Editing Gloucester (section)

===Roads===
The [[M5 motorway]], opened in 1971, runs east of the city boundary. Junction 12 serves south Gloucester and Quedgeley; junction 11a serves central Gloucester; and junction 11 serves north Gloucester. The [[A38 road|A38]] runs north–south through Gloucester, connecting the city with [[Tewkesbury]] and Bristol. The [[A40 road|A40]] runs west to east, connecting Gloucester with [[Cheltenham]] to the east (via a dual carriageway section known as ''The Golden Valley Bypass'') and the [[Forest of Dean]] and [[South Wales]] to the West. The [[A46 road|A46]] and [[A4173]] links [[Stroud, Gloucestershire|Stroud]], and the [[A417 road|A417]] links [[Cirencester]] in the south-east and [[Ledbury]] in the north-west. Gloucester has a network of [[Cycling infrastructure|cycle paths]].

Until the construction of the [[Severn Bridge]] in 1966, Gloucester was the lowest road bridging point on the river and hence was an important settlement between [[South Wales]] and the southernmost counties of England including London. The Severn has a small [[anabranch]] here to reach [[Alney Island]] and then the main western bank. [[Over Bridge|A bridge at Over]], built by [[Thomas Telford]] in 1829, still stands, notable for its very flat arch, but its fragility and narrowness means it is disused; since 1974, it has been paralleled by a modern bridge. The [[Gloucester to Newport Line]] railway bridge is close to both, the lowest crossing of the UK's longest river until the [[Severn Railway Bridge]] 1879–1960, which was coupled with the [[Severn Tunnel]] in 1886, the present holder of that status.