A30/Bodmin - Redruth

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Bodmin - Redruth

The A30 at Goss Moor during the building of the bypass

Beyond Bodmin, the A391 leaves to the south towards St. Austell at Innis Downs Junction taking traffic for the Eden Project. We also meet the A389 which, while it had got very close, nearly made it to the A30 at Carminnow Cross and the Eastbound facing slips at the other side of Bodmin. For the next 8 miles the A30 is on a new (2008) dual carriageway alignment, bypassing the village of Victoria and the infamous 'Iron Bridge' which carried the railway over the road and was susceptible to bridge strikes and, of course, there were many of them. The bypass travels to the north of Goss Moor, whilst the old route forms part of the B3274 Triangle North of Roche and East of Victoria, part of a local road to Indian Queens and the rest is now a cycle route.

The road soon gets to the Victoria Interchange with the B3274 and it takes the old A30. The old route is also visible next to the Eastbound Carriageway. The road now borders Goss Moor and this section, as it is a new build, is a really fast piece of road.

At Indian Queens, the road rejoins the older (1995) alignment. There is a grade separated junction at Highgate Hill with the A39 north to Bude and Barnstaple, which is known widely as the Atlantic Coast Highway. To the south of this Junction is the B3279 towards St Dennis and St Austell. This is also the junction with the A392 to Newquay which multiplexes with the A39 for about a mile. The A30 then multiplexes for 5 miles with A39 to the Carland Cross roundabout.

The next junction is on the other side of Highgate Hill, or as it is known locally as Hamburger Hill. This is with the B3275, which takes the old route of the A39 to Probus. The Eastbound side opens out to 3 lanes as the hill is very steep and drivers of lower powered vehicles should be aware that they will probably need to drop down a few gears before you make it up to the top.

Next up is Summercourt and there are Junctions at either side Westbound and in the Middle Eastbound. These all connect up to the A3058 which goes through the middle of the village and down to St Austell.

Next up is the village of Mitchell and this has the same story as Summercourt as the A30 came as a dual carriageway and Mitchell was in the way, so the road bypasses it and connect to the village by a few junctions. Mitchell only has junctions on the Eastern and Northern side. The junctions here are for the A3076 which used to be the main road from Truro to the A30. The significance of this road is more apparent by the fact that the A39 is still multiplexed with the A30 and the A3076 doesn't exsist to the south anymore, but signs in the village and in Summercourt both show the A3076 to Truro.

There is now just one more section of the A30 Dual Carriageway and that leads up to Carland Cross Roundabout. This is where the A39 (the former A3076) finally leaves us for Truro. Of the three other sections of road on this roundabout, the A39 is the highest quality as it is a recent build, and formed part of the A3076 improvements and the Trispen Bypass.

The A30 from here is one of the two poorest sections of A30. It sees the same levels of traffic as the section on Bodmin Moor near Temple (which has been dualled) and there are plans to upgrade this section starting in late 2020. Carland and Chiverton will be grade separated to create continuous dual carriageway between Exeter and Camborne, due to open in 2023. The road is covered in local road junctions, which will also be grade separated, and the only section to have seen upgrade is the Zelah Bypass. This section has been built for a Dual Carriageway to be put in which will be utilised in the future dualling, but has been left as a single carriageway with S2/1 sections.

There are two classified roads along this section. The first is just east of the Zelah Bypass with the B3285 which crosses the A3075 and goes onto Perranporth, and the other is with the B3274 which also crosses the A3075 to the north and then to Perranporth. The other side goes down to Truro town centre. This section would have been Dual Carriageway [in fact still is] but now it it one lane either way with plenty of room for people to turn.

Works are currently underway to upgrade the section between Carland Cross and Chiverton Cross to a dual carriageway which is due to be completed by 2024. This has involved changing the layouts of the junctions in the section or replacing them altogether. When completed, this will create a near 100 mile continuous section of free flowing dual carriageway between the M5 and Camborne.

The A30 Blackwater Bypass with Chiverton Cross in the background

The next point of intrest is Chiverton Cross Roundabout. Famous throughout Cornwall and possibly the busiest Junction in the county, it sees large tale backs along both the A30 and A390 for miles on end during school holidays and rush hour. Chiverton Cross is where the main Truro - Redruth road (A390) meets the A30, as well as the Redruth - Newquay Road (A3075) and the B3277 to St Agnes.

The resumption of dual-carriageway marks the start of the Blackwater bypass. This part of Cornwall is one of the poorest parts of Britain. In the past, this was the heart of the tin mining industry, and is a long way removed from the traditional Cornish image of beaches, seafood and cream teas, despite being only 4 or 5 miles away from the Atlantic coast.

The Blackwater Bypass ends and the Camborne/Redruth bypass section starts at the first junction with the A3047. This junction is limited access as you can't get onto the A30 Westbound, but there isn't really much need. The second junction, and the last for Redruth is Avers Junction, which is odd as it is two roundabouts built next to each other. The first for the A30 is the roundabout over the top of the main road, and the second forms part of the original A30 Redruth bypass.

History

The A30 at Redruth went through the centre of Redruth, but during the 1930's a mostly dual carriageway bypass was built around the town, dumping it's load in to Pool, which explains why the road had to be bypassed. It is currently bad enough with the bypass!

In Zelah, the road went through the village but it got narrow in the middle and so the bypass was built when traffic was getting more unbareable. These were times when it was fully expected that the A30 form Carland Cross to Chiverton Cross was going to be bypassed by Dual Carriageway, and so it was built with this in mind. On the west side, the slip road into Zelah is the old road.