Fiveways Roundabout (Mildenhall)
Fiveways Roundabout | |||
Location Map ( geo) | |||
Northbound approach | |||
| |||
Location | |||
Barton Mills/Mildenhall, Suffolk | |||
County | |||
Suffolk | |||
Highway Authority | |||
National Highways | |||
Junction Type | |||
Roundabout | |||
Roads Joined | |||
A11, A1065, A1101 | |||
Junctions related to the A1065 | |||
Junctions related to the A1101 | |||
For junctions in other locations called Five Ways, see Five Ways.
Fiveways Roundabout is a roundabout on the A11 at the southern entrance to Thetford Forest. For many years this marked the end of the dual carriageway A11 and the beginning of the heavily congested single carriageway section through Thetford Forest. It was often subject to congestion, particularly in the summer months, when the two lanes of A11 traffic have to filter down to a single lane. Since the opening of the new dual carriageway to the north, traffic patterns on the roundabout have changed, with congestion now being experienced on the other roads approaching the roundabout.
The roundabout is crossed by the A1101 and is the start of the A1065. On the eastern side of the roundabout there is a filling station and budget hotel complex.
A few hundred metres south of the roundabout the A11 crosses the River Lark, but slightly to the West there still exists the old single carriageway route of the A11, long since bypassed, which is a partly a residential access road as it crosses the river, then continues through what is now a petrol station and little chef, and then as a public footpath up to the roundabout.
In March 2017, the government announced that the roundabout would be signalised at a cost of £0.4m as part of the pinch points improvement programme.
History
Originally, the junction currently occupied by Fiveways Roundabout was a simple five way fork. At classification, the roads were the A11, B1101 and B1105, but by 1924 the B1105 had been upgraded to A1065 and by 1926 the B1101 had been upgraded to A1101, giving five A-roads meeting at the junction.
The present roundabout dates from the "Barton Mills Diversion", a late 1950s project to divert the A11 on a new bridge over the River Lark further east from the old route. When the Barton Mills Bypass opened in 1986, it plugged into this diversion.
Routes
Route | To | Notes |
Thetford, Norwich | ||
London, Newmarket | ||
Bury St Edmunds | ||
Mildenhall | ||
Swaffham |
Links
gov.uk
National Highways
Fiveways to Thetford Improvement Scheme Pages
EDP
Solution to Traffic Chaos on Fiveways Roundabout is nearer after intervention by West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock (29 January 2017) (archive.org)