a question about British English from an American translator

[Katz, Michael R.]

It's called the Motorway, of course. M-40, if I remember correctly.

Michael Katz
D. Phil. (Oxon)
Middlebury College
________________________________________
From: SEELANGS: Slavic & East European Languages and Literatures list [SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of Andrea Gregovich [agregovich at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 2:41 PM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.UA.EDU
Subject: [SEELANGS] a question about British English from an American translator

Hello Colleagues!

I'm translating a passage in which the Russian narrator is describing his trip to England.  I'm wondering about the best way to describe what's going on in this passage:

Автобус тронулся, долго пробирался по узким улицам Оксфорда, а когда выехал на трассу, шел проливной дождь.

The image is very clear to me, the long drive along the narrow city streets and then finally the exit from the city onto the трассу on the way back to London.  But it's been years since I've been on a bus from Oxford to London, and I'm drawing a blank on what this road would be called in British English and exactly what size of road it is on the way from Oxford to London.  In American English we would probably say, "when we finally got out on the highway" or "when we finally got on the freeway," depending on the size of the трасса in question.

Thanks in advance for your input!
Andrea Gregovich
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