B125

Abbott Road

The B125 Abbot Road forms a short-cut between the great East End highways of the A12 (Blackwall Tunnel Northern Approach) and A13 (East India Dock Road). It essentially forms one side of the triangle that is the Brownfield housing estate in Poplar, home to three Grade II listed Brutalist structures designed by Ernő Goldfinger. In the shadow of Balfron Tower, the tallest of the three at 27 storeys, the B125 makes an extremely tight three-quarters grade-separated junction with the A12. The northern sliproad dives into an underpass with a right-hand bend before emerging as an on-ramp hard against the retaining wall of the northbound A12. The other two slip roads, to and from the southbound A12, are less dramatic but rather short.

Abbott Road itself is dead-straight, lined with houses on the left and open spaces on the right. It's not long before we reach the far end of the road - at a double set of traffic lights we cross Lanrick Road before turning left onto the A13. Traffic cannot turn right from the B125 onto the A13. Local bus 309 has a dedicated right-turn from the westbound A13 to the B125 but other traffic has to access the B125 from the eastbound carriageway.