A3038

This article is about the current A3038 in Taunton.
For the former A3038 in Ilminster, see A3038 (Ilminster).

The A3038 passing under what was then the railway

The A3038 is a T-shaped road in Taunton town centre. As with most of the other 4-digit A roads in Taunton, it is totally unsigned.

The road starts on the A358 (former A361) at the complicated Cheddon Road junction. It heads south along Station Road, past the station. Along the way, it dips down to pass under two bridges, one serving the railway and the other a new bridge replacing the one carrying the former goods line, avoiding the station. This new bridge carries the A3087 inner relief road, without a direct junction with the A3038 below, access provided via the unclassified Station Approach and two sets of lights.

The road then bends to the right to reach traffic lights, where it splits. Station Road continues ahead to another set of lights where it ends on the A3027. However, a longer section of road turns left instead, along Priory Bridge Road. This crosses the River Tone on Priory Bridge and goes past a retail park area. There is a brief dualled section between two roundabouts, with the road ending at the second. Ahead and to the right is the A38, with the A358 turning off to the left over the Obridge Viaduct.

History

Originally unclassified, it seems that the A3038 gained its number when the Toneway was constructed to connect the M5 to the town centre in the 1970s. At that time, it also included an eastern extension along Lambrook Road to meet what was the A38 on Hamilton Road. By the mid 1980s, things had changed with the A38 diverted along the Toneway, and a new road, the Victoria Parkway, built to connect it onto its former route, so stopping up Lambrook Road at its west end. This led to the A3038 being truncated.

Although the original route of the A3038 did therefore include Priory Bridge Road, mapping evidence suggests that for some reason this was later declassified before regaining its number. This may have happened when Victoria Parkway opened, or more likely when the Obridge Viaduct was opened in 1988. In the interim the A3038 was simply Station Road and no more.