The A405 starts at a grade-separated roundabout junction with the A41 at Leavesden Green. From here, it travels northeast to a crossing with Sheepcot Lane at Woodside, then east to a traffic light junction with the A412 near Garston. This 1.4-mile section is known as Kingsway. From the A412, the A405 travels north, past West Hertfordshire Crematorium and Penfold Park Golf Course, to junction 6 of the M1 at Waterdale. It then veers northeast, passing the village of Bricket Wood, before meeting the M25 at junction 21a. Drivers wishing to access the M25 from the M1 northbound, or the M1 southbound from the M25, must use this section of the A405 as the junction between the two motorways, known as Chiswell Interchange, does not feature the corresponding slip roads. After the M25, the A405 continues northeast, with a roundabout junction with the B4630 for Chiswell Green, then another with Tippendell Lane for How Wood. The road terminates at Park Street Roundabout, a junction with the A414 and the A5183 ; until 2009 this was junction 1 of the M10.
Earlier route
The A405 originally took up a greater proportion of the North Orbital Road. From Park Street Roundabout, it travelled east, crossing the River Ver and the Midland Main Line before meeting the A6 at London Colney. It then veered northeast, past Colney Heath, before ending at the A1 near Hatfield. This gave it a total length of 9.7 miles. In the mid-1970s, the A405 was extended from Leavesden Green. This extension ran concurrently with the A41 to Hunton Bridge, then continued westwards over the River Gade and past the hamlet of Chandler's Cross. It then veered south to pass between Rickmansworth and Chorleywood, crossing the River Chess, the A404 and the London to Aylesbury and London Underground Metropolitan lines. It ended just north of Maple Cross, at the A412, on which the North Orbital Road continued south to Denham in Buckinghamshire. This took the length of the A405 to 16.3 miles. Almost all of this extension was incorporated into the M25 in the mid-1980s, as the section between junction 17 and the spur at junction 19. At around the same time, the section of the A405 east of Park Street Roundabout was re-designated as part of the A414, though it continues to be called the North Orbital Road.
