The A3125 is a major route in Barnstaple. It provides a useful route between the North Devon Link Road (NDLR) heading towards Bideford, and the Town Centre and the major roads heading north from the town. It has had a couple of different numbers in the past. First, it was the old A39 trunk route before the NDLR was built and then it became the B3233 (the section through Roundswell was always the B3232) before the A3125 was finally chosen as the number.
The road starts at a roundabout on the A39 (sometime A361) Inner Relief Road beside the TA centre. Another roundabout is quickly encountered after a short D2 stretch beside the bus station. It then continues along Belle Meadow Road towards the Square. Until 2007, The Square was a large roundabout where four major roads converged - historically from Bideford, Ilfracombe, Lynton and South Molton. However, after the Barnstaple Western Bypass opened, two of those roads were immediately closed. The A3125 then went through substantial changes, and is now just an ordinary S2 through road with two pedestrian crossings and restricted access junctions. Much of the area of the old roundabout has been converted into public recreational space, and is the scene of many major events such as Christmas concerts and New Years celebrations. The A3125 then proceeds over the Long Bridge.
The A3125, during roadworks, at Sicklepath Hill
A lot more changes have been made to the road in the Sticklepath area because of the new Barnstaple western bypass. The A3125 now meets a road leading to Severn Brethren Industrial Estate at a set of traffic lights, and the old A3125 and a Retail Park access road at the Longbridge roundabout. The road now dives off to the right here, and turns into D2 as it makes its way along the new bypass link roads. The A3125 then meets the new bypass at a light-controlled roundabout, before going up the new Sticklepath Hill, and meeting the old road (which has gone via the station and is still a through route for buses) again at the top. The road is completely S2 from then on, and it winds its way through a residential area. It meets a mini-roundabout with the old Torrington Road before another roundabout, where the old A39 (now B3233) carries straight on, and the new-build A3125 goes off to the left. The road here is a very good standard S2, but it has a ridiculous 30mph limit, which everyone ignores. There's a side road into Brynsworthy Park, and two roundabouts for a housing estate and a retail park. After a quick stretch of WS2, we meet the end of the road at another roundabout (our fourth in less than a mile) where we meet the A39 NDLR at Roundswell Roundabout.
