city centre. The second new road was Croft Street on the city side of the roundabout, which opened in July 1965 and, as of 2022, carries traffic through to the inner-circulatory route at Queen Victoria Road. The fourth stage of the project was the missing link joining stage two to stage three and included completion of junctions 8 and 9. Work on this stage
2775-688: A professional theatre, the Macready Theatre , and the amateur Rugby Theatre , both in the town centre. A nine-screen cinema run by Cineworld is located at a retail park north of the town centre. The Rugby Art Gallery, Museum and Library which opened in 2000, hosts various temporary art exhibitions. The main collection, which is not on permanent display, is the nationally-renowned Rugby Collection of 20th Century and Contemporary British Art, which comprises 170 artworks by artists including L. S. Lowry , Stanley Spencer , Paula Rego and Graham Sutherland . The museum displays Roman artefacts excavated from
2960-536: A proposed civic centre east of the Council House . His intention was to use existing roads wherever possible, widening them to dual carriageways and linking them to the radial roads with roundabouts. In his 1945 "Coventry of the Future" plan, Gibson moved the proposed route of the ring road to the north and west of the 1941 version, with the new alignment centred on Broadgate. This new route no longer followed Corporation Street and Queen Victoria Road, and Gibson designated
3145-420: A rebuild of stage one, to upgrade it to the full-width grade-separated standard of the later sections. The cost was estimated in 1971 to be around £5.5 million (equivalent to £98,200,000 in 2023), of which slightly more than £4 million (equivalent to £71,400,000 in 2023) was to be covered by a government grant. It had initially been proposed in the early 1960s that the work in the area would include widening
3330-419: A ring road or ring road system: In Iceland , there is a 1,332 km ring road, called the ring road (or Route 1), around most of the island (excluding only the remote Westfjords ). Most of the country's settlements are on or near this road. Major cities that are served by a ring road or ring road system: Rugby, Warwickshire Rugby is a market town in eastern Warwickshire , England, close to
3515-416: A roundabout with slip roads and a flyover. The designers chose a viaduct structure rather than an embankment at these junctions and positioned the abutments some distance from the roundabouts and slip roads, to maximise visibility. The close spacing of all nine junctions necessitated a trade-off between the gradient of the slip roads and the length of the weaving space between the junctions. The designers gave
3700-404: A short time, their product range expanded, and a wide array of electrical equipment came to be produced by BTH at Rugby. Both firms started producing turbines in 1904, and were in competition until both were united as part of GEC in 1969. Another name associated with Rugby was Lodge Plugs , manufacturer of spark plugs , who set up a factory in the town in 1916. For most of the 20th century,
3885-470: A source of research for post-war architecture, as well as from road enthusiasts. The road has a reputation for being difficult to navigate, particularly for drivers from outside the city, as a result of its nine closely spaced junctions and complex lane layout. BBC News , in a 2014 article titled "Are these the worst ring roads in England?" included Coventry on its list, citing these driver difficulties, along with
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#17331145755804070-406: A square watchtower were discovered during the excavation, dating to between 1350 and 1400. The wall section had been incorporated into the cellar wall of an 18th-century property on King Street, which was among those demolished. A team of archaeologists led by Charmian Woodfield worked on the site for the next year, discovering a medieval cesspit containing 15th century pottery and a trench outside
4255-523: A through-the-city route there, with the Beltway encircling the city as I-495. The portion of I-95 entering the city from the south was soon completed (and so signed), primarily by adapting an existing major highway, but the planned extension of I-95 through residential areas northward to the Beltway was long delayed, and eventually abandoned, leaving the eastern portion of the Beltway as the best Interstate-quality route for through traffic. This eastern portion of
4440-572: A total of 765 concrete box beams were brought by road from the Dow-Mac concrete plants at Tallington and Gloucester , each weighing around 41 long tons (42 t) with lengths up to 82 feet (25 m). T-beams were also imported for use on the slip roads. Galliford used a pair of 50-long-ton (51 t) cranes to lift the beams into place. Beam laying was finished in mid-1969 and was followed by approximately ten months of road surfacing and finishing, including decorative slabs made with white spar from
4625-425: A total of nine. The council and the government then agreed the final design in 1948. This retained many of Gibson's early ideas including a dual-carriageway layout, lanes for cyclists and pedestrians on both sides, and at-grade roundabout junctions connecting to all of the major radial routes out of the city. The route was to be 2.25 miles (3.62 km) long and would follow some existing routes, with new alignments for
4810-609: A town or city, typically without either signals or road or railroad crossings. In the United States, beltways are commonly parts of the Interstate Highway System. Similar roads in the United Kingdom are often called "orbital motorways". Although the terms "ring road" and "orbital motorway" are sometimes used interchangeably, "ring road" often indicates a circumferential route formed from one or more existing roads within
4995-525: A true ring road around Detroit is effectively blocked by its location on the border with Canada and the Detroit River ; although constructing a route mostly or entirely outside city limits is technically feasible, a true ring around Detroit would necessarily pass through Canada, and so Interstate 275 and Interstate 696 together bypass but do not encircle the city. Sometimes, the presence of significant natural or historical areas limits route options, as for
5180-422: A tunnel or to keep the road more-or-less as it was. The 2004 draft labelled the surface-street option as its preferred solution, but a 2007 public report on the initiative stated that the council preferred the removal of junction 2, with leaving the road unchanged as the preferred option if removing the junction proved infeasible. In 2017, the council produced an action plan for the city centre which continued to note
5365-534: Is 2.25 miles (3.62 km) in length and is a primary route throughout. The road encloses an area containing the old and new Coventry Cathedrals , much of Coventry University , shopping areas such as the Upper Precinct, Lower Precinct, West Orchards and Cathedral Lanes, the medieval Spon Street and the Coventry Skydome . Being a complete ring road, it does not have unique start or end points. Junction 1,
5550-405: Is a loose conglomeration of four major arterial roads with an average distance of 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the downtown core. Yellowhead Trail forms the northern section, Wayne Gretzky Drive /75 Street forms the eastern section, Whitemud Drive forms the southern and longest section, and 170 Street forms the western and shortest section. Whitemud Drive is the only section that
5735-409: Is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist in reducing traffic volumes in the urban centre, such as by offering an alternate route around the city for drivers who do not need to stop in the city core. Ring roads can also serve to connect suburbs to each other, allowing efficient travel between them. The name "ring road"
Coventry ring road - Misplaced Pages Continue
5920-413: Is a true controlled-access highway , while Yellowhead Trail and Wayne Gretzky Drive have interchanges and intersections and are therefore both limited-access roads . 170 Street and 75 Street are merely large arterial roads with intersections only. The second and more prominent ring road is named Anthony Henday Drive ; it circles the city at an average distance of 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) from
6105-417: Is challenging when a through highway and a loop bypass together form a circumferential ring road. Since neither of the highways involved is circumferential itself, either dual signage or two (or more) route numbers is needed. The history of signage on the Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C., is instructive here. Interstate 95 , a major through highway along the U.S. East Coast , was originally planned as
6290-554: Is commemorated in Rugby by a modern sculpture near the town hall dating from 2005, made by Stephen Broadbent . Holography was invented in Rugby in 1947, by the Hungarian born inventor Dennis Gabor , also while working at BTH. For this he later received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971. In the 19th century, Rugby became famous for its once important railway junction which was
6475-456: Is held in the town centre several days a week. In recent years several out-of-town retail centres have opened and expanded to the north of the town, including: Elliott's Field Retail Park, Junction 1 Retail Park and Technology Drive. Most of Rugby sits around 400 feet (120 m) above sea level on an irregular shaped plateau which is situated between the valleys of the River Avon and Swift to
