High Wycombe Roadworks: Marlow Obelisk Lanes Shut 7-16 Oct

The M40 northbound is shut between Loudwater and Handy Cross tonight, Saturday 3 October. National Highways’ closure report books the carriageway between junction 3 and junction 4 from 10.15pm to 6am, with the junction 4 exit slip closed alongside it. It lists the work as emergency maintenance. Weekend closures here are rare, so check before a late drive home.

In Marlow, two council jobs follow. Berwick Road has stop and go boards and two-way lights on weekdays until Thursday 8 October. From Wednesday 7 to Friday 16 October, restoration of the Marlow Obelisk brings overnight lane closures, 7pm to 7am, on the High Street and the A4155 approach to the roundabout.

The last booked night closure of Marlow Bridge was on Friday 2 October.

Roadworks change every week. The first part of this page is how to check what is shut today. The rest is the part that does not change: the roads that carry this area, what parking costs, and the ways around the towns that do not involve a car.

How to check what is shut today

• The council’s roadworks list is refreshed most weeks and lists the significant council schemes county-wide in plain English. It is the quickest read. The edition live today was last updated on Friday 2 October. It covers council schemes only, so utility works never appear on it.
• one.network is the map the council itself points residents to. It runs on Department for Transport permit data, so it shows every permitted set of works, who is doing it, the dates and the traffic management. Expect it to ask you to create a free account before it shows the full list.
• National Highways’ road closure report covers full closures on the motorways and trunk roads seven days ahead. The edition live today covers Friday 2 October to Thursday 8 October. The spreadsheet says National Highways uploads a new list every day, covering that evening and the next six days, so a closure can appear with a few days’ notice and no announcement. Check it before a night drive on the M40.
• Report a pothole or a street light goes to Buckinghamshire Council. It is the highway authority for every road here except the M40 and the A404(M).

One authority runs almost all of it. Since 2020 Buckinghamshire Council has been responsible for the roads, the car parks, the street lights and the gritting across High Wycombe, Marlow, Princes Risborough and the villages. Only the motorway and the A404(M) belong to National Highways.

What is live now

The council lists these as its own schemes. Utility works are not on that list and only show on the one.network map.

The edition of 2 October adds one job in this area and drops one:

• New: the Marlow Obelisk. Restoration works bring lane closures on Marlow High Street and on the A4155 approach to the roundabout, overnight from 7pm to 7am, Wednesday 7 to Friday 16 October. The list books lane closures, not a full closure, so traffic should keep moving with delays.
• Gone: the A4010 at Saunderton. The overnight closure for road markings ended on 30 September.

Berwick Road in Marlow is unchanged: ironworks under stop and go boards and two-way lights, 7am to 7pm on weekdays, until Thursday 8 October. It is not a closure.

The street lighting programme names High Wycombe, Marlow, Princes Risborough, Hazlemere, Flackwell Heath and Bourne End among sixteen places where 40 damaged columns are being replaced. The council describes it as “mostly complete, with a small number of locations to be completed”, with an end date of 15 October.

Marlow Bridge: the last booked night was 2 October

The Grade I listed suspension bridge has been under structural maintenance since 3 November 2025. The work included replacing the twelve bearings that carry the deck and cleaning and repainting the steelwork underneath.

The council’s list, updated on Friday 2 October, still carries the entry with an end date of Friday 2 October. Its overnight closures, 8pm to 6am, ran from Monday 28 September to that Friday. Nothing on the list books a closure after it.

The entry says the bridge has been lowered onto the new bearings, and that the snagging work is all beneath the deck. Parking bays by Higginson Park and in Pound Lane car park were suspended for the length of the scheme. The list does not yet say they are back in use, so check the signs before you park there.

The structural phase is not the whole programme. The council has said the decorative restoration follows, in 2026 to 2027. The bridge carries a weight restriction, so it has never been a through route for anything larger than a car.

We will confirm when the entry comes off the council’s list.

Correction, 19 September 2026: this page said on 16 September that the Marlow Bridge scheme had come off the council’s roadworks list, on the basis of the edition published on 11 September. The edition published on 18 September carries it, with an end date of 30 September 2026. The section above has been rewritten and the earlier reading is withdrawn.

