A3087
| A3087 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| Looking east before the road turns south over the canal and River Tone | ||||
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| From: | North Town (ST219255) | |||
| To: | Firepool (ST233250) | |||
| Distance: | 1.2 miles (1.9 km) | |||
| Meets: | A3027, A3038 | |||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the former road in Salisbury, see A3087 (Salisbury).
The A3087 is the number of the Taunton Northern Inner Distributor route which opened on 11 July 2017. It is named Trenchard Way.
Route
This starts on the A3038 Priory Avenue and initially uses the pre-existing access to the retail park and Priory Park. However, the A3087 then starts climbing onto a new bridge, with Priory Park realigned to meet the new road halfway up the slope. The bridge crosses the delivery entrance to the retail park, then the River Tone and Bridgwater and Taunton Canal, to land in the new Firepool residential development. A sharp left turn takes it between blocks of flats and onto the old railway line, which was a diversion avoiding Taunton Station.
The bridge over the A3038, Station Road has been replaced, and Station Approach realigned to provide a connection between the two routes, with traffic lights at either end. The new route then continues west alongside the railway to meet the A3027 at a new roundabout.
History
Contractor was Carillion. Cost was £31 million which was £10 million over budget.
The Name
A ceremony was held on 14 June 2018 to rename the road Trenchard Way to honour Hugh Montague Trenchard, the founder of the Royal Air Force. He was the first Chief of the Air Staff when the RAF was formed in 1918. He had been born in Taunton.