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The M40 motorway is the second motorway in the English transport network to connect London to Birmingham. Part of this road forms a section of the unsigned European route E05.
The M40 was constructed in stages with the first section being the Wycombe Bypass from Handycross to Stokenchurch (Junctions 4-5) opening in 1967. In 1969 a temporary junction (Junction 2*) was built at Holtspur just outside of Beaconsfied that carried the motorway to the first section at Handycross (Junction 4). The Beaconsfield bypass (Junction 2) which was part of the motorway was built in 1971 and the Gerrards Cross Bypass (Junctions 1-2) connecting to this was completed in 1973. Junctions 5-8 Pitmore to Chilworth just outside of Oxford were completed in 1974. Construction from Birmingham to Oxford (the "missing link") started in 1988 from the M42 near Hockley Heath (Junction 3A) and finishing with construction through Warwickshire and the Cherwell Valley in 1990 linking Junction 3A to Junction 8. The motorway opened for its full length of 89 miles in 1990. The M40 was to be the last major motorway construction in the UK; however, during the final stages of construction the Conservative government of the time announced a major new road building scheme.
When the motorway was first opened it carried surprisingly little traffic (compared, for instance, to the M25, which was congested from the start). The reason was said to be the lack of motorway service areas, which kept HGV traffic in particular from using the route, the M1 and M6, or A34, being existing routes to Birmingham. The first service station opened at Cherwell Valley in 1994, and two further service stations opened at Oxford and Warwick in 1998. As a result, traffic is now much heavier. A major scheme procured under the Private Finance Initiative to upgrade the carriageway from 3 to 4 lanes between junctions 1A and 3 was completed by a Carillion / John Laing joint venture in October 1998.
The section of the M42 between junctions 3A and the M5 was going to be renumbered as part of the M40 when it was extended to Birmingham, and the junction was built with priority going to the now eastbound section of the M42 and the M40 towards London. However when the junction was opened, no renumbering took place.
A major tragedy occurred on the M40 just before midnight on 17 November 1993, when a minibus transporting 14 children from a proms concert in London back to Hagley RC High School near Birmingham crashed into a parked motorway maintenance vehicle. 10 pupils and the teacher driving the vehicle died at the scene; 2 others died in hospital from their injuries over the next two days. The remaining 2 children recovered from relatively minor injuries.
An inquest the following summer recorded a verdict of accidental death on all of the victims. It was reported that none of the children in the minibus were wearing seatbelts, and the side-facing benches seating layout was also criticised as dangerous. This led to seatbelts becoming compulsory equipment on all coaches and minibuses (more than 20 years after they had been compulsory on cars), though more than a decade on it is still not compulsory for them to be worn.
The M40 begins at the Denham Roundabout near Uxbridge just east of the M25 and finishes at the M42 near Birmingham. The Denham Roundabout is a magic roundabout, with traffic flowing in both directions. The A40 is a D3 carriage way from the Inner Ring Road in Central London, and is one of the 2 buisiest western raidials. Many of the traffic using the A40 heads along it to join the M40 to travel out of London. At junction 1 (the Denham Roundabout) on the outbound carriageway there is a lane drop to accommodate the non-motorway traffic. The mainline of the A40 carries on to become the M40 and it has 2 lanes + a hard shoulder on the outbound carriageway and 3 lanes + a hard shoulder on the Londonbound carriageway. The motorway is carried over the top of the magic roundabout, which interchanges withe the A40 (A413,A412)(outbound), the A4020 (original route of the A40) and the A412 southbound. the original line of the A40 can be seen going straight through the roundabout. The magic roundabout allows traffic to go round the roundabout the 'wrong way'. The motorway then carries on for another half a mile before it reaches junction 1A.
Junction 1A is the freeflow interchange with the M25 London Orbital. It is a partially unrolled cloverleaf, which is the interchange.