Easton Street: the multi-storey is coming down

Demolition of the Easton Street multi-storey car park in High Wycombe began on 7 September. Buckinghamshire Council has appointed Coleman Group, which took over the site on 24 August and started internal strip-out on 1 September.

For anyone on foot, the practical effect is already in place: a section of Birdcage Walk on the northern edge of the site is closed, with a signed alternative route and blue hoarding along the northern boundary. Scaffolding is up on the southern and eastern sides of the structure.

The car park itself has been shut for some time, and it is not reopening: the site is allocated in the draft Local Plan for 160 homes. Full detail is in the multi-storey demolition story.

M40, A404 and M4 overnight closures

National Highways’ seven-day closure report now covers Friday 2 October to Thursday 8 October. Every closure listed below runs overnight:

• Saturday 3 October (tonight): the M40 northbound carriageway between junction 3 (Loudwater) and junction 4 (Handy Cross), 10.15pm to 6am, with the junction 4 northbound exit slip. The scheme covers junctions 2 to 5 northbound for “emergency maintenance works”. The diversion runs via local authority roads and the National Highways network.
• Monday 5 October: the M40 southbound junction 5 exit slip at Stokenchurch, 10.15pm to 6am, for maintenance between junctions 6 and 4.
• Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 October: the M40 northbound junction 5 exit slip at Stokenchurch, 10.15pm to 5am, for electrical works.
• Thursday 8 October: the M40 southbound junction 4 exit slip at Handy Cross, 10.15pm to 6am, for maintenance between junctions 5 and 4.

Tonight’s closure is the one that matters. Anyone coming home northbound from London or Beaconsfield after 10.15pm cannot use the M40 to reach Handy Cross. The A40 London Road through Loudwater is the obvious way round, and that is where the traffic will go.

Thursday’s closure matters for the town too. Drivers heading west from London cannot leave the M40 at Handy Cross that night, so they will be sent on to junction 5 and back.

No A404 or A404(M) closure is listed from tonight to 8 October. Friday night’s closure of the A404 to M40 northbound slip at Handy Cross was the last on that road this week.

Key dates to 17 October

Trains: a Wembley match, early track work and two strike Saturdays

Rail is usually the sensible answer from all three towns. High Wycombe is 27 minutes from Marylebone on the fastest Chiltern service, Princes Risborough is direct on the same line, and Marlow runs to Paddington with a change at Maidenhead. Season ticket prices, journey times and station parking charges are all set out on High Wycombe train times to London.

Chiltern’s calendar of changes lists no daytime engineering closure between Marylebone and Princes Risborough in the next fortnight. These are the changes that do touch the area:

• Saturday 3 and Sunday 4 October: maintenance at Oxford shuts the line between Oxford Parkway and Oxford, after 10.55pm on the Saturday and until 8.35am on the Sunday, with buses from Oxford Parkway or Bicester North. Trains on the Wycombe line run as normal as far as Bicester.
• Tuesday 6 October: England play Czechia at Wembley, kick off 7.45pm, and the peak is rewritten around it.
• Wednesday 7 October: late-notice track work between Wembley Stadium and South Ruislip, until 6.30am.
• Saturday 10 and Saturday 17 October: RMT strikes. Chiltern expects to run “the vast majority” of its services, with the normal number of trains into and out of Marylebone. On 10 October many trains also call at Wembley Stadium for the Girlguiding Big Gig at Wembley Arena.
• Sunday 18 October: an NFL game at Wembley, kick off 2.30pm, with extra trains and extra Wembley Stadium stops for most of the day.