6660-422: Is most famous for the invention of rugby football , which is played throughout the world. The invention of the game is credited to William Webb Ellis , a Rugby School pupil who, according to legend, broke the existing rules of football by picking up the ball and running with it at a match played in 1823. Although there is little evidence to support this story, the school is credited with codifying and popularising
6845-765: Is now Lawrence Sheriff Street. These centred on what is now the Clock Tower, which was built in 1887 on the site of an ancient cross. These streets still form the core of the town centre. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras several more shopping streets were added in order to cater for the growing town, including Albert Street and Regent Street, the latter of which was built in 1905, and was intended to be Rugby's main shopping street, although it never achieved this goal. The town centre has an indoor shopping centre called Rugby Central Shopping Centre which opened in 1979 (previously named The Clock Tower shopping centre). A street market
7030-526: Is now the inner circulatory route. He also created the southern bypass, re-routing the A45 and London to Birmingham traffic around the city. In early 1939, the council appointed Donald Gibson as city architect. A protégé of Patrick Abercrombie at the University of Liverpool School of Architecture , Gibson assembled a team of young architects, with whom he produced plans more radical than Ford's. These were presented to
7215-432: Is only 300 feet (90 m) in places and research by Brian Redknap, city engineer during the construction of the road, indicated that it was it was the first urban road in the world to use grade separation and weaving at such a small scale. The Ringway St Nicholas section, between junctions 9 and 1, retains pavements on both sides as well as the cycle track on the anti-clockwise side, per the stage two specification. Following
7400-800: Is used for the majority of metropolitan circumferential routes in Europe, such as the Berliner Ring , the Brussels Ring , the Amsterdam Ring , the Boulevard Périphérique around Paris and the Leeds Inner and Outer ring roads. Australia , Pakistan and India also use the term ring road, as in Melbourne 's Western Ring Road , Lahore 's Lahore Ring Road and Hyderabad 's Outer Ring Road . In Canada
7585-522: The Coventry Telegraph found that many city residents regarded the subways as unsafe, and took lengthy detours or crossed the ring road directly to avoid using them. The Friargate redevelopment at junction 6 and the 2020s remodelling of junction 7 are eliminating some of these subways in favour of direct pedestrian routes. As one of the few British cities to see its ring road project pushed to completion, Coventry has received considerable attention as
Coventry ring road - Misplaced Pages Continue
7770-542: The 2005 general election Jeremy Wright regained the seat for the Conservatives. Following the recommendations of the Boundary Commission for England , Warwickshire was allocated a sixth parliamentary seat. In the 2010 general election, the existing Rugby and Kenilworth constituency was abolished and split in two. A new Rugby constituency was created, and a new constituency of Kenilworth and Southam formed to
7955-500: The Capital Beltway around Washington, D.C. Some ring roads, such as Washington's Capital Beltway, use "Inner Loop" and "Outer Loop" terminology for directions of travel, since cardinal (compass) directions cannot be signed uniformly around the entire loop. The term 'ring road' is occasionally – and inaccurately – used interchangeably with the term ' bypass '. Bypasses around many large and small towns were built in many areas when many old roads were converted to four-lane status in
8140-469: The Frankfurt area, major national highways converge just outside city limits before forming one of several routes of an urban network of roads circling the city. Unlike in United States, route numbering is not a challenge on European ring roads as routes merge to form the single designated road. However, exit and road junction access can be challenging due to the complexity of other routes branching from or into
8325-517: The Isle of Skye , which the designers hoped would "soften the starkness" of the concrete. The 400-yard (370 m) stretch from junction 1 to junction 2 opened first, in August 1969. The road linking Foleshill Road with Stoney Stanton Road and the Coventry & Warwickshire Hospital was closed to traffic, other than buses and ambulances, with other vehicles using the ring road and White Street. The remainder of
8510-570: The Labour Party in 1950. From 1950 until 1983 Rugby was a Labour-Conservative marginal, with the Labour Party holding it for the majority of that period. In 1983 Rugby was joined with Kenilworth to become part of the parliamentary constituency of Rugby and Kenilworth . Between 1983 and 1997 Jim Pawsey was the Conservative Member of Parliament, losing in 1997 to Labour's Andy King . At
8695-643: The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was constructed around the town. In 1840 the Midland Counties Railway made a junction with the L&;BR at Rugby, which was followed by a junction with the Trent Valley Railway in 1847. A line to Peterborough opened in 1850, followed by a line to Leamington in 1851, by which time there were more than sixty trains a day passing through Rugby railway station via
8880-901: The North and South Circular roads and the Inner Ring Road ). Birmingham also has three ring roads which consist of the Birmingham Box ; the A4540 , commonly known as the Middleway; and the A4040 , the Outer Ring Road. Birmingham once had a fourth ring road, the A4400 . This has been partially demolished and downgraded to improve traffic flow into the city. Other British cities have two: Leeds , Sheffield , Norwich and Glasgow . Cleveland, OH and San Antonio, TX , in
9065-530: The River Avon . At the 2021 census , its population was 78,117, making it the second-largest town in Warwickshire. It is the main settlement within the larger Borough of Rugby , which had a population of 114,400 in 2021. Rugby is situated on the eastern edge of Warwickshire, near to the borders with Leicestershire and Northamptonshire . It is the most easterly town within the West Midlands region , with
9250-488: The United States , also each have two, while Houston, Texas will have three official ring roads (not including the downtown freeway loop). Some cities have far more – Beijing , for example, has six ring roads , simply numbered in increasing order from the city center (though skipping #1), while Moscow has five, three innermost ( Central Squares of Moscow , Boulevard Ring and Garden Ring ) corresponding to
9435-602: The War Memorial Park , the University of Warwick and Coventry railway station , which lies just outside the ring road loop. From junction 6, the clockwise carriageway proceeds north west. Junction 7 is the B4101 Butts Road radial, linking to the suburb of Earlsdon , the ring road passing over on the Moat Street flyover , while it passes under junction 8 for the A4114 Holyhead Road towards Birmingham , formerly
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#17331145755809620-758: The West Midlands Ambulance Service . The local hospital in Rugby is the Hospital of St. Cross which is part of the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust . A more extensive range of health services are provided at the University Hospital Coventry , some ten miles away. The largest general purpose venue in Rugby is the Benn Hall which opened in 1961 as part of the town hall complex, Rugby has two theatres ,
9805-471: The "frustration and delay" which had lengthened the work from its original six-year timetable. There were also speeches by two officials from the county council. After 14 years the ring road was complete, with a final overall cost of £14.5 million (equivalent to £190,900,000 in 2023). In 2004, Coventry's city council developed an urban renewal plan centred around the Swanswell area, which lies north east of
9990-554: The 'Lion Inn' (now a private residence called 'Guy Fawkes House') in nearby Dunchurch , convened by Sir Everard Digby , awaiting news of Guy Fawkes 's attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament. If he had been successful they planned to kidnap the King's daughter Princess Elizabeth from Coombe Abbey in the countryside between Rugby and Coventry. During the English Civil War , one of
10175-399: The 13th century the name of the town was commonly spelt as Rokeby (or Rookby ) before gradually evolving into the modern form by the 18th century. In 1140, the first recorded mention was made of St Andrew's Church , which was originally a chapel of ease to the mother church at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore , until Rugby was established as a parish in its own right in 1221, at which point it
10360-855: The 1930s to 1950s, such as those along the Old National Road (now generally U.S. 40 or Interstate 70 ) in the United States, leaving the old road in place to serve the town or city, but allowing through travelers to continue on a wider, faster and safer route. Construction of fully circumferential ring roads has generally occurred more recently, beginning in the 1960s in many areas, when the U.S. Interstate Highway System and similar-quality roads elsewhere were designed. Ring roads have now been built around numerous cities and metropolitan areas, including cities with multiple ring roads, irregularly shaped ring roads and ring roads made up of various other long-distance roads. London has three ring roads (the M25 motorway ,
