The A40 Western Avenue is one of West London's most important roads, running from the Marylebone Road in central London as the elevated Westway through Shepherd's Bush, then as surface road through Acton, Greenford and Uxbridge to join the M40 motorway towards Oxford. The Westway elevated section is a 1960s urban motorway built above the rooftops of Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove — striking in appearance and carrying an enormous volume of traffic. The A40 is the main route to Oxford, the Cotswolds and the M40/M1/M6 corridor from West London.
The Westway eastbound (into London) is consistently congested from around 07:15 on weekday mornings, with queues forming at the White City/Shepherd's Bush exit. The junction with the A3220 West Cross Route is a regular bottleneck. Westbound, the main problem is the approach to the A406 Hanger Lane junction — one of London's most consistently congested junctions — where the A40 meets the North Circular. Traffic from the A40 and A406 converges at the Hanger Lane gyratory, creating severe delays during both peaks.
Morning peak: 07:30–09:30 · Evening peak: 16:30–19:00
Outside these windows, the A40 typically flows much more freely. Saturdays can be busy between 11:00–15:00.
These TfL JamCam feeds cover the A40 across London. Each image updates every 5 minutes — click any camera to see the full live feed and nearby cameras.
Showing 8 of 15 A40 cameras. Browse all cameras →
Typical congestion levels on the A40 by hour. Green = free-flowing, red/orange = heavy delays.
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| Friday | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ |
| Saturday | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ |
| Sunday | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ | ▓ |
Westway eastbound clears quite sharply after 09:30 — if you can delay a morning trip to London by 90 minutes, the difference is substantial.
Hanger Lane gyratory is one of London's worst bottlenecks — allow at least 20–30 extra minutes if you need to use it during peak hours.
For Heathrow or M4 corridor destinations, the M4 is generally faster than the A40 — take M25 J15 from the A40 or head south to the M4 at Chiswick.
The White City/Shepherd's Bush cameras show eastbound Westway congestion earliest — crucial for morning commute planning.
If the A40 is heavily congested, these alternatives are worth considering:
The entire A40 within Greater London is inside the ULEZ. The eastern end at Marylebone Road approaches the Congestion Charge Zone boundary — check at tfl.gov.uk if your journey continues into central London. Non-compliant vehicles pay £12.50 per day. Check at tfl.gov.uk/ulez.
The Westway is the elevated dual-carriageway section of the A40 between Paddington and Shepherd's Bush, built in the late 1960s. It's congested because it's the only motorway-standard route into central London from the west, funnelling all M40, M1 (via M25) and western suburban traffic into a handful of exit points near the West End. There is no realistic alternative for this journey, so the road fills up quickly once the morning rush begins.
Not directly — the A40 runs north of Heathrow. For Heathrow from the A40, join the M40 and take M25 southbound to J14 (M4 Heathrow spur), or head south to the M4 at Chiswick. The journey via M25 is about 25–35 minutes in normal conditions from the A40/M40 interchange.
Yes — average speed cameras are present on sections of the Westway and the A40. The speed limit on the Westway itself is 40 mph. The A40 surface road sections vary between 30 mph and 50 mph. Always observe posted signs, as limits change throughout the route.
Hanger Lane gyratory is the junction of the A40 and the A406 North Circular — two of West London's busiest routes. The original gyratory design from the 1930s cannot adequately serve the volume of traffic now using these routes, and while improvements have been made, the fundamental geometry creates a bottleneck that signal optimisation alone cannot solve.