A3079 (Ilminster - Upottery)

This article is about the former A3079 from Ilminster to Upottery.
For the current A3079 north west of Okehampton, see A3079.

Knightshayne Bend on the former A3079 (now A303)

The first incarnation of the A3079 appeared around 1930 as an upgrade of the B3169 and the southern end of the B3170 to Class I status. The road started at Horton Cross to the west of Ilminster, where it met the A374 just to the south of that road's junction with the A358, the road headed south west into Devon. After the B3170 joined from the north, the road ended on the A30 near Upottery.

In 1933 the A303 was created as a rather lengthy A30 bypass for the main London - South West route. Along the way it ate up numerous other roads and the A3079 was one of these. Much of the current A303 has been upgraded in the years since but the former A3079 remains largely unchanged.

It is perhaps no more than coincidence that recent plans to reconstruct the A303-A30 route from Ilminster to Honiton were dropped in favour of the A358 to Taunton as the main route to the M5. This would see the route of the A3079 left untouched while (most of) the rest of the A303 is upgraded.