A134
From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki
| A134 | |||||||||||||||||||
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| From: | Tottenhill (TF637112) | ||||||||||||||||||
| To: | Colchester (TM019247) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Via: | Bury St Edmunds | ||||||||||||||||||
| Length: | 69 miles (111 km) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Meets: | A10, A1122, A1065, A11, A1066, A143, A14, A131 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||||||||
| Bury St Edmunds • Colchester • Kings Lynn • Sudbury • Thetford • | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||||||||
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The A134 used to be the main route for commercial traffic from the North to the port of Felixstowe, however since the A14 very little commercial traffic uses it.
Route
Section 1:Tottenhill - Thetford
Starting from the Watlington Roundabout on the A10 a few miles south of King's Lynn the A134 heads south east through countryside bordering the Fens on a reasonable road, and across the Stradsett junction with the A1122, (old A47). The junction is a basic left / right stagger with the A1122 having priority, which dates from when the east - west road was more important, and is the most difficult junction in the Norfolk section to navigate, though a roundabout has been proposed as a replacement. This is where the A1122 becomes primary heading west as this is the link from the A134 off towards the A47 at Wisbech. The A134 used to have a spur south of Stradsett west to the A1122 at Crimplesham which has since been downgraded to a C-road but anyone who knows the area will still use this to avoid the horrors of this junction.This junction was altered several times in the seventies and still is the scene of several accidents, usually lorries tipping over. On we go, past a newish roundabout which a link road takes lorries to the nearby Wissington Sugar Beet factory, which now has a biofuels addition too. Bypassing, but only slightly, Wereham, the road continues into a cutting and the Stoke Ferry bypass, avoiding some very tight corners in that village. On over the river Wissey and onto another roundabout.
Turning east, the A134 travels along open countryside into Breckland, one of the least populated areas of England, and in summer one of the driest. Lots of the land around here is of poor quality for farming and after the Second World War most of it was forested with pines, now the large Thetford Forest. The road borders the forest until Mundford where it plunges into the trees, note the poles with reflectors on, on either side of the road, these allegedly reflect headlights into the forest scaring any deer that might cross (didn't work with me however, hitting a deer at 50mph made a mess of my nineties Ford Fiesta...let alone the deer!)
The A134 appears out of Thetford Forest eight miles later on top of a hill and a roudabout with the A11. On this hill was found ruins of Boadacia's camp, one of East Anglia's warladies during the Roman times. Now it is home to one of the UK's largest warehouses...ah, progress!
The A134 follows the A11 D2 south 'till the next roundabout, then heads into the outskirts of Thetford. This town in the sixties was "promoted" from a sleepy Norfolk town to a London Overspill town with the corresponding increase in industry and east end population stuck in the middle of nowhere! It still retains parts of the original town centre next to the standard sixties shopping streets.
Section 2: Thetford - Colchester
The A134 travels over the border into Suffolk, past the old RAF base of Barnham and over undulating fields to the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds, where it becomes D2 for a while, meeting the A143 and A14.
The A134 around Bury St Edmunds really is the poor relation, having to multiplex with the A143, A14 and A1302 before finally regaining its own piece of road! It's not a terrifically exciting run through Suffolk, nor is it particularly busy, and there are plenty of bends and dips as it heads towards Sudbury. At the north side of the town is a roundabout where the A134 TOTSO's - the road ahead is the A131 towards Halstead, Braintree and Chelmsford - and we turn to the left to skirt the northern side of Sudbury through Chilton.
The A134 TOTSOs again to the east of Sudbury and heads east, gradually turning to the south as we head for Colchester. The road bypasses Nayland to the west, crossing the Stour and entering Essex. There's an increasing amount of new development approaching the road leading up to Colchester. The A134 passes under the A12 bypass without a junction, after which there's a back entrance to Colchester United football ground, after which it leaves its original alignment and becomes urban very quickly as the aptly named Northern Approach Road. After passing Colchester General Hospital it comes to a slightly convoluted double roundabout with the B1508 and the access to Colchester station, where the A134 northbound passes through the centre of the western roundabout while making a 90 degree turn, and then skirts the eastern roundabout while turning north again. Southbound traffic negotiates both roundabouts normally before passing under the railway line and onto Westway, where it crosses the A133 to meet the A1124 and turns eastwards across the south of the town centre on Southway.
The road then descends into Hythe, and crosses the River Colne before ending on a magic roundabout with the A133.
