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A129

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A129
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (4)
From:  Shenfield (TQ607949)
To:  Hadleigh (TQ803875)
Distance:  17 miles (27.4 km)
Meets:  A1023, A176, B1007, A132, A1245, B1013, A1015, A127, A13, B1014
Highway Authorities

Essex

Traditional Counties

Essex

Route outline (key)
A129 Shenfield – Wickford
(A132) Wickford
A129 Wickford – Hadleigh
Wickford

The A129 is an old cross-country route, that is nearly unchanged in routing since first registration in 1922 but now threading itself through sprawling South Essex.

It begins its journey on the A1023 (the old A12 Roman road) a mile north-east of Brentwood town centre in Shenfield. It starts heading south but then immediately heads east via a left turn at a mini roundabout with a minor road. It passes Shenfield railway station and goes under the double bridges of the lines overhead. Keeping right at the next mini roundabout it reaches something more suburban at Hutton and negotiates a couple of further mini roundabouts with local roads. Eventually suburbia relents and a short section of open fields together with a 40mph limit is reached. Even here there are some larger houses that appear on the right. It can’t be more than a mile before a small linear settlement called Havering’s Grove is reached and the traveller must resume a 30mph limit. That goes up to 40mph fairly shortly and the houses thin out, but don’t really disappear completely on the right until it reaches the southern edge of Billericay. Ignoring pedestrian crossings, there is the first traffic signal of the route since the start, faced at a crossroads. The left and right turns here are unclassified though.

Reaching Billericay proper, at a roundabout, the road is joined by the B1007 from the town centre on the left and the A176 up from Basildon on the right. By rights the A129 is the road straight ahead, but this is impossible in this direction of travel as the road is one-way towards the user. Signage is unhelpful but assuming a right turn onto the A176, which also becomes one-way just before reaching the next roundabout, a left turn is necessary onto the northbound A176 to re-join the A129 at the next roundabout, still on the edge of Billericay. Thus the traveller must negotiate over a mile to cover a distance that westbound traffic (using the one-way A129) needs only a quarter of that.

From here the A129 continues south-east, passing more suburbs in the form of South Green before eventually a NSL sign is reached and there are unfenced and unhedged fields on either side of the road. Then some trees, but it’s not quite a rural idyll. There is a farm shop on the left and the 40mph signs warn us of more development ahead. This is Crays Hill and that starts proper at a 30mph limit shortly thereafter. It’s really only a small row of shops, a pedestrian crossing and yet more suburban linear development along this road. Bends mean the traveller is now going north-east.

The houses thin but again don’t completely disappear but nevertheless, 40mph is allowed again for a short while until Wickford. Still there is more spreading of that town along this road. There is a traffic light-controlled crossroads for local roads whereafter there is a short section of dual carriageway that leads to a roundabout on the A132 relief road. The road disappears on a short multiplex to the left. However, there is no gap in the central reservation to allow traffic to turn right onto the A129, so eastbound traffic must U-turn at the next roundabout to reach the LILO junction and regain the A129.

The next section has a couple of mini roundabouts and a Zebra and light controlled pedestrian crossing that again reflect the more urban neighbourhood. On the edge of Shotgate the limit goes up to 40mph again and there is a more recent new routing of the road leading to a five-arm roundabout. The first exit is a no-though route, cut off by the new A130 and the former route of this road. The fourth turning was the other old route of this road coming from the west. On reaching open country, the A129 gets its second dose of NSL and goes under the A130 before meeting some more houses and a 40mph limit again and the old line of the A130, now the A1245 at a roundabout. There is some short open space before the road enters Rayleigh and zigzags past the station to reach the High Street and a mini-roundabout. Here it turns right to meet the A1015 at the next mini-roundabout. However, OS maps suggest the left turn at the first mini roundabout down the one way High Street, then a sharp turn to the right at the end to reach a couple of hundred further yards down the A1015 is now another section of this road.

The road now does go south along the High Road to reach the large Rayleigh Weir Interchange. This is a traffic light-controlled roundabout above the A127, which runs through a GSJ in a trench dug below. The A129 continues south, initially on a short S4 section past some superstores before resuming its single lane each way, negotiating a double-mini roundabout system on the edge of Thundersley, and the reader will not be surprised to learn; more suburbia, to end at a large roundabout on the A13 to the west of Hadleigh. The road ahead is the B1014.




A129
Junctions
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (4)
A129 near A1023 junction - Coppermine - 5478.jpgBillericay High Street 1972 - Geograph - 247154.jpgAerial view of south-west of the Rayleigh Weir - Geograph - 1665867.jpgJunction of Wickford High Street and the A129 - Geograph - 1036287.jpg
Other nearby roads
Brentwood
A100-A199
A100 • A101 • A102 • A103 • A104 • A105 • A106 • A107 • A108 • A109 • A110 • A111 • A112 • A113 • A114 • A115 • A116 • A117 • A118 • A119
A120 • A121 • A122 • A123 • A124 • A125 • A126 • A127 • A128 • A129 • A130 • A131 • A132 • A133 • A134 • A135 • A136 • A137 • A138 • A139
A140 • A141 • A142 • A143 • A144 • A145 • A146 • A147 • A148 • A149 • A150 • A151 • A152 • A153 • A154 • A155 • A156 • A157 • A158 • A159
A160 • A161 • A162 • A163 • A164 • A165 • A166 • A167 • A168 • A169 • A170 • A171 • A172 • A173 • A174 • A175 • A176 • A177 • A178 • A179
A180 • A181 • A182 • A183 • A184 • A185 • A186 • A187 • A188 • A189 • A190 • A191 • A192 • A193 • A194 • A195 • A196 • A197 • A198 • A199
Defunct Itineraries & Motorways: A102(M) East Cross Route • A102(M) Southern Approach • A106(E) • A108(N) • A108(S) • A115 • A118
A132 • A122 • A135 • A138 • A139 • A147 • A154 • A160 • A167(M) • A168(M) • A176 • A180(W) • A180(E) • A194(M) • A194 • A195(M) • A195

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