North Circular Road

A406
North Circular Road
The route of the North Circular Road in Greater London, with the South Circular Road and Woolwich Ferry
Route information
Maintained by Transport for London
Length	25.7 mi[1] (41.4 km)
History	Opened: 1910 Completed: c. 1930
Major junctions
West end	Chiswick (M4 Junction 1)
Major intersections	A205 (South Circular Road) M4 A4 (Great West Road) A40 (Western Avenue) M1 A1 (Great North Way) A10 (Great Cambridge Road) M11 A12 (Eastern Avenue) A13 (East Ham and Barking Bypass)  Woolwich Ferry
East end	Beckton
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The North Circular Road (officially the A406 and sometimes known as simply the North Circular) is a 25.7-mile-long (41.4 km) ring road around Central London in England. It runs from Chiswick in the west to Woolwich in the east via suburban North London, connecting various suburbs and other trunk roads in the region. Together with its counterpart, the South Circular Road, it mostly forms a ring road around central London, except for crossing of the River Thames, which is done by the Woolwich Ferry.

The road was constructed in the Interwar period to connect local industrial communities and by pass London. It was upgraded after World War II, and was at one point planned to become a motorway as part of the controversial and ultimately cancelled London Ringways scheme. In the early 1990s, the road was extended to bypass Barking and meet the A13 north of Woolwich, though without a direct link to the ferry.

The road's design varies from six-lane dual carriageway to urban streets; the latter, although short, cause traffic congestion in London and are regularly featured on local traffic reports, particularly at Bounds Green. The uncertainty of development has caused urban decay and property blight along its route, and led to criticism over its poor pollution record. Several London Borough Councils have set up regeneration projects to improve the environment for communities close to the road.