Northbound on the M40 means leaving London behind: from Denham and the M25, up through the Chilterns, past Oxford and Banbury, and on to Warwick and the M42 for Birmingham. This page shows reports affecting that direction.

What northbound drivers meet

From the M25 at Junction 1A the first few miles are the busiest on the road, past Beaconsfield and High Wycombe. After Junction 5 the road passes through the Stokenchurch Gap, a deep chalk cutting in the Chiltern Hills, and enters Oxfordshire. At Junction 8 the motorway turns north, leaving the A40 to carry on into Oxford, and runs past Bicester and Banbury into Warwickshire.

Near the end, on the approach to the M42 at the northern end of the M40, Active Traffic Management is used, so gantry signs there can change lanes and limits.

Northbound traffic, stretch by stretch

These are the Department for Transport’s 2025 daily counts for traffic heading away from London only.

Stretch	All vehicles	Cars & taxis	Lorries
J1 to J1A (M25)	53,303	40,282	3,198
J1A to J2 Beaconsfield	66,843	50,623	4,424
J2 to J3 High Wycombe east	64,635	50,391	3,741
J3 to J4 Handy Cross	51,349	38,983	3,411
J4 to J5 Stokenchurch	48,715	36,798	3,467
J5 to J6 Lewknor	50,402	39,249	4,284
J6 to J7 Thame	47,471	35,831	3,309
J7 to J8 Wheatley	46,261	34,893	3,321
J8 to J9 Oxford	38,833	28,984	2,902
J9 to J10 Bicester	56,031	40,648	5,927
J10 to J11 Banbury	46,226	33,219	4,614
J11 to J12 Gaydon	44,337	31,356	5,564
J12 to J13 Leamington	46,487	34,088	5,497
J13 to J14	45,894	33,334	4,675
J14 to J15 Warwick	58,785	43,963	5,085
J15 to J16 Henley-in-Arden	46,736	34,327	4,707
J16 to M42 J3A	49,807	35,606	4,330

The heaviest northbound stretch is Junction 1A to Junction 2, at 66,843 vehicles a day. Three stretches carry noticeably more traffic northbound than the other way: Junction 1 to 1A leaving Denham (53,303 against 41,585), Junction 8 to 9 past Oxford (38,833 against 30,917) and Junction 9 to 10 past Bicester (56,031 against 44,262). The Junction 8 to 9 figures come from the count point labelled north and south; the other count point on that stretch shows an almost even split, 35,953 and 35,033. Northbound lorry numbers peak between Junctions 9 and 10, at 5,927 a day.

The Department for Transport labels most M40 count points eastbound and westbound, and the stretch from Oxford to Banbury northbound and southbound, because the road changes bearing. We read westbound and northbound as travel away from London, and eastbound and southbound as travel towards London. That is our reading of the compass letters, not a label the dataset gives. Where one stretch has more than one count point we show one; between Junctions 8 and 9 we use the count point labelled north and south.

Where to stop northbound

In order: Beaconsfield (Junction 2), Oxford (Junction 8A), Cherwell Valley (Junction 10) and Warwick, whose northbound site is between Junctions 12 and 13.

Heading the other way? M40 southbound traffic towards London

Traffic count figures on this page are from the Department for Transport road traffic statistics, 2025.