Grid roads are characterised by high speed limits, generous landscaping and greenery along their routes, all pedestrian crossings being by means of under- or overpasses,
roundabouts at every intersection and an almost total lack of road-fronting buildings.
Horizontal grid roads (ways) The
H1 Ridgeway runs from the southern edge of
Stony Stratford, across V4 Watling Street to a point on the V5 east of
Wolverton. It is the shortest of all grid roads, having only two grid roundabouts and with a large gap where a bridge over the A5 should be. It serves Stony Stratford, Fullers Slade,
Wolverton Mill and
Greenleys. The
H2 Millers Way is another short route. It begins at V4 Watling Street, at
Fairfields, bridges over the A5 and the
West Coast Main Line (WCML), then joins the V6 Grafton Street at Bradville. Among others, its route serves the
Milton Keynes Museum. The
H3 Monks Way is the most northerly of the major H roads. As the
A422, it is a dual carriageway for most of its length. It starts its route as a local single carriageway road, at a roundabout with V4 Watling Street north/south and Calverton Lane continuing westwards. The single carriageway section ends a six-way roundabout with the A5 and the V5 Great Monks Street, near Abbey Hill golf course. From this point, it becomes a
dual carriageway and is co-designated as the A422. It continues east under the
West Coast Main Line railway until it reaches a bridge over the
M1, where the formal H3 designation terminates at Marsh End Roundabout, south of
Newport Pagnell. (The route eastbound continues as far as Renny Lodge Roundabout, where it meets and multiplexes with the
A509 northbound from M1 Junction 14.) The
Concrete Cows (a copy) are the best known landmark on this road, just east of the WCML railway bridge. The
H4 Dansteed Way is a longer route. It starts in the western district of Grange Farm, crosses Linford Wood and ends formally at a roundabout with V11 Tongwell Street and Willen Road, near Tongwell. The
H5 Portway begins its life in Oakhill as a single carriageway and remains as such up until its junction with the A5. From there it becomes a dual carriageway and becomes the A509. It runs along the top edge of
Central Milton Keynes, over
Willen Lake and terminates at Northfield Roundabout with H6 Childs Way near M1 Junction 14. The route continues on as Fen Street in
Broughton (the former
A5130 road). The
H6 Childs Way runs from Whitney in the west of Milton Keynes at Kingsmead to a point short of Junction 14 of the
M1 motorway in the east. The H6 starts as a local distributor road between the districts of Kingsmead and Whitney. After crossing Whitney Roundabout the road becomes but remains as a single carriageway. After bridging
Powis Lane in between Westcroft and Oxley Park the road becomes a dual carriageway at Shenley Roundabout. Subsequently, it bridges both the A5 and the WCML railway. The road then crosses the V6 Grafton Street and runs along the southern edge of
Central Milton Keynes and
Campbell Park before passing Willen Lake. After this it passes the original
Milton Keynes village and then curves up to meet the
A509, briefly becoming the
A4146. The
H7 Chaffron Way is one of the longest grid roads but is a single carriageway for the entirety of its route. It starts in the district of Tattenhoe Park where it had a 300-metre extension built in 2007, runs past
Westcroft District Centre, Furzton Lake, The
National Bowl, bridges the A5 and the West Coast Main Line in one go, then crosses the valley of the
River Ouzel before terminating at a roundabout next to
Broughton. In March 2010, the route onward (Countess Way) was opened which links to Newport Road (former A5130) in Brooklands, a dual carriageway with a permanent bus lane on each side with traffic lights at either end.
H8 Standing Way is a dual carriageway that crosses MK from west to east, co-designated as the
A421. The route begins at the Kingston Roundabout near
Wavendon, west of Junction 13 of the M1. Its route takes north of the
Open University campus,
Milton Keynes University Hospital, over the A5 and the WCML, and finally leaves for
Buckingham at
Tattenhoe. The
H9 Groveway is partly dual-carriageway, running from the major roundabout junction with the A5 and V6 Grafton Street and terminating between Brinklow and Wavendon Gate, at a roundabout junction with Newport Road, the A421 and the H8 Standing Way. The
H10 Bletcham Way starts as a
dual carriageway at the three-way Granby Roundabout with the V6 Grafton Street and V4
Watling Street at
Denbigh. A short distance after this point it reduces to single carriageway as it passes the industrial estates of Mount Farm and Fenny Lock. At the end of this one-kilometre stretch the road crosses under the A5 at an unusual bi-graded triple roundabout, the eastern part of which forms a
dogbone interchange. From here it reverts to being dual carriageway and takes on the designation of
A4146. It remains like this for two grid stretches before the A4146 turns off onto the V11 Tongwell Street. The H10 then continues east, again as a single carriageway for a short distance before finishing as a local distributor in the district of Old Farm Park on the very south eastern edge of Milton Keynes.
