Jump to content

A30 road

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Whatsrightisright (talk | contribs) at 10:50, 20 January 2021. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For other roads designated A30, see A30 (disambiguation).

A30 shield
A30
Route information
Length284 mi (457 km)
Major junctions
East endHounslow, London (51°28′30″N 0°23′46″W / 51.475°N 0.396°W / 51.475; -0.396)
Major intersections
A4

M25 Junction 13
A303

A34

A338

A36

A350
A303

A35

M5 Junctions 29 and 31

A38

A39
West endLand's End (50°03′58″N 5°42′04″W / 50.066°N 5.701°W / 50.066; -5.701)
Location
CountryUnited Kingdom
Primary
destinations		Staines-upon-Thames
Camberley
Basingstoke
Salisbury
Yeovil
Exeter
Okehampton
Bodmin
Redruth
Penzance
Road network

The A30 is a major road in England, running 284 miles (457 km) long WSW from London to Land's End.

The road has been a principal axis in Britain from the 17th century to early 19th century, as a major coaching route. It used to provide the fastest route from London to the South West by land until a century before roads were numbered; nowadays much of this function is performed by the M3 (including A316) and A303 roads. The road has kept its principal status in the west from Honiton, Devon to Land's End where it is mainly dual carriageway and retains trunk road status.

Route

London to Honiton

The A30 begins at Henlys Roundabout, where the route stems from the A4 near Hounslow. It runs south of the Southern Perimeter Road, Heathrow Airport and north of Ashford and Staines-upon-Thames, before reaching the M25 motorway orbital motorway. This first section is entirely dual carriageway. Taken with the A4, its natural continuation which nearby becomes non-dualled towards the M25, the section constitutes one of five routes into the southern half of London which reach Inner London with at least a dual-carriageway, the others being the A3 (M), the M3, the M20 and A2, however approximately one mile before reaching Inner London it is combined with the London variants of the M3 and M4 approaches.

After running astride the M25 to cross the Thames on a bridge designed by Lutyens, the Runnymede Bridge, the A30 runs parallel to but distant from the M3 until southwest of Basingstoke, bypassing Egham and passing through heathland and Sunningdale, Bagshot bypass, and Camberley where the route almost mirrors the Devil's Highway, a stone (stane) street to Calleva Atrebatum (Silchester Roman town), believed to be older still, then passes close to Hook town centre and in the surrounding country the soil is arable.

After the 1930s Basingstoke bypass, the M3 changes direction (between North Waltham and Popham, at the Popham Interchange) the A303 takes over for 2 miles (3.2 km) the A30 losing continuity. [a] From Sutton Scotney village the A30 runs parallel to the latter road as-the-crow-flies 85 miles (137 km) to north-east of Honiton, Devon passing through towns Stockbridge (where it meets its first substantive river since the Thames, the Test) and its trout fishing centres, Shaftesbury, Sherborne, Yeovil, Crewkerne and Chard. Between Stockbridge and Shaftesbury it enters the cathedral city of Salisbury.

Between the M25 and Honiton, the A30 is mostly single carriageway, carrying local traffic with short stretches of dual carriageway from Camberley to Basingstoke, which has a dualled inner ring road, two between Stockbridge and Salisbury (an alike ring road shared with the A36), and between Sherborne and Yeovil.

Exeter to Penzance

Approaching Chiverton Cross from the east

This section is a trunk road as far as Penzance.[1] It is mostly dual carriageway, but there are some short sections of single carriageway.

To pass Exeter, through traffic can join the M5 motorway for three miles. West of Exeter, the A30 is dual carriageway through Devon and into Cornwall, bypassing Whiddon Down, Okehampton and Launceston. The dual carriageway continues through Cornwall to Carland Cross, after which there is a single carriageway stretch to Chiverton Cross. Highways England are currently progressing plans to dual this section of carriageway. A Preferred Route Announcement was made July 2017 and a Development Consent Order was made in February 2020 by Secretary of State for Transport. Construction is due to start in 2020, with the road open to traffic by the end of 2023.

From Chiverton Cross, the dual carriageway bypasses Redruth and Camborne. The A30 returns to single carriageway west of Camborne, and a mid-1980s bypass takes the road around Hayle. Between Hayle and Penzance, the A30 returns to the original route and it passes through several villages. Approaching Penzance, the A30 briefly becomes a dual carriageway once again. Once west of Penzance, the A30 becomes a more rural road running through or past several villages, before terminating at Land's End.

