"Paul Terry" wrote in message
...

The Maidenhead (eastern) bypass was indeed originally numbered A4(M) and
part of it was later incorporated into the M4 (*) - but the intention to
build a motorway from London to South Wales dates back to pre-war road
planning days. It was designated the "South Wales Motorway" at an early
stage, and appears as such in maps even before constructed started (e.g.
the 1961 Bartholomew Reference Atlas of London).

(*) See http://www.free-definition.com/A404M-motorway.html

Somewhere I have a brochure produced in 1938-9 to promote industrial estates
in the Forest of Dean and Chepstow area, and that shows a dual carriageway
road tunnel under the Severn, running almost on the alignment of the now A49
and the first Severn Road Crossing.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/