A118
A118 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Gallows Corner, Romford (TQ533905) | |||
To: | Bow (TQ378830) | |||
Distance: | 11.3 miles (18.2 km) | |||
Meets: | A12, A127, A1251, A125, A1112, B177, A1083, A123, A406, A116, A117, B109, B167, A114, B164, A112, A12, A11 | |||
Former Number(s): | A12, A11 | |||
Primary Destinations | ||||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Barking and Dagenham • Havering • Newham • Redbridge • Tower Hamlets | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the original use of A118 for the Barking Bypass, see A118 (East Ham - Barking).
Route
For years the A118 ran from the Gallows Corner interchange with the A12 and A127 to the old A11 at Stratford. Basically, it was the original route of the A12 until that road was moved onto the Eastern Avenue in the 1950s. Much of the A118 faithfully follows the route of the Roman Road from London out into rural Essex as far as Colchester.
Romford - Bow
The A118 starts at Gallows Corner, a TOTSO on the A12 and runs southwestwards into Romford. Here, there is a multiplex with the A125 along the northern section of the ring road, though the A118 is the dominant number. The ring road (whose western side is A125 and remainder is A1251) is dual. The A118 then heads west through Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes and Seven Kings as a very long 'High Road', until it reaches Ilford, where it leaves the original alignment (Ilford High Road) at the one-way system junction with the A1083 Green Lane. A new D2 stretch, Winston Way, opened in 1985, running south of the town centre. just to the west of the junction is the Eastern Roundabout, where the A1083 used to head north as the short Griggs Approach Road and then stops dead at unclassified Ley Street!
The dual carriageway also incorporates part of Ilford Lane, the A123 running south to Barking (again the A118 is dominant in the multiplex), before another one-way system at the western end of Ilford town centre sends traffic back on to the original alignment just to the west of Ilford Broadway. It then passes under the A406 junction, where all four slips are located to the south of the A118, due to the proximity of the GER railway to the north.
The road is now called Romford Road at heads west to Stratford via Manor Park and Forest Gate, always heavily congested at the best of times!
The road ended at the Stratford one-way system from its inauguration in the 1950s until 1999, when the A12 Hackney Wick extension, and incorporation of the old A102(M) into the A12, allowed the A11 Stratford High Street to be detrunked (though it remains D2+ bus) and renumbered. Thus the Stratford to Bow section of the A11 was renumbered as A118, so Bow Flyover forms a nice western terminus to the road, and the A12 a genuine by-pass for it. The A11 retains its number and primary status from Bow to the City of London.