History

17th – 18th centuries

The Road from LONDON to the LANDS END (1675), John Ogilby

The bulk of the A30 follows the historic London – Land's End coaching road. The road appeared on John Ogilby's map of Britain in 1675,[2] and was covered by Ogilby's later strip-maps showing "The Road from London to The Land's End in Cornwall". The coaching route started at Hyde Park Corner, closer to the centre of London than the modern A30, closely mirroring the modern route as far as Exeter, except for three sections from Knightsbridge to Bedfont, Basingstoke to Salisbury via Andover and Exeter to Penzance via Ashburton, Plymouth and following the Cornish south coast via St Austell.[3] Ogilby described it as "The Post-Office making this one of their Principal Roads" and thought the section through Surrey and Hampshire was "in general a very good Road with suitable Entertainment".[4] The road was known to attract significant postal and coach traffic along its length by 1686.[5]

The route is described as the "Great Road to Land's End" in the Magna Britannia, published in the early 19th century.[6] As the coaching road to Land's End was a major route, it was a popular place for highwaymen. William Davies, also known as the Golden Farmer, robbed several coaches travelling across Bagshot Heath. He was hanged in 1689 at a gallows at the local gibbet hill between Bagshot and Camberley. The Jolly Farmer pub was built near the site of the gallows (gibbet), a junction.[7]

19th century

The A30 crossing the River Yarty. The road was built by the Chard Turnpike Trust in the mid 19th century to compete with the New Direct Road, later the A303.

At the turn of the 19th century, William Hanning created the "New Direct Road", a fast coaching route between London and Exeter. The road deviated from Ogilby's route running via Amesbury and Ilminster, rejoining the older road at Honiton. It became popular with postal services such as The Subscription. In 1831, a race was held between London and Exeter via the New Direct Road, which resulted in a dead heat. 170 miles (270 km) were covered in 13 hours, compared to a typical early 18th century time of four days.[8] In response to the competition of routes, a new turnpike road was built west of Chard, avoiding the historic route to Honiton via Stockland, with several steep hills. This road met the New Direct Road near Upottery.[9][b]

Historically, the route between London and Land's End was also called the "Great South-West Road". In the 21st century, the name only refers to a small section of the road near Heathrow.[10]

20th century

The Great South West Road section of the A30 borders Heathrow Airport.

The A30 was one of the first roads to be classified by the Ministry of Transport for funding in 1921. It followed Ogilby's route up to Exeter, then the basic route of the modern A30 through Okehampton, Launceston and Bodmin to the Greenmarket in Penzance, where it ended.[11] It was extended to Land's End in 1925.[12]

The Great South West Road section of the A30 around Heathrow had been planned as the western end of the Great West Road project, one of the first bypasses built for motor traffic. Construction began in 1914 but was quickly halted because of World War I. It resumed construction in 1919.[13] The full route from Chiswick to Ashford was opened by King George V on 30 May 1925.[14]

Following the construction of a bypass around Basingstoke, the route of the A30 was changed on 1 April 1933 to run by Sutton Scotney and Stockbridge, rejoining the original route at Lopcombe Corner east of Salisbury. An alternative route, the A303 was created out of existing roads at the same time between Micheldever Station and the Blackdown Hills, that followed the basic course of Hanning's New Direct Road.[10] The A30 remained the principal route between London and Exeter, until the A303 became a trunk road in 1958, receiving central Government funding and relegating the parallel A30 to a local road.[15]

By the mid-20th century, large sections of the A30 were struggling to cope with the increasing demands of road traffic. In the mid-1960s, numerous councils complained that the Secretary of State for Transport, Barbara Castle, decided that improvements to the A38 from Exeter to Plymouth were of higher priority for funding than any work on the A30. Cornwall County Council complained that the A30 through the county was narrow and twisted, and known as the "stage coach trail".[16]

Following World War II, the Ministry of Transport planned a large-scale upgrade of the A30 across south-west England, with the eventual intention that most of the route would be at least dual-carriageway.[17] The M3 motorway was planned as a replacement for the A30 between London and Popham. Following a public enquiry in 1966, the line was fixed the following year.[18] The work was completed as far as Bagshot in 1971, then to Sunbury-on-Thames in 1974.[19] In 1971, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Peter Walker announced many upgrades of the A30 across Devon and Cornwall, identifying the section from Okehampton to Bodmin as a key area of improvement.[20]

The 2.2-mile (3.5 km) Honiton dual-carriageway bypass opened in early December 1966 at a cost of £984,000.[21] The Hayle bypass was first proposed in the late 1970s. It was controversial, and Dora Russell protested against its construction.[22] It was completed in 1985.[23]

