A1020

This article is about the current A1020 in Woolwich.
For original A1020 near St Neots, see A1020 (St Neots).

Route

The A1020 follows a round-about route through London's Docklands.

The road starts in the area of the old East India Docks, now filled in, by turning off the A13 at traffic lights. A short stretch of dual-carriageway takes the road over the top of the A1261 East India Dock Tunnel, after which slip roads from that road are met at the next roundabout. We continue ahead, still dual, and pass under the DLR immediately before running across the small neck of land separating the River Lea (on the left) from the East India Dock Basin (on the right). The river is crossed after a GSJ serving Trinity Buoy Wharf.

North Woolwich Road

After going under another branch of the DLR a roundabout is reached. The A1020 turns right and merges in to the mainline of the A1011 (traffic in the other direction has to TOTSO). That road ends here (although at one time it continued along the river to North Woolwich) and the A1020 continues along the S2 Silvertown Way parallel to the DLR and passing what remains of Silvertown. At the next roundabout the road turns left, becoming dual once again, and picks up the A112 from North Woolwich at the following roundabout. The A1020 is the dominant partner in a multiplex over the Connaught Bridge, a swing bridge which separates the Royal Victoria Dock (on the left) from the Royal Albert Dock (on the right).

The multiplex ends at the next roundabout where the A1020 turns right, again merging in to the carriageways of another road, unclassified this time. It heads east along Royal Albert Way, to the north of the dock of that name. After the next roundabout the DLR runs down the central reservation. There are two further roundabouts, with DLR stations in the middle, that were built to provide access to future development. However, now the area has been developed the roundabouts have not been used as thought and so they just act as chicanes. This section of the road opened some time around 1990.

At the next roundabout, a proper one this time, we cross the A117 and start to form part of the North Circular Road. Initially dual, we soon appear to go under a bridge to nowhere - that's because it is: this is all that has been built of a GSJ providing access to a new bridge over the River Thames. Heading south we're able to turn off and cross the bridge (it joins the A117) and find out just how overengineered it is!

The road narrows after a set of traffic lights serving a retail park. We then continue north back to a roundabout on the A13. Ahead is the A406, the number normally associated with the North Circular. Some atlases showed the numbering of this part of the A1020 as the A406 when the route was under construction, however, I don't remember whether or not it opened as this or as the A1020. It is likely that the A406 remained reserved for the East London river Crossing as a continuation of the South Woodford to Barking improvement.

History

Silvertown Way was opened on 13 September 1934, a 1.5 mile road from A13 East India Dock Road to the Royal Docks (originally A1011). Cost was £2.856 million, 75% funded by the Ministry. A new estate was built a mile away to replace the 600 houses demolished in making the road. A mile of the Silvertown section of road was built on a viaduct. This is now part of A1020.

Connaught Crossing, a 0.55 mile road linking North Woolwich Road in the south to the Royal Albert Way Spine Road in the north, was opened in February 1990 per the London Docklands Development Corporation's website history page. It crossed the connection between the Royal Victoria and Royal Albert Docks, Contractors were Norwest Holst Construction and Peter Birse Ltd..

Royal Albert Way, a 1.2 mile dual carriageway from Connaught Crossing to Gallions Roundabout, was opened in April 1990 per the London Docklands Development Corporation's website history page. Contractor was Edmund Nuttall Ltd..

Future

Main Article: Silvertown Tunnel

The Classification of Roads Plans (ahead of the DCO) for the building of the Silvertown Tunnel show that the A1020 west of (and including) the Tidal Basin Roundabout (where the A1020 merges onto the A1011) will become part of the realigned A102.