I have wondered about this for the longest time but never thought of asking about it until now.
It seems that some London Streets begin with. a letter such as A followed by three numbers. i.e. A123
Is that really the name of the street?
What does it stand for or does it stand for anything?
Looking at London maps, it seems that there are a lot of streets that begin with a letter such as A and then followed by three numbers.
most, or at least many, B roads are 4 digits - say B2235
A roads can be 1, 2, or 3 digits; the fewer the digits generally the more important the road. The single digit ones are long established long distance routes, main A roads are often 2 digits.
Often the motorways parallel the original trunk roads so you will see the M1 next to the A1, the M40 next to the A40, the M3 close to the A3, etc.
While numbered routes run through London in the city the road will also have a name, or often a sequence of names, as well as the numbered route.
Street signs often have a post codes added, one of the most famous being Fortis Green N.10. These have nothing to do with road designations.
Roads have a number to identify them and distinguish them from other routes. These road numbers are used on maps and for navigating. Numbering begins from London and the main roads from London are the A1 (north) A2 (south east) A3 (south) A4 (west), A5 (north west) A6 (north).
The A7, A8 and A9 are in Scotland.
There is then a system of numbering between these main routes.
Lots more information (and a map) here.
Street names are local, so you could find a road has the same number but different street names along it.
It’s like here in the US…..in Boston you have RT 99, 16 and 1, etc., but have names like Lake Street, Kirk Lane, etc. It’s the same in the UK….M1, M4 etc., are like our interstates. A and B roads connect villages and towns. A roads are wider, some B roads are narrow and sometimes you need to pull over and stop when approaching a car on a B road.
Although I was born and raised in Boston, I never drove in Boston. However I have long lived in Austin and I know that there is one highway that has three names. One is local and one is state or regional and one may be national.
When I looked at London maps, I might often see A1 or A2 or B2345 but I never found the local names of the streets.
Once you get used to this system, it possibly makes driving simpler?????
Very interesting infomation.
well, now I am going to ask, what are postal codes.
Do they come after London in the address?
My hotel address reads London W2 3PH. Is W2 3PH the entire postal code?
I guess that it is similar to our zip code.
