The Middleway, officially designated as the A4540 and signposted as ring road, is an orbital road in Birmingham, England. Serving as the sole ring road of the city, it runs around Birmingham city centre at a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6km). The A38 (including the Queensway tunnels) cuts through it from north to south.
History
The road is now signposted as simply 'Ring Road'
The ring road was planned and designed by Herbert Manzoni. It was then known as the Middle Ring Road, due to the existence of the now-defunct Inner Ring Road, and as a result it is now often referred to as simply the "Ring Road".
The Middleway forms the boundary to Birmingham Clean Air Zone, although the road itself is not part of the zone.
Plans to make The Middleway a red route were proposed as early as 2008 but dropped in 2021.
Route
A section of the MiddlewayTraffic on Lee Bank MiddlewayFive Ways Island from No. 23 bus.
Belgrave Interchange (junction with A441 followed by A38) Main road passes underneath interchange
Lee Bank Middleway
Islington Row Middleway
Five Ways Island (junction with A456 which passes underneath island.) Original plans showed the A4540 as passing under the roundabout but this was later changed, a move which is commonly viewed as a mistake and would have alleviated the heavy congestion at the island. The former Broad St section of the A456, which runs under the island, was downgraded in the 1990s. (Pedestrian subway through island)
Heaton Street and New John Street are both numbered A4540 and was the route for all traffic using the Ring Road prior to the construction of the underpass through Snow Hill.
Pedestrian facilities
All but four of the numbered A4540 junctions have signal-controlled pedestrian crossings of the ring road. Of the four, Dartmouth Circus, Ashted Circus and Five Ways have subways; Bordesley Circus has uncontrolled pedestrian crossings despite often heavy traffic. There are mostly lightly used pavements around the entire ring road, though several busy side roads joining the ring road have only uncontrolled crossings for pedestrians. Some parts of the pavement (and the three subways) are designated cycle paths, but much of the rest of the pavement is used by cyclists illegally to avoid the heavy traffic and frequent roundabouts on the ring road.
A457
A41
A34
A38
A47
A45
A435
A441
A456
