A417 - strangely, the A417 overbridge
Introduction
The photograph on this page of A417 - strangely, the A417 overbridge by J Whatley as part of the Geograph project.
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A417 - strangely, the A417 overbridge
Image: © J Whatley Taken: 22 Sep 2010
Road numbering is a little schizophrenic around Cirencester, thanks to the 1997 bypass and a pre-war swap of road numbers which makes little sense now. Hence the A417 on the bridge comes in from Fairford, and continues toward Gloucester. Historically the route turned sharply in Cirencester town centre, later at a roundabout on the first bypass, but since construction of the 1997 bypass there is no physical connection whatsoever between the A417's two sections. In a logical world, the A417 and A419 would once more swap routes west of Cirencester, giving through routes Swindon-Gloucester and Oxford-Stroud, which is exactly how the routes were originally defined in 1922!
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Image Location
Latitude
51.718691
Longitude
-1.940603