Vertical grid roads (streets) V1 Snellshall Street begins at Whitney and ends at
Tattenhoe in the south west of Milton Keynes.
V2 Tattenhoe Street begins at Hazeley in the west of Milton Keynes and travels south to end at Windmill Hill in
Far Bletchley in the south west of Milton Keynes. Its route takes it past
Woodhill. passes over V6 Grafton Street between Bradville and New Bradwell on the modern Bradwell Aqueduct, built specifically to accommodate it. The
V3 Fulmer Street starts at is northern end between the districts of Crownhill and Grange Farm at a three (soon to be four) arm roundabout with the H4. It runs south crossing the H5, H6 and H7 before terminating at the H8, continuing on in the form of
Shenley Road into West
Bletchley. The
V4 Watling Street is part of the longer national
Watling Street. Its northern end is just south of Stony Stratford, at a junction with H1 Ridgeway; the route north to
Old Stratford (Northamptonshire) continues as Queen Eleanor Street (the Stony Stratford bypass). Its southern end is to the north of Fenny Stratford, at a roundabout where it meets V6 Grafton Street and H10 Bletcham Way. The original alignment continues south from here as Denbigh Road, regaining its identity at a roundabout with V7 Saxon Street. The
V5 Great Monks Street runs from Wolverton Mill to Great Holm and Two Mile Ash. It is single carriageway for its entire length. The
V6 Grafton Street is a major local road in
Milton Keynes key to the
layout and urban form of the 'new city'. It starts beside
Wolverton railway station in the north-west of Milton Keynes, between
Wolverton and
New Bradwell and extends as far as
Denbigh (where it provides access to the
Stadium:mk), where it terminates in a roundabout with the H10 Bletcham Way, V4
Watling Street and Denbigh Rd. The
V7 Saxon Street starts off near
New Bradwell in the north of the city as a single carriageway and remains as such past
Stantonbury to its junction with the H4 where it becomes a dual carriageway. In this form it runs straight through the heart of Central Milton Keynes between the
Centre:MK and the
Church of Christ the Cornerstone and then returns to being a single carriageway after its junction with the H7. It then has a speed restriction on it for two grid squares until the H9. After passing
Stadium MK and crossing the H10, it becomes a dual carriageway once more and terminates in central
Bletchley. The
V8 Marlborough Street (B4034) runs from Stantonbury to Mount Farm in Denbigh East. It is a dual carriageway for most of length, as it is one of the more important routes. It runs in a cutting through
Central Milton Keynes. , its planned connection to H10 Bletcham Way and the A5 remains neither built nor funded. The
V9 Overstreet is the shortest of all the 'V' roads, it runs from H3 Monks Way to H5 Portway. It is single carriageway the entire distance. It serves Downs Barn, Downhead Park, Neath Hill and Pennyland. It is notable for Neath Hill Local Centre designed by
Wayland Tunley as being one of the few local centres in Milton Keynes built to straddle the grid roads rather than being embedded within the interior of the grid square. Overgate continues from H5 Portway through Campbell Park to H6 Childs Way though this is not signed V9. The
V10 Brickhill Street is mainly a single carriageway, but it is important in being one of the few that run continuously between the north and the south of the city. It is only a dual carriageway for 200 metres south of the H4 roundabout at
Willen. It begins at a roundabout with Wolverton Road, near
Giffard Park and
Newport Pagnell, and heads south serving much of the east of MK. It terminates at a roundabout just west of
Bow Brickhill railway station to the south of
Caldecotte. The
V11 Tongwell Street begins at a roundabout near
Tongwell, following the existing southbound route of
Willen Road from
Newport Pagnell. It is a single carriageway to its junction with the H6 where it picks up the
A4146 road. It is then a dual carriageway as far as the H10, then finally a single carriageway again for a very short distance into the districts of Old Farm Park and Browns Wood. ==Astronomical alignment==