Ritchie333 wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 17:29
qwertyK wrote: ↑Thu Jul 29, 2021 17:22
I know it ran along the A1214, but from there, where did it go? Onto the A1156 Felixstowe Road, then down to the junction where the A14 currently meets with the northbound A12?
What do you mean by "old"? The original route was London Road, St Matthew's Street, Westgate Street, Tavern Street, Northgate Street, Great Colman Street and Woodbridge Road, per
the 1923 MOT maps on SABRE. It was routed onto the first bypass (which opened as
A1114 (Ipswich) c. 1929) in 1934 (see
1934 Ten Mile Map).
Yep, spot on. St Matthews Street is traditionally thought of as part of the A45 through route, but the infill of Barrack Corner has disguised what it truly was. If you carried straight on from St Matthews Street heading out of town, you were then in London Road - Norwich Road and out towards Stowmarket was a right turn. It was here that the A45 terminated.
The there was the left-right dog leg which took you up Northgate Street for about 30 yards before Great Colman Street. A somewhat strange arrangement. In a way the sensible route in those days would have been to continue along Carr Street to Major's Corner, and then use St Helens Street and Spring Road to rejoin Woodbridge Road at the Lattice Barn pub. It is debatable whether the supposed A road standard Woodbridge Road is better than Spring Road.
Take a look at
this for example. It's on Woodbridge Road East heading into town just prior to the split with Spring Road. You'll note confusingly that the older sign for the Town Centre directs you to the left down Spring Road, and the brown tourist info sign says bear right and stay on Woodbridge Road. It's much of a muchness anyway, as they both eventually end up at the same point anyway two miles further in, but the fact remains that inbound traffic is recommended NOT to use the A road.
I think the reason for that might be
this. This is further in on Woodbridge Road, and as you can see, it's the point where it hits the one way system and all traffic has to turn left down Argyle Street. And it's a very tight turn if you are in a large vehicle. Even more so now that it appears that there's a cycle lane that carries on up the hill on the right. Buses don't even attempt this, with all routes from all points east of here either going down Spring Road, or taking the far gentler curving junction into Warwick Road half a mile previous. Bearing in mind that inbound traffic is sent down Spring Road anyway, it just amazes me that they've never gone the full hog and just extended the one way system all the way out to the Lattice Barn. I honestly don't think that that would be too much of a hardship. Simply make Warwick Road one way northbound, the top portion of Cauldwell Hall Road southbound, along with the short rump of Britannia Road near the Lattice Barn (which admittedly is narrow, but as is mostly industrial wouldn't take much to widen), and there we go.
From the SABRE Wiki: A1114 (Ipswich) :
The A1114 number was allocated to the first Ipswich Bypass, which opened around 1929. Its original route ran around the north side of the town, from London Road to Woodbridge Road, meeting the A12 at both ends.
The road was quickly extended clockwise to meet the then-A139 Felixstowe Road near Priory Heath. Then in 1935 the earlier