Carland Cross roundabout

The Okehampton bypass, which opened on 19 July 1988, goes to the south of the town, cutting through the northern edge of Dartmoor National Park in Devon. In the 1980s, the route of the bypass was the subject of a prolonged campaign from conservationists, including Sylvia Sayer, who preferred a route to the north of the town through agricultural land.[24]

The section between Honiton and Exeter in East Devon was upgraded in 1999 to dual carriageway, giving quicker access to Exeter International Airport. This road was built under the Design Build Finance Operate (DBFO) scheme by the private consortium Connect A30, who receive a shadow toll from the Government for each vehicle travelling along the road.[25] Archaeological investigations during the work found a Roman cavalry garrison and later settlement at Pomeroy Wood.[26] There were several protests by environmentalists during construction and the particular nature of the DBFO scheme, with a long-lasting occupation of sites on the planned route, focused around Fairmile. Swampy received press attention for his part in this protest. Along with other controversial road plans, including the M3 completion over Twyford Down and the Newbury Bypass, the action led to a slowdown in road construction throughout Britain.[27]

21st century

British Airways Flight 38 which crash landed between the runway and the A30.

During 2006 one of the main bottlenecks on the road was removed when the Merrymeet roundabout between Okehampton and Exeter near Whiddon Down was replaced with a grade-separated junction and dual carriageway.[28]

Since the Bodmin to Indian Queens project was completed in late 2007, the new dual carriageway runs to the north of Goss Moor. The previous road has been converted to a cycle lane.[29] In December 2012 it was announced that 2.8 miles (4.5 km) from Temple to Higher Carblake would be upgraded to a dual carriageway.[30] Building started in early 2015, and was completed in summer 2017. This work made the A30 continuous dual carriageway between the M5 at Exeter and Carland Cross in Cornwall.[31]

On 17 January 2008, British Airways Flight 38 crash-landed near the Great South West Road southeast of Heathrow Airport.[32]

In 2014, the A30 was identified as one of several key routes in the Government's Road Investment Strategy, turning it into a strategic corridor for southwest England. This includes further dual carriageway improvements east of Honiton towards the Blackdown Hills and between Chiverton Cross and Carland Cross.[33][34]

Future proposals

Carland Cross to Chiverton Cross

Dualling of the stretch between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross would establish a continuous dual carriageway from Exeter right through to Camborne. Although this was shelved in 2006 as it was not considered a regional priority,[35] it was included within the government's Road Investment Strategy in 2014.[36] The preferred route was announced in July 2017,[37] and on 6 February 2020, the Secretary of State for Transport approved Highways England's application for a Development Consent Order for the scheme to be constructed. Work began in March 2020 with anticipated completion in 2023 for an estimated cost of £330 million, with a total of £20 million being provided by the European Regional Development Fund.[38][39] The scheme is included as a case study in the Department for Transport's document Road Investment Strategy 2: 2020–2025. The current route of the road passes near a World Heritage Site, a Registered Park and Gardens and a number of Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The proposed scheme includes a 20-metre-wide 'green bridge' over the new road to promote connectivity and biodiversity.[40]

Cultural references

John Betjeman referred to the A30 in his poem "Meditation on the A30".[41] Arthur Boyt, focus of BBC documentary The Man Who Eats Badgers, described the A30 near Bodmin Moor as a good road for finding roadkill.[42]

In Monty Python's Flying Circus, episode 34: The Cycling Tour, Mr Pither laments "As I lay down to the sound of the Russian gentlemen practising their shooting, I realised I was in a bit of a pickle. My heart sank as I realised I should never see the Okehampton by-pass again...", just before his impending execution in Russia.[43]

References

Notes

  1. ^ From North Waltham, Hampshire to nearby Micheldever Station, the A30 is subsumed into the A303 and one version remains so until Sutton Scotney/Bullington, the intersection with the Oxford (etc)—Southampton road, the A34, from where the A30 revives running south along Bullington Lane almost alongside the A34 before resuming a direct west south-westerly route to Salisbury and beyond; however along this combined A303-A30 section at Coxford Hill above Micheldever railway station an original version branches off linking more directly Sutton Scotney village from that point and enabling a cycle route to avoid Popham and the dual carriageway, taking a detour through North Waltham village.
  2. ^ This junction explains why the A30 turns off at Upottery to become a minor road towards Yarcombe, while the road immediately ahead becomes the A303

