page_title: Coventry ring road
hierarchical_section_title: Coventry ring road
caption_attribution_description: English: Coventry's inner Ring Road photographed from the Canal Basin pedestrian footbridge looking West.
context_page_description: The Coventry ring road, also known by its road number, A4053, is a 3.62-kilometre ring road in Coventry, England, which forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre. The road's circuit encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals, Coventry University, shopping areas including the Upper and Lower Precincts, West Orchards and Cathedral Lanes, the medieval Spon Street and the Coventry Skydome. With the exception of one at-grade roundabout, the ring road's nine junctions are entirely grade separated and closely-spaced, with short weaving sections between them, giving it a reputation for being difficult to navigate. The junctions include connections with three other A roads: the A4114, linking Coventry to the A45, A46, M1 and M40, and also westbound towards Birmingham; and the A4600, which also connects with the A428, A444, M6 and M69; and the A429 to Kenilworth.
  With the exception of Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, central Coventry's road network comprised narrow medieval streets until the 1930s.
context_section_description: The Coventry ring road, also known by its road number, A4053, is a 3.62-kilometre (2.25 mi) ring road in Coventry, England, which forms a complete dual-carriageway loop around the city centre. The road's circuit encompasses the old and new Coventry Cathedrals, Coventry University, shopping areas including the Upper and Lower Precincts, West Orchards and Cathedral Lanes, the medieval Spon Street and the Coventry Skydome. With the exception of one at-grade roundabout, the ring road's nine junctions are entirely grade separated and closely-spaced, with short weaving sections between them, giving it a reputation for being difficult to navigate. The junctions include connections with three other A roads: the A4114, linking Coventry to the A45, A46, M1 and M40, and also westbound towards Birmingham; and the A4600, which also connects with the A428, A444, M6 and M69; and the A429 to Kenilworth.
  With the exception of Thomas Telford's Holyhead Road, central Coventry's road network comprised narrow medieval streets until the 1930s. To cope with a rapidly growing population, the city council tasked city engineer Ernest Ford with modernising the roads; he went on to build Corporation Street and Trinity Street, projects which involved large-scale demolition and relocation of residents. Donald Gibson was appointed city architect in 1939 and began work on a city centre redevelopment plan more radical than Ford's. After large areas of the city were destroyed by German bombs in the Coventry Blitz, Ford and Gibson formulated rival visions for its reconstruction. The council chose Gibson's more radical plan, which included the ring road. Priority was given initially to building the shopping precinct and central plaza, but detailed planning began in 1955, the council deciding to build the road in six stages. In 1959 the first section of the road was built, linking London Road and St Patrick's Road in the south east of the city centre. This was followed in 1961 by stage two, Bishop Street to Hill Street, in the north west.
  The first two stages were built largely according to Gibson's designs, with at-grade junctions and the provision of cycle tracks and footpaths on both sides, envisaged as a surface-level "linear park". But following a pair of traffic surveys conducted in 1960 and 1961, the council realised that the design could not cope with the predicted increase in vehicular traffic, and it recommended amending the designs to include grade separation. Stage three was the first to be built under the new design, linking Hill Cross and Holyhead Road, with a steel flyover carrying the road over the intermediate junction with the Butts radial road. Work began in 1962, and construction was completed in 1964, although the stage did not fully open until mid-1965. Stage four, Hill Cross to Holyhead Road, was built between 1965 and 1966 and featured two grade-separated junctions – an underpass at Holyhead Road, and a flyover at Radford Road. Stage five comprised the section of the ring road to the east of the city centre, and included two new junctions: the White Street interchange and the Leicester radial. It was the longest and most expensive stage thus far, and due to a difficult terrain it was built the mostly as an elevated carriageway. Work began in 1968 and the stage was fully opened by 1970. The sixth and final stage was in the south and completed the full circuit. It included a complete rebuild of stage one, to upgrade it to grade-separation. Stage six opened in September 1974.
  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 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 has been likened to both a Scalextric and a roller coaster.
caption: Junction 9 and Hill Cross flyover, looking south west
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