A30/Redruth - Penzance

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Redruth - Penzance

The A30 past Redruth, Pool and Camborne is a very high quality road. Recent resurfacing between Avers and Tolvaddon Junctions has made the road very smooth and fast indeed, although tractors have a habit of using this road as it is easier for them than going through Pool and Camborne.

Tolvaddon Junction is our third junction with the A3047 and is the most important on in terms of the local area. The A30 flies over as the A3047 meets us at a Traffic Light controlled Dual Carriageway trumpet interchange. Traffic lights were added recently to allow local traffic on and off of the A30 and to and from the local roads up to Tehidy woods and the villages of Tolvaddon and Illogan. It was also remodelled as a Dual Carriageway the whole way into Pool; a sign of all of the development going on in the conurbation. This area is one of the poorest areas in the whole of the UK, and so lots of money from the EU has been used to redevelop it all.

The road after narrows to S2/1 after Treswithian Junction

The A30 continues onwards almost completely straight to Treswithian Junction, which has also been remodelled so that traffic coming from the westbound A30 can't turn right at the top of the slip road and it has to go around the roundabout. This is our final junction with the A3047 and is mainly used for local traffic, but it is also good to use to avoid Pool for traffic going from the west of Camborne and the B3303 to Helston.

After the slip road rejoins us from the left, notice is given that the road is going to narrow and become single carriageway once more. Why this wasn't built as a Dual Carriageway I don't know, as it is so wide for the most part that is could have been, and for a lot of it there are 2 lanes in either direction anyway. As the two sides become one the road decends what was called on the old road Roseworthy Hill. The old road heads into the village of Roseworthy and takes a more shallow and curved approach, whereas we plough straight down into it and speed cameras sit at the bottom of it, catching out the unwary.

For the most part, this road is S2/1 or S4 (S2/2 if you prefer). There are no junctions along this stretch and is rather dull for 3 out of it's 4 miles. The final mile is once again clogged by the A30's arch nemesis. The Roundabout.

Loggans Moor Roundabout unusually quiet in the sun

Loggans Moor Roundabout isn't a bad junction, but the sheer volume of traffic it has to deal with can be awful. This is the main junction from Hayle and the B3301, as well and traffic to Penzance and the Far West towards Redruth and Truro and visa versa, as well as being the entrance to a small industrial estate with all of the shops you could need to buy clothes and hair products, as well as a coffee shop. And to top it all off, the old road from Camborne and Connor Downs joins us and that has a Petrol Station, a Maccy D's and a Hotel/Restaurant type of thing. As you can see it gets very busy. Recent works closed the roundabout entirely, meaning that the A30 either side had to be shut as well, and diversion set up all around Cornwall. This was compounded by the fact that there are no Junctions for a good few miles either side of the A30.

After getting through Loggans Moor you are on the Hayle bypass. It is single carriageway once again, this time as a simple S2 with no overtaking as it narrow up under the railway, and then it opens out to S2/1. The final piece is WS2 as it passes over the railway, the far end of the Hayle Estuary and a nature reserve before feeding all of it's traffic into yet another roundabout and yet another unimproved section. The roundabout is with the other end of the B3301 and the A3074 to Carbis Bay and into St Ives.

The next section of road is the third piece of the A30 that needs desperate improvement. The road through Crowlas is truly awful. It bottlenecks through all of the villages on it's way and it's only plus point is the final half a mile or so which is actually quite a good road up to Newtown roundabout. This is where the A30 meets the A394 to Helston and the Lizard. There are also local roads for Marazion, which the A394 bypasses, and Long Rock which the A30 bypasses. This piece of road is rather good, being a nice section of dual carriageway and this helps traffic speed into Penzance. Another roundabout is met but this one is normally easy to navigate. This is the point that the A30 loses it's Trunk Road status and from here on in it is under the councils control, but it remains Primary for a few miles yet. The road comes off this roundabout and goes around the corner to meet another roundabout. There is no need what so ever for this roundabout as access for the superstore it provides is just as easy from the other side, and is built on a road designed for stores to be built on.

Anyway, the road continues to yet another roundabout and this one isn't as nice as the previous two. The roundabout is far to small for the traffic it is designed for and as a result it can be murder trying to get onto the roundabout from the B3311 and Penzance Town Centre. Fortunately it is a lot easier on the two A30 sides as it manages to get priority most of the time and as a result we can move onto the A30's final bypass.

The Penzance bypass is an S2 bypass that heads around the town and is normally quite free flowing. The first roundabout is for a housing estate and we climb the hill to another one. Heamoor Roundabout is the biggest on the bypass, and provides access to the West Cornwall Hospital, another housing estate and the B3312 to Heamoor and Madron. The limit on the roundabout is 30mph, but the A30 on either side 50mph about 300 yards away on either side. We head down the other side of the hill where there is a T-Junction for a few warehouses, and the road meets it's final roundabout on the bypass. Mount Misery connects to the western side of Penzance, as well as the A3071 to St Just. The roundabout doesn't see too much traffic here and so is quite quick to get around. This is the point where the A30 loses it's Primary status and from here on in it isn't much more than a glorified B road.

History

The pre-bypass and modern routes of the A30 converge at Scorrier Junction, although the A30 immediately continues onto the Blackwater Bypass heading eastward.

Heading west, the A3047 number is carried by the route of the former A30. We continue straight on at a rather small roundabout, and are now on the A393. At the very next (mini)-roundabout, the old route is again obvious, being a straight line. Heading towards the town centre, we are now on the C720.

Zinn Bergmann statue at the east end of Fore St

As the C720 nears the town centre, it hits a one way system, and it is impossible to follow the old route vehicularly heading west. If heading east, your fortunes are marginally better, but there's a partially pedestrianised high street, Fore St. Cycles and loading vehicles only are allowed to proceed eastward here.

The western end of Fore St is a junction with the B3300, the C720 continuing resolutely along the former A30, to (another) junction with the A3047.

After an incredibly brief dalliance with the A3047, that road TOTSOs, the former A30 continuing its virtual beeline southwest. This section is now the C776. This road continues through Illogan Highway and Pool, passing by the East Pool Mine, with its shaft chimney towering over the road - a reminder of this area's mining history.

Another junction with the A3047 ensues, heading north here almost immediately brings you upon Tolvaddon Junction. The C776 continues to follow the old route straight over, before finally terminating on a roundabout with, you guessed it, the A3047. The A3047 follows the old route of the A30 all the way to Treswithian Junction.

the former A30 through Connor Downs

The old A30 route continues along the C750 to go through Roseworthy and Connor Downs and now is quite a pleasant drive. After Connor Downs it meets the new road at the previously mentioned Loggans Moor Roundabout and heading along what is now the B3301 through Copperhouse and Hayle, before coming out the other side and meeting the A30 and A3074 near St Erth. Of the four roads at this roundabout, this is the only one that is dual carriageway.

At Newtown Roundabout, it carried straight over and through Long Rock to Chy-an-Mor Roundabout.

The A30 used to follow what is briefly the B3311 and then the unclassified road into Penzance town centre. It followed Market Jew Street before turning off to Alverton road, where it meet the B3312 to Madron and Heamoor and B3313 to Lands End. This was the terminus of the A30 before it was extended to Lands End along the B3313. It followed Alverton Road out to Mount Misery and the end of the Penzance bypass, as well as the A3071.