Citations

  1. ^ "Area 1 (map)". Highways Agency. Archived from the original on 21 September 2011. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  2. ^ Elizabeth Crittall, ed. (1959). Roads. Vol. 4. London. pp. 254–271. Retrieved 11 August 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Ogilby, John (1699). The Traveller's Guide: Or, A Most Exact Description of the Roads of England. pp. 202–203.
  4. ^ "Old Hampshire Mapped : Ogilby Routes". Geography Department, Portsmouth University. 2003. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  5. ^ Identifying the Trunk Roads of Early Modern England and Wales (PDF) (Report). The Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. May 2017. p. 6. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
  6. ^ Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons (1814). Geography and geology. Vol. 3 : Cornwall. London. pp. clxxxi–cxciii. Retrieved 11 August 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Simpson, Jacqueline (2011). Green Men & White Swans: The Folklore of British Pub Names. Random House. ISBN 978-0-099-52017-7.
  8. ^ Fort, Tom (2012). The A303: Highway to the Sun. Simon and Schuster. pp. 259, 262–263. ISBN 978-0-857-20327-4.
  9. ^ "CHARD TURNPIKE TRUST Records" (Document). Somerset Heritage Centre. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |url-access= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  10. ^ a b "CLASSIFICATION: Re-numbering of classified routes" (Document). The National Archives. 1933–1942. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |url-access= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  11. ^ "Half Inch Ministry of Transport Road Map". Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  12. ^ "CLASSIFICATION: Road numbering" (Document). The National Archives. 1921–1949. {{cite document}}: Unknown parameter |url-access= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |url= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "The Great West Road". The Times. 24 February 1919. p. 7. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  14. ^ "London to the West". The Times. 12 May 1925. p. 17. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  15. ^ "A.30 and A.303". Hansard. 5 November 1958. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  16. ^ "Road to the West : Ministry's Choice Dismays Cornwall". The Times. 20 June 1966. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  17. ^ "A.30 and A.303". Hansard. 12 November 1958. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  18. ^ "M3 London to Southampton". The Motorway Archive. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  19. ^ "M3. London to Southampton Statistics and options". The Motorway Archive. 16 August 2016.
  20. ^ "1,000 more miles of motorway will bring growth to less prosperous areas". The Times. 24 June 1971. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  21. ^ "Honiton Bypass". Autocar. 125 (3696): 1287. 16 December 1966.
  22. ^ "Over 80, she still battles on". The Times. 28 April 1977. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  23. ^ "Road Works (Compensation)". Hansard. 2 May 1985. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  24. ^ Kelly, Matthew (2015). Quartz and Feldspar – Dartmoor: A British Landscape in Modern Times. London: Jonathan Cape. pp. 10–16. ISBN 978-0-22409-113-8.
  25. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 April 2012. Retrieved 8 April 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  26. ^ "A30 Honiton to Exeter – Horse Power – Roman Style". Roads to the Past: Trunk Roads and Archaeology – 1999 report. Highways Agency. 1999. Archived from the original on 5 June 2009. Retrieved 17 October 2009.
  27. ^ "Eco-warrior Swampy's mid-90s protest against the A30 in Devon blamed for road-building slowdown". Plymouth Herald. 11 June 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.[permanent dead link]
  28. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 September 2006. Retrieved 29 August 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  29. ^ "Moor dualling plans get go-ahead". BBC News. 29 November 2004. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  30. ^ "AUTUMN STATEMENT 2012" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  31. ^ "A30 Temple to Higher Carblake Improvement – Cornwall Council". Highways England. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  32. ^ "Report on the accident to Boeing 777-236ER, G-YMMM, at London Heathrow Airport on 17 January 2008". AAIB. Retrieved 9 February 2010.
  33. ^ A303/A358/A30 Corridor improvement package (Report). Somerset County Council. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  34. ^ "A30/A303/A358 Improvement Project". Somerset County Council. Retrieved 16 August 2016.
  35. ^ "Winners and losers in roads plan". BBC News. 6 July 2006. Retrieved 23 April 2010.
  36. ^ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/408514/ris-for-2015-16-road-period-web-version.pdf
  37. ^ https://highwaysengland.citizenspace.com/he/a30-chiverton-to-carland-cross-improvement-scheme/results/a30-chiverton_final_artwork.pdf
  38. ^ "Main Cornwall route gets 'vital' £290m upgrade". BBC News. 7 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  39. ^ "A30 Chiverton to Carland Cross". www.highwaysengland.co.uk. Highways England. Retrieved 1 October 2020.
  40. ^ "Road Investment Strategy 2: 2020–2025" (PDF). Department for Transport. 11 March 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  41. ^ "Meditation on the A30 – A poem by John Betjeman". Poetry Connection. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  42. ^ "Arthur Boyt". Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
  43. ^ "Monty Python's Flying Circus: Just the Words – Episode 34". ibras.dk. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to A30 road (England).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A30_road&oldid=1001590573"