10545-484: The 1950s and 1960s, taking the river underground for most of its route through the city centre. Steel prices had increased during the construction of stages three and four, so the council decided to use pre-stressed concrete supports rather than steel. They programmed a LEO III computer to assist with predicting the structural load on the roadway. Stage five was the longest to date with a length of 1,200 yards (1,100 m), of which 950 yards (870 m) were elevated. It
10730-651: The 1950s and not yet completed, called the Suburban Beltway. It consists of several roads— Lagimodière Boulevard , Abinojii Mikanah , the Fort Garry Bridge, the Moray Bridge, William R Clement Parkway , Chief Peguis Trail and the Kildonan Bridge . Saskatoon , Saskatchewan, has a ring road named Circle Drive. It is cosigned as Saskatchewan Highway 16 and Saskatchewan Highway 11 along the whole route since
10915-516: The 1950s, as the council and businesses had to negotiate the use of the space and conduct lengthy planning applications , as well as completing the construction work. The ring-road plan remained active and planners ensured that no new structures were situated close to the proposed route, to maintain its availability for road development. In 1955, with the upper level of the precinct completed, Gibson left Coventry to become county architect for Nottinghamshire . His replacement as Coventry's city architect
11100-464: The 19th century, but have since been built over. According to one theory, the stones from the castle were later used to construct the west tower of St Andrew's Church, which bears strong resemblance to a castle, and was probably intended for use in a defensive as well as a religious role. The Rugby area has associations with the Gunpowder Plot of 1605: On the eve of the plot, the plotters stayed at
11285-406: The 2011 census, and 62,580 at the 2001 census. In terms of ethnicity in 2021: In terms of religion, 52.9% of Rugby residents identified as Christian , 38.6% said they had no religion , 4.0% were Hindu , 2.3% were Muslim , 1.2% were Sikh , 0.4% were Buddhists , and 0.6% were from another religion. From 1885 until 1983 Rugby was a constituency in itself, a status it regained in 2010. Rugby
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#173311457558011470-415: The 2013 opening of Circle Drive South. Regina , Saskatchewan has a partial ring road that is named Ring Road ; however, due to the city's urban growth since the road was originally constructed, it no longer functions as a true ring road and has instead come to be used partially for local arterial traffic. The Regina Bypass , a new partial ring road, has replaced it, although Ring Road must still be used in
11655-544: The A429 Warwick Road, but there was local opposition citing the loss of 47 mature trees and the plan was abandoned. Compulsory purchase orders for this phase were issued in late 1969. An inquiry was held in July 1970, examining two outstanding objections from property owners, but the MOT approved the stage, noting that the public benefits of building the stage outweighed the objections. Two monuments were temporarily removed during
11840-609: The A45 westbound. The road then runs north east through junction 9 for the B4098 Radford Road radial, which it passes over on the Hill Cross flyover, before arriving back at the junction 1 roundabout. The road layout within Coventry and its road links to other settlements were developed during the Middle Ages , becoming stable by the 17th century. During the 19th century, some roads were upgraded to turnpike status, but development
12025-739: The BBC and the Guardian , Steiner commented that "it is the duty of artists and citizens to engage with issues of public space, control of architecture and the human experience of our built environment" and cited the ring road as having a "great presence, not dissimilar to the old city walls". He also said that driving on the road was reminiscent of a driving a Scalextric toy car. 52°24′11″N 1°30′37″W / 52.4031°N 1.51019°W / 52.4031; -1.51019 Ring road A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline , beltway , circumferential ( high ) way , loop or orbital )
12210-604: The Beltway ", derived metonymically from the Capital Beltway encircling Washington, D.C. Ring roads have been criticised for inducing demand , leading to more car journeys being taken and thus higher levels of pollution being created. By creating easy access by car to large areas of land, they can also act as a catalyst for development, leading to urban sprawl and car-centric planning. Ring roads have also been criticised for splitting communities and being difficult to navigate for pedestrians and cyclists. Most orbital motorways (or beltways) are purpose-built major highways around
12395-464: The Beltway was then redesignated from I-495 to I-95, leaving the I-495 designation only on the western portion, and the completed part of the planned Interstate inside the Beltway was redesignated as a spur, I-395 . A few years later, the resulting confusion from different route numbers on the circumferential Beltway was resolved by restoring I-495 signage for the entire Beltway, with dual signage for I-95 for
12580-477: The English interior. Temperatures are mild for the latitude and winter nights average above freezing. Summers are highly variable depending on wind patterns, with an all-time record of 38.7 °C (101.7 °F) in spite of the mild averages. Annual rainfall is moderate, but frequent drizzle results in about 125 precipitation days per year. At the 2021 census , there were 78,125 residents in Rugby, up from 70,628 on
12765-502: The Guardian , likened driving on the road to riding a roller coaster . In 2015, a group of nine writers and nine film-makers, led by Coventry artist Adam Steiner, created a series of poetry films about the ring road. Titled Disappear Here , the project was funded with grants from Arts Council England and Coventry City Council and was used as part of Coventry's successful bid for the status of UK City of Culture 2021. In interviews with
12950-412: The Labour Party's John Slinger won the seat from the Conservatives. Rugby is administered by two local authorities : Rugby Borough Council which covers Rugby and its surrounding countryside, and Warwickshire County Council . The two authorities are responsible for different aspects of local government. Rugby is an unparished area and so does not have its own town council . The Borough of Rugby
13135-402: The Olympic Games. Rugby is a birthplace of the jet engine . In April 1937 Frank Whittle built and tested the world's first prototype jet engine at the British Thomson-Houston (BTH) works in Rugby, and during 1936–41 based himself at Brownsover Hall on the outskirts, where he designed and developed early prototype engines. Much of his work was carried out at nearby Lutterworth . Whittle
13320-456: The United States. In many cases, such as Interstate 285 in Atlanta, Georgia , circumferential highways serve as a bypass while other highways pass directly through the city center. In other cases, a primary Interstate highway passes around a city on one side, with a connecting loop Interstate bypassing the city on the other side, together forming a circumferential route, as with I-93 and I-495 in
13505-581: The area of Lawrence, Massachusetts . However, if a primary Interstate passes through a city and a loop bypasses it on only one side (as in the Wilmington, Delaware , area), no fully circumferential route is provided. Within cities, ring roads sometimes have local nicknames; these include Washington DC's Interstate 495 (The "Capital Beltway"), Interstate 270 in Columbus, Ohio (The "Outerbelt"), and Interstate 285 in Atlanta (The "Perimeter"). Route numbering
13690-467: The biggest alteration to the ring road's layout since it opened, the roundabout and pedestrian bridges at the junction were removed and replaced with a 110-yard (100 m) wide deck , the ring road running underneath. The scheme, part of a wider development creating the Friargate business district , cost £14.9 million to complete. Once built, the deck was landscaped to provide a link to Greyfriars Green to
13875-507: The building of junctions 2 and 3. The line of the stage crossed the River Sherbourne , downstream from the city centre, where surveyors found an artesian aquifer . This difficult terrain and the grade-separated junctions made it impractical to build the road at ground level so an elevated carriageway was constructed while also culverting the river as it ran underneath junction 3. This extended an existing culvert which had been built during
14060-427: The buildings and infrastructure were unable to cope with the needs of the increased population and the council tasked city engineer Ernest Ford with modernising it. During the 1930s, Ford oversaw the construction of Corporation Street and Trinity Street as well as widening other roads. This involved large-scale demolition and relocation of residents to other areas, and created the first sections of inner ring road, on what
14245-701: The carriageway rises to become an elevated highway called the Swanswell viaduct. Junction 3 is the easternmost on the circuit, providing access to the A4600 Sky Blue Way, which is the former route of the A46 and the signed route from Coventry to Leicester via the M69 , as well as linking to the M6 . Junction 3 also serves the A428 to Rugby and the A444 to Nuneaton , via a pair of junctions half