The Wembley match on Tuesday 6 October hits both peaks at Princes Risborough. Chiltern updated the list on 28 September:

• the 07.21 Princes Risborough to Marylebone is cancelled, and the 06.38 from Oxford calls additionally at Princes Risborough instead
• the 17.37 Marylebone to Princes Risborough is cancelled
• the 17.45 Marylebone to Oxford does not call at Beaconsfield and calls additionally at High Wycombe
• the 17.33 Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill leaves four minutes later, at 17.37
• the 16.45 and 17.15 to Oxford each run a carriage shorter, and the 17.53 Marylebone to West Ruislip is cancelled

The early work on Wednesday 7 October was added on 29 September. No trains run between Marylebone and West Ruislip until 6.30am. For this area that means:

• the 05.54 Marylebone to High Wycombe is cancelled, with an extra 06.38 Marylebone to High Wycombe calling at West Ruislip and Gerrards Cross
• the 05.02 and 05.25 Aylesbury to Marylebone terminate at West Ruislip, and so does the 05.17 from Banbury
• the 06.08 Marylebone to Oxford starts from West Ruislip at 06.16

Chiltern’s advice is to use the Central line between central London and West Ruislip.

The RMT has called the two Saturday strikes over how Chiltern plans to run the first stage of East West Rail, between Oxford and Milton Keynes. Chiltern’s industrial action page, updated on 2 October, says the effect falls far from here:

• no trains between Stratford-upon-Avon and Leamington Spa all day
• four Stourbridge Junction services start or end short, at Banbury or Birmingham Moor Street
• every other train runs as planned

Nothing on the Wycombe line is cancelled on either day. Tickets cannot be moved to another day, because Chiltern says the impact is limited.

For Marlow, the next fortnight is quiet. Great Western Railway lists no closure of the Marlow branch before Sunday 25 October, when replacement road transport runs between Maidenhead and Marlow after 7pm. On Sunday 18 October, track work leaves only two of the four tracks open between Paddington and Reading, so trains through Maidenhead run to an amended timetable.

The roads that carry this area

Four routes do most of the work, and knowing which one is affected tells you whether a closure matters.

• The M40 runs along the southern edge of High Wycombe. Junction 4 at Handy Cross is the town’s main connection; junction 3 serves Loudwater and the eastern side. Almost every long journey from here starts by getting onto it.
• The A404 links the M40 at Handy Cross south to Marlow, Bisham and the M4 at Maidenhead. It is dual carriageway for most of that run and it is the road Marlow depends on.
• The A40 London Road is the old road east through Loudwater and Wooburn, and the A40 West Wycombe Road is the same road heading west. When the M40 is blocked, this is where the traffic goes, and it is the obvious alternative on the nights the motorway is shut between junctions here.
• The A4010 runs north from the town through Bradenham and Saunderton to Princes Risborough and on to Aylesbury. The draft Local Plan safeguards a Princes Risborough Relief Road as a complete alternative to it, to be built alongside the 2,895-home extension there. Details are in High Wycombe planning news.

What parking costs

Charges apply Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm, at the council’s car parks. Parking outside those hours is free at most of them. Blue Badge holders park free.

The Easton Street multi-storey car park is now permanently closed. The council directs drivers to Wycombe Swan and Railway Place instead. The site is allocated in the draft Local Plan for 160 homes, so it is not coming back.

Watch the six-hour cliff at Marlow Central and Horns Lane. Both are capped at a six-hour maximum stay, and the six-hour tariff is £10.30 against £2.80 or £1.80 for the three-hour stays. It is a deterrent rather than a price, aimed at stopping commuters filling a shoppers’ car park, and it catches people out.

Park and ride at Handy Cross

Handy Cross, on Marlow Hill at HP11 1UP beside M40 junction 4, is the one car park here designed for leaving a car all day. It has 383 spaces, 12 accessible bays, six electric vehicle charging points and a 2.06 metre height restriction. It is open 24 hours with a 96-hour maximum stay.

From there, Carousel Buses run to Wycombe Hospital and Lane End, and the Oxford Bus Company runs coaches to Oxford, Heathrow and Gatwick. For anyone flying, four days at Handy Cross costs £16.30 against airport parking at many times that.

Frequently asked questions

Is Marlow Bridge closed?

No closure is booked after Friday 2 October. The council’s list, updated that day, booked the last overnight closures, 8pm to 6am, from Monday 28 September to Friday 2 October, and gives the scheme an end date of 2 October. The list has not yet said the parking bays by Higginson Park and in Pound Lane car park are back in use. Decorative work is due to follow in 2026 to 2027.

Is the M40 closed at High Wycombe this week?

