Bedfordshire lies on many of the main transport routes which link
London to the
Midlands,
Northern England and the rest of the UK.
Roads Two of England's six main
trunk roads pass through Bedfordshire. The
A1 London to
Edinburgh road (the Great North Road) runs close by Biggleswade and Sandy, and
Watling Street, the Roman road between London and Chester, passes through Dunstable. Until it was diverted in 2017, this was also the route of the
A5 road between London and
Holyhead. The Bedfordshire section of the A5 now runs from junction 11a of the M1 to rejoin Watling Street between Dunstable and
Hockliffe, then continues on to cross the
Buckinghamshire border at the
City of Milton Keynes. To these was added in 1959 the
M1 motorway, running from London to
Leeds. Running from junctions 10 to 13 in Bedfordshire, there are two junctions serving Luton (at the southern end), with another one serving Bedford and
Milton Keynes (at the northern end). Between these lie two other junctions in the county; one connecting to the
A5 and serving
Dunstable, and the other serving the town of
Flitwick. There is one motorway service station in the county:
Toddington Services. Former trunk roads, now local roads managed by the local highway authorities, include the
A428 (Cambridge-Coventry) running east–west through Bedford Borough, and the
A6 from Luton to
Carlisle.
Railways Three of England's main lines pass through Bedfordshire. The
West Coast Main Line has but a short section where it passes through the far west of the county, with one station at served by
West Midlands Trains to
London Euston and . The
East Coast Main Line has stations at , and , served by
Great Northern services to
King's Cross and . The
Midland Main Line serves ,
Luton Airport (via
Luton DART link from the station at ) and , with trains to many destinations operated by
East Midlands Railway and
Thameslink. Intermediate stations at , and are served by Thameslink. There are London North Western rural services also running between Bedford and along the
Marston Vale Line.
Waterways The
River Great Ouse links Bedfordshire to the
Fenland waterways. As of 2004 there are plans by the
Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway Trust to construct a
canal linking the Great Ouse at Bedford to the
Grand Union Canal at Milton Keynes, 14 miles (23 km) distant.
Air Luton Airport (the
fifth busiest in the United Kingdom) has flights to many UK, European,
Middle Eastern and
North African destinations, operated largely (but not exclusively) by low-cost airlines. ==Media==