14430-458: The carriageways. Stage one was opened on 23 December 1959, Lord Mayor William Henry Edwards cutting a ribbon before being driven along the road in his civic car. There were traffic lights at each end at the time of opening, although stage two work on the London Road roundabout at stage one's eastern end commenced shortly afterwards. Stage two consisted of two separate projects – a roundabout at
14615-470: The city centre and is bisected by the ring road. The initial draft, written by the Urban Initiatives organisation, described the ring road as having a "barrier effect" on the area and contained proposals to reduce or eliminate this. Four options were proposed: to remove junction 2 of the road, to replace the elevated road between junctions 1 and 3 with a surface street, to replace the elevated section with
14800-428: The city centre. A fresh traffic study was launched, producing a development plan for the transport needs of the whole city, which continued for much of the next ten years and produced several large volumes of results. The council determined early in the study that it would proceed with the ring road, but remodelled to include grade separation. The road's character was to be quite different from that of Gibson's design, with
14985-416: The city engineer concluded that the ring road's layout could cope with grade separation, and recommended its use going forward. In 1961, the council began a thorough review of its road transport policy. The city's planning department had begun to question the entire ring-road concept, arguing that it was not the most effective way to reduce congestion and created a damaging divide between urban communities and
15170-467: The city engineer indicated that it was the first urban road in the world to use this configuration at such a small scale. The road was completed in 1974, with an overall cost of £14.5 million (equivalent to £190,900,000 in 2023). As one of the few British cities to see its ring road project pushed to completion, Coventry has received considerable attention as a source of research for post-war architecture. An article by BBC News noted that opinions about
15355-467: The city of Calgary , Alberta, for an entire length of 101-kilometre (63 mi). Winnipeg , Manitoba, has a ring road which is called the Perimeter Highway . It is designated as Manitoba Highway 101 on the north, northwest and east sides and as Manitoba Highway 100 on the south and southwest sides. The majority of it is a four-lane divided expressway . It has a second ring road, planned since
15540-432: The city were destroyed by German bombs . The shopping area was rebuilt first, followed by the ring road, which was constructed in six stages from 1959. Early stages were built with at-grade junctions, cycle tracks and footpaths , envisaged as a surface-level linear park . Following traffic surveys in the early 1960s, however, the council amended the design to include grade separation and the weaving sections. Research by
15725-526: The company's financial health as reasons. Galliford & Sons took over to complete the remainder of the work. The Moat Street flyover was completed in November 1964, and it had been anticipated that it would open at that time. But with the Butts radial road not yet complete the council decided to defer this, citing potential driver confusion at the southern end if complex temporary measures were put in place. Traffic
15910-595: The concentric lines of fortifications around the ancient city, and the two outermost ( MKAD and Third Ring ) built in the twentieth century, though, confusingly, the Third Ring was built last. Geographical constraints can complicate the construction of a complete ring road. For example, the Baltimore Beltway in Maryland formerly crossed Baltimore Harbor on a high arch bridge prior to its collapse in 2024, and much of
16095-417: The concrete. The council had originally intended to make an advance order for the steel required for stage four in 1962, following the successful and economical work done on stage three. But the government vetoed this plan, and by 1964 when the Hill Cross materials were ordered, the steel market had recovered and costs were significantly higher. Compulsory purchase orders were made in 1963, and were approved by
16280-487: The connections to it from both the centre and outside made negotiable and attractive". In a 2015 book, the same authors commented on the pedestrian subways linking areas outside the road with the city centre, writing that they necessitated "tortuous and uncomfortable detours", as well as the impact of the road's construction on green space in the city centre, with Greyfriars Green reduced in size and Lady Herbert's Garden "crammed up against Swanswell Ringway". A 2006 survey by
16465-400: The construction of the roundabout, the council issued compulsory purchase orders on buildings owned by various shops and businesses close to the site. Two of these businesses, a petrol station and a scrap metal merchant, objected to the purchase and an inquiry was held. The council argued that the petrol station was too close to the road and that it would be difficult to secure access routes from
16650-488: The construction work and put into storage. The first was the Coventry Martyrs memorial, located in a small garden at the intersection of Quinton Road and Park Road – it was eventually put back in the centre of the junction 5 roundabout. The other was the monument to the nineteenth century bicycle entrepreneur James Starley , which was taken from Greyfriars Green and put into storage, then relocated to another position on
16835-403: The council considered opening that side early, around 8 December, but ultimately they decided to open both carriageways together. By December 1959, the contractors were in the final stages of construction. Several roads at the end of the stretch were closed temporarily to allow it to be joined to the existing road network. Sodium lights, mounted on 35-foot (11 m) poles, were installed between
17020-497: The council in 1957 approved and submitted a plan for the full route, divided into six stages with a time estimate of six or seven years. The first stage of the ring road built was a 439-yard (401 m) stretch south east of the city centre, from what is now junction 4 at London Road to junction 5 at Quinton Road. This section was intended to relieve nearby Parkside, Short Street and Much Park Street, which were heavily congested with traffic entering Coventry from London Road. The design
17205-406: The council proposed changes affecting the ring road, including a redesign of junction 7 and a new link between the junction 8 clockwise exit slip road and Upper Hill Street. The goal of the latter change was to avoid a bottleneck on Holyhead Road for ring-road traffic destined for Coundon Road, but as of June 2022 this was in doubt due to the need to acquire land and opposition from a primary school on
17390-428: The critically acclaimed band Spiritualized and Kember continued performing under the names Sonic Boom/Spectrum . Other notable musical acts to emerge from Rugby include the 1970s pop band Jigsaw which was formed by musicians from Rugby and Coventry, the 2000s singer-songwriter James Morrison , and more recently Emily Burns . There are two large urban parks in the town centre, one is Caldecott Park alongside
17575-423: The cycle paths removed to make way for wider lanes and slip roads, and the "linear park" concept replaced with a largely elevated motorway -type road. After completion of the ring road, the development plan's long-term goals included construction of a Y-shaped pair of high-capacity "urban motor roads" in the suburbs, catering for traffic growth through to the 1980s. One of these roads was to be aligned north–south and
17760-447: The decision in the early 1960s to drop the road's cycle lanes and convert it to a full grade-separated dual carriageway, most cyclists consider it too dangerous. The ring road features a number of different junction designs, reflecting the nature of the road in the area concerned as well as the dates at which the stages were completed. The two elevated junctions constructed during stages three and four – Moat Street and Hill Cross – utilise
17945-415: The decisive Battle of Naseby , some 12 miles (19 km) to the east, in nearby Northamptonshire . Rugby School was founded in 1567 with money left in the will of Lawrence Sheriff , a locally born man, who had moved to London and made his fortune as the grocer to Queen Elizabeth I . Sheriff had intended Rugby School to be a free grammar school for local boys, but by the 18th century it had acquired
18130-408: The demolished areas were retained in the new road, for example stone setts from St John's Street, which were relaid as the divide between the cycle tracks and pavements. On 1 July 1959, with the demolition work almost complete, construction on the Coventry ring road began. Pirelli General Cable Works contractors laid nine long tons (9,100 kg) of power cable underneath the roadways, after which
18315-450: The downtown core. It is a freeway for its entire 78-kilometre (48 mi) length, and was built to reduce inner-city traffic congestion, created a bypass of Yellowhead Trail, and has improved the movement of goods and services across Edmonton and the surrounding areas. It was completed in October 2016 as the first free-flowing orbital road in Canada. Stoney Trail is a ring road that circles