Tonight, Saturday 3 October, yes: the northbound carriageway between junction 3 (Loudwater) and junction 4 (Handy Cross) is shut from 10.15pm to 6am for emergency maintenance. After that, only slip roads close, overnight: the southbound junction 5 exit at Stokenchurch on Monday 5 October, the northbound junction 5 exit on 7 and 8 October, and the southbound junction 4 exit at Handy Cross on Thursday 8 October.

Is the A404 closed near Marlow this week?

No. National Highways’ report for 2 to 8 October has no A404 or A404(M) closure after Friday night. In Marlow itself, the Marlow Obelisk works close lanes on the High Street and the A4155 roundabout approach overnight, 7pm to 7am, from 7 to 16 October. The report is reissued daily, so check it again before a late journey to Maidenhead or Reading.

What roads are closed in High Wycombe right now?

The council has no daytime road closure booked in the town itself on its list of 2 October. A section of Birdcage Walk is closed for the Easton Street demolition, and Berwick Road in Marlow has temporary lights on weekdays until 8 October. Check one.network for utility works, which the council’s list never includes.

Are there trains from High Wycombe this week?

Yes, the line through High Wycombe is running normally in the daytime. Two dates change the early and peak services: on Tuesday 6 October a Wembley match cancels the 07.21 Princes Risborough to Marylebone and the 17.37 back, and on Wednesday 7 October early track work cancels the 05.54 Marylebone to High Wycombe and turns the first Aylesbury trains back at West Ruislip. The RMT strikes on Saturdays 10 and 17 October cancel no Wycombe line trains. The Marlow branch is unaffected until 25 October.

Where is the cheapest all-day parking in High Wycombe?

Handy Cross park and ride at £4.30 for 24 hours, less than half the £10.80 charged at the station car park. Council car parks in the town are also free before 7am and after 7pm and cost £1.30 all day on Sundays.

What happened to the Easton Street car park?

It closed permanently and it is now being demolished. Buckinghamshire Council appointed Coleman Group, which took the site over on 24 August and began mechanical demolition on 7 September. A section of Birdcage Walk is closed while the work goes on. The council points drivers to Wycombe Swan and Railway Place instead, and the site is allocated in the draft Local Plan for 160 homes.

Who do I report a pothole to?

Buckinghamshire Council, which is the highway authority for every road here apart from the M40 and the A404(M). Those belong to National Highways.

Sources

• Buckinghamshire Council roadworks list, last updated Friday 2 October 2026, read on 3 October, for every council scheme, its restriction and its dates: the Marlow Bridge night closures and end date of 2 October, the Marlow Obelisk lane closures, the Berwick Road ironworks, and the countywide lining and street lighting programmes.
• Marlow Bridge maintenance works, Buckinghamshire Council, read on 30 September 2026, for what the programme involves and the decorative work that follows.
• Easton Street multi-storey car park latest update, Buckinghamshire Council, 4 September 2026 for the demolition contractor, the start dates and the Birdcage Walk closure.
• National Highways road closure report, queried for 2 to 8 October 2026 on 3 October, for the M40, A404 and A404(M) closures, their times and their scheme descriptions, and for its statement that a new list is uploaded each day.
• Chiltern Railways changes to train times, and its pages for Saturday 3 October, Sunday 4 October, Tuesday 6 October, Wednesday 7 October , Saturday 10 October, Saturday 17 October and Sunday 18 October, and its industrial action page, updated 2 October, all read on 3 October 2026.
• Great Western Railway planned engineering work, read on 3 October 2026, for the Paddington to Reading work on Sunday 18 October and the replacement road transport between Maidenhead and Marlow after 7pm on Sunday 25 October.
• Buckinghamshire Council car park pages for Railway Place, Desborough Street, Handy Cross, Marlow Central and Horns Lane for tariffs, spaces and opening hours, all rechecked on 19 August 2026.

Roadworks were rechecked on 3 October 2026 against the council’s list of 2 October and National Highways’ report for 2 to 8 October. Chiltern and Great Western were rechecked the same day. Dates slip, and the National Highways list changes daily. Check the live map before you set off.