18500-702: The earliest armed confrontations of the conflict took place at the nearby village of Kilsby in August 1642. That same year, King Charles I passed through Rugby on his way to Nottingham , and 120 Cavalier Horse Troops reportedly stayed at the town, however the townsfolk were sympathetic to the Parliamentarian cause, and they were disarmed by the Cavalier soldiers. Later, in 1645, Rugby was strongly Parliamentarian, and Oliver Cromwell and two regiments of Roundhead soldiers stayed at Rugby in April that year, two months before
18685-504: The early 1960s it was planned for there to be direct links between the ring road and rooftop car parks in the central shopping area via a series of bridges, to reduce traffic on surface roads. This plan, which would have involved further demolition of properties, was later abandoned on the grounds of cost and practicality with access to car parks instead provided via the inner circulatory road. A number of new car parks were built, with space for 10,000 vehicles arranged such that long-stay parking
18870-472: The early 20th century, Coventry was the fastest-growing city in the UK as people relocated from across the country to work in the expanding automotive, bicycle, aviation and armament industries. The city's boundaries expanded in stages, absorbing nearby villages as well as new residential areas. Coventry City Council upgraded the city's radial roads but the city centre retained its medieval character until 1930. By then,
19055-449: The eastern end of stage one and a new stretch of road to the north west of the city centre. The government approved stage two on 28 November 1958, providing a grant of £232,000 (equivalent to £6,800,000 in 2023) towards total costs of £310,000 (equivalent to £9,100,000 in 2023). The new road began at Hill Cross and ran roughly along the line of King Street to Swanswell Terrace, a total distance of 480 yards (440 m). Like stage one,
19240-434: The end of the year most of the affected properties were empty and awaiting demolition. The council also announced the closure of parts of Parkside, St Patrick's Road and Quinton Road for the duration of the project. By April 1959, demolition of unoccupied properties was underway and the council served eviction orders on the remaining properties on the route. This included five pubs and several houses and shops. Some features of
19425-504: The estimated £310,000 cost (equivalent to £9,400,000 in 2023) for the stage. The MOT justified the grant, which was higher than was normal for the central government at the time, by citing Coventry's status as a "blitz city". After receiving MOT approval, the council began negotiations with businesses and homeowners along the proposed route, to purchase their properties for demolition. Compulsory purchase orders were issued in June 1958, and by
19610-477: The extended pedestrianisation. The council lobbied the government for permission and funding for the long-delayed ring road. The government had reduced investment expenditure significantly from late 1955, and in 1956 the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation (MOT) denied the council permission to build the entire road, indicating that only the south-eastern portion was likely to be approved at that time. Despite this,
19795-496: The five converging lines. A line to Northampton opened in 1881, and finally the Great Central Main Line opened in 1899. Rugby was transformed into a railway town , and the influx of railway workers and their families rapidly expanded the population. Rugby's population grew to nearly 8,000 by 1861. reaching nearly 17,000 by 1901. By which time around 1 in 5 Rugbeians were employed by the railways. The arrival of
19980-510: The flyover commencing by November. Construction was carried out by several companies: Dorman, Long and Co. erected the steel supports for the flyover and McKinney Foundations the piling , with the main carriageway work carried out initially by local firm G. R. Yeomans. But in December 1963 the City Engineer, Granville Berry, ended Yeomans' contract, citing a lack of progress, poor workmanship and
20165-433: The green after work was complete. Stage six was opened with an official ceremony on 19 September 1974. There was a minor dispute between the city council and the newly formed West Midlands County Council regarding the attendees at the ceremony. The latter authority had been given responsibility for transport across the county in April 1974 and supervised the final few months of the work, which meant they were responsible for
20350-643: The highway's concurrent use as a through Interstate on its eastern portion. The longest complete beltway in the United States is the Charles W. Anderson Loop , a 94-mile (151 km) loop in Texas that forms a complete loop around the Greater San Antonio area. The longest complete belt road, or a beltway that is only two lanes, in the United States is Hawaii Belt Road , a 260-mile (420 km) belt in Hawaii that forms
20535-423: The inner circulatory road. Despite this, the council found that many motorists were continuing to use the old routes in the immediate aftermath of the opening. The final stage covered the section south of the city centre, completing the full ring by joining the end of stage five at junction 4 with stage three at Queen's Road and constructing junctions 5 and 6. The stage replaced part of St Patrick's Road and included
20720-435: The inner circulatory route, a loop comprising existing roads inside the ring road, to serve as a distributor within the city centre. The 1945 plan also featured two additional ring roads – a middle ring passing through the suburbs, and an outer ring extending the existing A45 southern bypass. Gibson and the council made minor changes to the design during the subsequent years including the addition of two new roundabouts, to make
20905-417: The junction 6 redesign, a 110-yard (100 m)-wide walkway crosses over the ring road underpass to link the railway station and the city centre. On all other sections pedestrian areas are segregated from the road by fences and walls, with foot access between the inside and outside achieved via a series of bridges and subways. The road is not an official motorway and it is legal for cyclists to use it, but after
21090-450: The land between these and the ring-road route for light industry. The government did not initially approve the new route, citing a concern that it encircled too much of the city. But the council's position was that the ring road could not run on Corporation Street and Queen Victoria Road as planned, due to the need for businesses to have direct access to those roads, and therefore must be sited further north west. The plan included provision for
21275-480: The latter consideration relatively more importance than the former, with the result that the slip lanes are all quite steep, ranging from 5.5 to 7.1 per cent gradient. The junction 2 slip roads have an unusual design – the proximity to the Foleshill Road junction led the designers to position all of the lanes to the south of White Street, the north-facing lanes forming curved loops underneath the main carriageway. In
21460-529: The laws of primogeniture , naming the town Rugby. The settlement of Rugby, Tennessee still exists. Rugby School is said to have been a major inspiration behind the revival of the Olympic Games : the French educator, and father of the modern Olympics Pierre de Coubertin , visited Rugby School several times in the late 19th century, and cited the school as one of his major inspirations behind his decision to revive
21645-528: The left, and then subsequently move back to the right to avoid the junction 3 exit. Junction 5 provides access to the south-eastern part of the city centre, via the B4544 New Union Street, and also links to a pair of roads heading south towards the suburb of Cheylesmore . Junction 6, the southernmost junction, links to the A429 Warwick Road, signposted for Kenilworth , and is also the exit for
21830-528: The long-proposed Outer Beltway around Washington, D.C., where options for a new western Potomac River crossing are limited by a nearly continuous corridor of heavily visited scenic, natural, and historical landscapes in the Potomac River Gorge and adjacent areas. When referring to a road encircling a capital city, the term "beltway" can also have a political connotation, as in the American term " Inside
22015-462: The ministry. Preparatory work, including rerouting of sewers under Hill Street, and temporary diversions began in October 1964. The link between the two sections of Holyhead Road was severed permanently from the beginning of 1965 with slip roads from Spon Street to Holyhead Road, to allow work to begin on junction 8. Holyhead Road was left as a dead end on the city-centre side, causing loss of trade for businesses on that section. Dorman Long began erecting
22200-402: The motorway network, Rugby has become a major centre for logistics , becoming, in some definitions, part of the area known as the golden logistics triangle . In the 21st century, Rugby's urban area has undergone further expansion with large new developments at Cawston and the large new development of Houlton on the site of the former Rugby Radio Station to the east of the town. Rugby
22385-458: The nearby Romano-British town of Tripontium , as well as an exhibition of the social history of Rugby. The building also houses the town's library. The Webb Ellis Rugby Football Museum also in the town centre also hosts rugby memorabilia. The poet Rupert Brooke was born and grew up in Rugby, and is commemorated in the town by a statue in Regent Place. In the 1960s, Clifton Hall at Rugby
22570-460: The nearby county borders also marking the regional boundary with the East Midlands . It is 83 miles (134 km) north of London , 30 miles (48 km) east-south-east of Birmingham , 11.5 miles (18.5 km) east of Coventry , 18 miles (29 km) north-west of Northampton and 19 miles (31 km) south-south-west of Leicester . Rugby became a market town in 1255. In 1567, Rugby School
22755-468: The nearby markets at Dunchurch and Hillmorton which were better positioned in terms of road traffic. In 1663 Rugby was recorded as containing 160 houses with a population of around 650. By 1730 this had increased to 183 houses, with a population of around 900. Rugby's importance and population increased more rapidly during the late 18th and early 19th century due to the growing national reputation of Rugby School, which had moved from its original location at
22940-438: The new Moat Street junction. The first was the Butts radial road, for which construction began in July 1965. This was built by Turriff Construction of Warwick, and its purpose was to provide access to the ring road from Coventry's south-western suburbs. It ran from the Moat Street junction to The Butts, joining the existing road network close to the then Coventry Technical College . It was completed and opened in late May 1966, with
23125-501: The new deck, hosting a racing circuit as part of the Coventry MotoFest. In 2021, the UK government mandated the city council to improve Coventry's air quality as part of efforts to reduce nitrogen dioxide ( NO 2 ) levels. The area with the highest NO 2 was around Spon End and Holyhead Road, and the government said it would impose a Clean Air Zone in that area if the council failed to make improvements. In response,
23310-470: The new layout. The Minister of Transport upheld the landowners' appeal, agreeing with them that much of the land was not required for the road. The plans therefore had to be altered. Construction of the roundabout necessitated the destruction of most houses in Paradise Street, and its residents moved out in early 1960. It opened to traffic in December 1960, with peripheral work and finishing continuing for
23495-473: The new radials linking those roads to the ring road were not yet complete. Unlike stage one, stage two had no opening ceremony – the road opened when construction workers moved barriers away from the access roads and traffic began to use it immediately. Stage two also included the separate roundabout project at the eastern end of the stretch constructed in stage one, at the junction with London Road, Gulson Road, Whitefriars Street and Paradise Street. To facilitate
23680-410: The north, a pedestrian walkway providing a continuous link between Coventry railway station to the south and the city centre to the north. The redeveloped junction retained three of the four movements on and off the ring road from Warwick Road, but the ability to join the eastbound carriageway was removed. Two days after the development was officially opened, the ring road was temporarily closed underneath
23865-634: The north, and the Rains Brook and River Leam to the south. During its modern growth, Rugby spread north across the Avon valley and enveloped the villages of Brownsover and Newbold, which are to the north of the Avon valley. The county boundary between Warwickshire, Northamptonshire and Leicestershire to the east of Rugby is defined by the A5 road (the former Watling Street ) around 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Rugby town centre. The three counties meet at Dow Bridge ;
24050-683: The northeast quadrant of the city. Hamilton , Ontario, has the Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway , Highway 403 and the Red Hill Valley Parkway which form a ring on three sides. Sudbury , Ontario, has a partial ring road consisting of the Southwest and Southeast Bypasses segment of Highway 17 , and the Northwest Bypass segment of Highway 144 . An unofficial northeast "bypass" route can also be completed on city arterial roads that largely bypass
24235-468: The number of buildings designed by William Butterfield in the 19th century, including much of Rugby School and the extension of St Andrew's Church . The main shopping area in Rugby has traditionally been in the streets around the Clock Tower, two of which – High Street and Sheep Street – were pedestrianised in the 1980s. Until the 19th century, Rugby's urban area consisted of only Market Place, High Street, Sheep Street, Church Street, North Street and what
24420-430: The obstructive effect of the road and retained removal of junction 2's slip roads as an "opportunity" which existed, but as of 2022 the road around Swanswell remained in its original configuration. In 2017 and 2020, the council undertook major refurbishment of the Swanswell section and added signage saying "Welcome to Coventry" on the viaduct there. In 2014–15, the council carried out a major redevelopment of junction 6. In
24605-416: The opening. But representatives of the city council, which had managed the ring-road project for most of its 25-year duration, felt that they should be leading the occasion. The Lord Mayor of Coventry, Dennis Berry, cut a length of tape across the junction 6 underpass to declare it open. In his speech, he congratulated officials from the council who had overseen the project since its inception, but also lamented
24790-477: The origin of the name; one is that it is derived from an old Celtic name droche-brig meaning 'wild hilltop'. Another theory is that Rocheberie was a phonetic translation of the Old English name Hrocaberg meaning 'Hroca's hill fortification'; Hroca being an Anglo-Saxon man's name pronounced with a silent 'H', and berg being a name for a hill fortification, with the 'g' being pronounced as an 'ee' sound. By
24975-501: The other east–west, providing uninterrupted dual-carriageway links between the ring road, the A45 and A46 roads in the south and the M6 motorway in the north. The third stage to be built, and the first with grade separation, was the section on the western side of the city centre, between Holyhead Road in the north and Queen's Road in the south. The route was previously occupied by low-cost housing and small factories. This completed junction 7, with
25160-522: The parent road, later reconnecting with the same highway. Such loops not only function as a bypass for through traffic, but also to serve outlying suburbs . In the United States, an Interstate highway loop is usually designated by a three-digit number beginning with an even digit before the two-digit number of its parent interstate. Interstate spurs, on the other hand, generally have three-digit numbers beginning with an odd digit. Circumferential highways are prominent features in or near many large cities in
25345-678: The partially completed Stockholm Ring Road in Sweden runs through tunnels or over long bridges. Some towns or cities on sea coasts or near rugged mountains cannot have a full ring road. Examples of such partial ring roads are Dublin's ring road ; and, in the USA, Interstate 287 , mostly in New Jersey (bypassing New York City), and Interstate 495 around Boston , none of which completely circles these seaport cities. In other cases, adjacent international boundaries may prevent ring road completion. Construction of
25530-400: The partially constructed Houlton housing development. The spread of Rugby has nearly reached the villages of Clifton-upon-Dunsmore , Cawston , Dunchurch and Long Lawford . The town centre is mostly Victorian and early 20th century, however a few much older buildings survive, along with some more modern developments. Rugby was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as 'Butterfieldtown' due to
25715-429: The planned line of the ring road, where they asked drivers their origin and destination. The results of the survey were published in late 1960, predicting a 150 per cent increase in light traffic and a 75 per cent increase in heavy traffic during the subsequent twenty years. The city engineer decided that the plans as they stood would be insufficient to cater for this growth. In particular, the placing of nine roundabouts on
25900-579: The point where the A5 road crosses the River Avon, forming a tripoint . To the south-east of Rugby the county boundary with Northamptonshire is defined by the Rains Brook. Rugby is the easternmost town within Warwickshire (and the entire West Midlands region ) Suburbs and districts of Rugby include: Places adjoining or adjacent to Rugby, but not part of the town itself: Rugby has an oceanic climate typical of
26085-414: The project in 1946, laying a commemorative stone on the future site of the shopping precinct and beginning the conversion of Broadgate, the city's historic hub, into a green central square. This first phase was opened in 1948 by the future Queen Elizabeth II , with a statue of Lady Godiva added a year later. Gibson's 1941 plan called for "a system of radial and ring roads", the innermost ring centred on
26270-506: The public at an exhibition in summer 1940 and included a new civic zone north east of the cathedral. In November 1940 and April 1941, following the outbreak of World War II , the city was attacked by the Luftwaffe in the Coventry Blitz . Large areas, including the cathedral, were left in ruins. Needing to rebuild rapidly, the council instructed Gibson and Ford to work together to agree on
26455-473: The railways had the effect of transforming Rugby from a rural backwater, into a substantial industrial town. In the later half of the 19th century, local industries began to develop: Large-scale cement production began in the town in 1862 when the Rugby Lias Lime & Cement Company Ltd was founded to take advantage of the locally available deposits of Blue Lias limestone . A factory producing corsets
26640-405: The remainder. Although the plan was agreed and signed off, the council did not begin construction immediately. Funding was limited following the economic hardship of the war, and the council's priority was the rebuilding of bomb-damaged areas in the city centre and completing the precinct, to enable businesses and shops to resume full operation. The city-centre work lasted throughout the first half of
26825-417: The ring road and its configuration as an urban motorway with grade separated junctions has sharply and arbitrarily divided the centre from the remainder of the city". In a 2009 report commissioned by English Heritage and used as evidence by Coventry City Council in planning city centre development, Gould and Gould recommended that the ring road be "rethought as an encircling boulevard, not an urban motorway and
27010-419: The ring road to Radford Road. The section of the old Radford Road on the city side was cut off from the rest and left as a dead end. The slip roads were brought into use in early June, allowing traffic to travel between the junctions but not yet on the flyover or the underpass. This opened up a through route from junction 6 in the south all the way through to junction 1 in the north, via the Moat Street flyover and
27195-468: The ring road. One of the most renowned ring roads is the Vienna Ring Road ( Ringstraße ), a grand boulevard constructed in the mid-19th century and filled with representative buildings. Due to its unique architectural beauty and history, it has also been called the "Lord of the ring roads", and is declared by UNESCO as part of Vienna's World Heritage Site . Major European cities that are served by
27380-511: The road a reputation for being difficult to navigate. The junctions include connections with three other A roads : the A4114 , A4600 and A429 . From the 1930s, Coventry City Council began replacing the city's narrow medieval streets with modern roads, to cope with a rapidly growing population. City architect Donald Gibson began work in 1939 on a city centre redevelopment plan which expanded in scope following World War II , in which large areas of
27565-573: The road passing over the junction on a 1,000-foot (300 m) overpass known as the Moat Street flyover. It also divided Spon Street into two disconnected sections. The flyover was built using steel girders, a technique not commonly used for bridges at the time, the project benefiting from an ongoing downturn in the construction steel industry which enabled it to source material more cheaply. Compulsory purchase orders were made in August 1961, with demolition beginning in September 1962 and preparatory work for
27750-546: The road was predicted to lead to considerable congestion. To remedy this, the council investigated the use of grade-separated junctions to replace the planned surface roundabouts. The use of such junctions had not at the time been tested at the scale required in Coventry, either in Europe or the United States. But the Road Research Laboratory , at the time a UK government agency, had produced a formula for safe traffic weaving distances between such junctions. Using this,
27935-459: The road were varied, concluding that "you either love it or you hate it". The road was the subject of a 2015 series of poetry films and driving on it has been likened to driving a Scalextric car and riding on a roller coaster . The ring road forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre of Coventry , with the designation A4053 in the Great Britain road numbering scheme . It
28120-464: The road's only at-grade junction and its northernmost point, is a roundabout with four exits: the eastbound and westbound ring roads, the B4113 Foleshill Road to the north and Tower Street to the south. Proceeding east (clockwise), junction 2 is a grade separated junction with Hales Street, White Street and Bird Street and the closest to Pool Meadow Bus Station . Between junctions 2 and 4,
28305-415: The route was levelled in preparation for the laying of foundations, which began in mid-August. The foundation consisted of at least 6 inches (150 mm) of crushed stone, with 4 inches (100 mm) of lean concrete above it, topped with 8-inch (200 mm) thick concrete slabs. The surface was tarmac , which contractors began laying in early September. With one carriageway fully tarmacked by late November,
28490-556: The route was underway by late 1967, and a £3.2 million MOT grant (equivalent to £73,400,000 in 2023) was approved, despite a government freeze on public spending at the time. It was projected to take two and a half years to complete. Work began in March 1968, and by June of that year the culverting work on the Sherbourne and erection of the concrete vertical supports was underway, with around six columns completed every week. From September 1968,
28675-423: The route. The junction 7 work began in April 2022, involving removal of the roundabout at that junction and its replacement with a direct route under the flyover from the Butts radial into the city centre. This work is expected to be complete in 2023. The ring road forms a complete loop around Coventry city centre and is entirely grade separated with the exception of junction 1. The weaving distance between junctions
28860-433: The setting for Charles Dickens 's story Mugby Junction . The modern town of Rugby is an amalgamation of the original town with the former settlements of Bilton , Hillmorton , Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which were incorporated into Rugby in 1932 when the town became a borough , all except Brownsover still have their former village centres. Rugby also includes the areas of New Bilton , Overslade , Hillside and
29045-458: The south of Rugby, and as a result the town regained its pre-1983 status of returning its own member of parliament, albeit with the addition of the Bulkington Ward from Nuneaton . Jeremy Wright chose to stand for Kenilworth and Southam in the 2010 general election and was successful. Mark Pawsey , son of former Rugby MP Jim Pawsey , was elected for Rugby in 2010. In the 2024 general election
29230-425: The southern side of the road, and work on the roadway had begun by early August. Engineers began tarmacking the southbound stretch from Swanswell Terrace to Hill Cross during the week of 14 August, opening it to traffic on 22 August, with the northbound carriageway following on 8 November. At the time of opening, the road had at-grade temporary junctions with Bishop Street and the old Radford Road (now Leicester Row), as
29415-475: The sport. In 1845, three Rugby School pupils produced the first written rules of the "Rugby style of game". Rugby School is one of England's oldest and most prestigious public schools , and was the setting of Thomas Hughes 's semi-autobiographical masterpiece Tom Brown's Schooldays , published in 1857. Hughes later set up a colony in America for the younger sons of the English gentry, who could not inherit under
29600-548: The stage featured cycle paths and pedestrian pavements on both sides, as well as a junction with Bishop Street. The cost eventually grew to £535,445 (equivalent to £15,600,000 in 2023), including compensation to landowners. After compulsory purchase orders were issued and all objections resolved, demolition of properties had begun by March 1960, including the Canal Offices building and properties on King Street. A 29-foot (8.8 m) section of Coventry's ancient city wall and
29785-431: The stage four slip roads, allowing traffic to bypass the city centre for the first time. The Hill Cross flyover and Holyhead Road underpasses were both opened on 18 July 1966, three months ahead of schedule, with construction workers removing the barriers and allowing traffic to flow. Stage five comprised the eastern section, linking the stage two and stage one sections between junction 1 and junction 4. The section included
29970-514: The stage was completed on schedule with an official ceremony on 4 June 1970 at St Mary's Guildhall and inaugural drive on the road by the Lord Mayor, followed by the opening of the road to the public. The completion of stage five meant that only the southern section between St Patrick's Road and the Queen's Road remained to be completed, and traffic could circumnavigate the city centre without having to use
30155-504: The steel girders in May 1965, transporting them from their Middlesbrough factory by train. Work on the roundabout underneath the junction, slip roads and the Radford radial also began around the same time. By November, all steelwork was in place for the flyover, and it was ready for the concrete surface to be laid. The Radford radial was completed first and opened to traffic in February 1966, linking
30340-562: The term is the most commonly used, with "orbital" also used, but to a much lesser extent. In Europe and Australia, some ring roads, particularly longer ones of motorway standard, are known as "orbital motorways". Examples are the London Orbital (generally known as the M25; 188 km), Sydney Orbital Network (110 km) and Rome Orbital (68 km). In the United States many ring roads are called beltlines , beltways or loops , such as
30525-412: The town to service the needs of the newcomers. Rugby's growth into a significant town was prompted by the arrival of the railways , as its location made it an ideal meeting place for various railway lines, by the middle of the 19th century, the railway junction at Rugby had become one of the most important in the country: The first railway arrived in 1838 when one of the earliest inter-city main lines,
30710-429: The town with infrastructure such as paved roads, street lighting, clean drinking water and sewerage. Such districts were converted into urban districts in 1894. Rugby's status was upgraded to that of a municipal borough in 1932, and its boundaries were expanded to incorporate the formerly separate villages of Bilton (including New Bilton ), Hillmorton , Brownsover and Newbold-on-Avon which have become suburbs of
30895-650: The town. In 1974 the municipal borough was merged with the Rugby Rural District to form the present Borough of Rugby . In the postwar years, Rugby became a major junction of the motorway network, with the M1 and M6 , and M45 merging close to the town. The railways went into decline during the same period, with several of the railway lines into Rugby closed. Since the 1980s, the engineering industries have gone into steady decline, with many former industrial sites redeveloped for housing and retail. Due to its proximity to
31080-472: The urban core of the city, but are not fully controlled-access and must be shared with local traffic in the Nickel Centre and Rayside-Balfour districts of the city. Most major cities in Europe are served by a ring road that circles either the inner core of their metropolitan areas or the outer borders of the city proper or both. In major transit hubs, such as the Île-de-France region surrounding Paris and
31265-572: The various engineering works dominated employment in Rugby; at their height in the 1960s, BTH alone employed around 22,000 people. Rugby expanded rapidly in the early decades of the 20th century as workers moved in. By the 1940s, the population of Rugby had grown to over 40,000, and then to over 50,000 by the 1960s. The parish of Rugby was made a local board district in 1849, which was the town's first modern form of local government; previously it had been governed by its vestry and manorial court . The local board's main responsibilities were to provide
31450-475: The view that the road creates a physical barrier isolating the city centre from its suburbs. In a follow-up article, the BBC revealed that they had received many letters from readers agreeing with this negative view of the road, but that numerous other respondents had praised the road, citing its design and the speed with which the city can be navigated by using it. The piece concluded that "you either love it or you hate it". Journalist Christopher Beanland, writing in
31635-443: The wall which was built for additional protection. As of 2022, the watchtower and a short section of the wall surrounding it remain in place. Demolition was slow, due to issues with relocating residents as well as squatters, and was still ongoing at the end of 1960. By June 1961, excavation was underway at the northern end of Bishop Street to process piping and electrical services. The foundations were laid from July 1961, starting with
31820-470: Was Arthur Ling , who had been Senior Planning Officer for the London County Council since 1946. Ling continued Gibson's work in developing the city centre while also reviewing details of the development plan. He updated the proposals to include pedestrianisation of the north–south axis of the precinct, while noting that city centre traffic congestion remained a major issue, which would be worsened by
32005-483: Was also the most expensive to date, with an eventual cost of £4.6 million (equivalent to £82,100,000 in 2023) including land purchases. Detailed plans for the stage were released in June 1965 during the construction of stages three and four, with compulsory purchase orders for the properties on the route issued at the same time. The contract for the construction of the project was put out to tender in late 1966, with Galliford chosen once again. Demolition and clearing of
32190-399: Was based on Gibson's 1940s plan, which included cycle tracks and footpaths on both sides, and envisaged it as a surface-level "linear park". The carriageways in stages one and two were 24 feet (7.3 m) wide, while the adjacent cycle tracks had a width of 12 feet (3.7 m) and the pedestrian pavements 8 feet (2.4 m). The MOT approved stage one in December 1957, pledging 75 per cent of
32375-590: Was close to the ring road and short-stay closer to the shopping areas. Several of the car parks are situated directly underneath the elevated sections of the road itself, including under the long stretch in the east built during stage five and, until the 2020s junction 7 rebuild, inside the roundabout under the Moat Street flyover. The latter was initially reserved on weekdays for employees of the General Electric Company factory in Spon Street but it later became
32560-487: Was closely aligned with that on stage three as the two connected with each other at Holyhead Road and stage four preparation and building began before much of the prior stage was opened. The council selected the principal stage three contractor, Galliford, as the primary contractor for stage four, including the Radford radial, while McKinney and Dorman Long once again performed the piling and the steelwork respectively. PSC Equipment were also involved for post-tensioning work on
32745-439: Was created in its current form in 1974, with the first elections held in 1973, since then, Rugby Borough Council has spent the majority of its time under no overall control , alternating with periods of Conservative control. (see Rugby Borough Council elections ) since 2023 it has been under no overall control. Rugby is covered by Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service . Ambulance services are covered by
32930-402: Was elevated to the status of parish church . In 1255, the lord of the manor Henry de Rokeby obtained a charter to hold a weekly market in Rugby, which soon developed into a small country market town . In the 12th century, Rugby was mentioned as having a castle at the location of what is now Regent Place. However, the nature of the 'castle' is unknown, and it was possibly little more than
33115-472: Was established there, which spurred the development of industry and the rapid growth of population. Early Iron Age settlement existed in the Rugby area: The River Avon formed a natural barrier between the Dobunni and Corieltauvi tribes, and it is likely that defended frontier settlements were set up on each side of the Avon valley. Rugby's position on a hill overlooking the Avon, made it an ideal location for
33300-408: Was founded as a grammar school for local boys but, by the 18th century, it had gained a national reputation and eventually became a public school . The school is the birthplace of rugby football which, according to legend, was invented in 1823 by a Rugby schoolboy named William Webb Ellis . Rugby remained a small and fairly unimportant town until the mid-19th century, when a major railway junction
33485-542: Was historically one of the Midlands' most marginal seats. From 1885 until 1924 Rugby was a marginal seat which changed hands between the Conservative and Liberal parties. From 1924 until 1942, the prominent Conservative David Margesson was Rugby's MP, his resignation triggered the 1942 Rugby by-election which was won by an independent trade unionist William Brown , who retained the seat until losing it to James Johnson of
33670-581: Was opened in 1882, employing local women, this survived until 1992, by which time it was making swimwear. In the 1890s and 1900s heavy engineering and electrical industries began to set up in Rugby, attracted by its central location and good transport links, causing the town to rapidly grow into a major industrial centre: Willans and Robinson were the first engineering firm to arrive in 1897, building steam engines to drive electrical generators, they were followed by British Thomson-Houston (BTH) in 1902, who manufactured electrical motors and generators. Within
33855-476: Was owned by the music manager Reginald Calvert and became a centre of the Midlands rock music scene, with a number of Midlands bands such as The Fortunes , and the local band Pinkerton's Assorted Colours starting their careers there. In the 1980s the influential rock band Spacemen 3 was formed in Rugby by the local musicians Jason Pierce and Pete Kember . Following its demise in 1991, both musicians went on to form successful subsequent projects; Pierce formed
34040-465: Was routed between Queen's Road and Spon Street via the new road's slip roads for a few months and in May 1965 the flyover opened to traffic, connecting the same two roads. A car park in the centre of the junction's roundabout was in use by August 1965, serving employees of the General Electric Company 's plant in Spon Street. Along with stage three, the city also constructed two link roads to
34225-451: Was slow due to difficulty in securing funding, and much of the city's road network consisted of narrow medieval streets. An exception was Thomas Telford 's road from London to Holyhead , built through Coventry between 1827 and 1830. Telford used advanced engineering techniques for the time with good drainage and stone foundations, and the road became the major route between London and Birmingham, replacing an older route along Spon Street. In
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