A3126
A3126 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | West Exe Roundabout (SS951122) | |||
To: | Bolham Road Roundabout (SS950138) | |||
Distance: | 1.5 miles (2.4 km) | |||
Meets: | A396, B3137, A361, A396 | |||
Former Number(s): | A373, A396 | |||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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Another one of Devon County Council's creations of the 1990s, the A3126 is entirely a repackaged section of the A396. The A396, which this road meets at both ends, was re-routed in 1997 to run along a new relief road to the south and east of Tiverton town centre. This new road was itself briefly part of a rather broken up B3391 before being upgraded. In taking on this route the A396 now multiplexes along the A361 North Devon Link Road north of the town, thus it takes three sides of a box to pass Tiverton! The A3126 does the same job with just one side of the box.
The A3126 starts its short journey at the West Exe roundabout with the A396 on the southern fringes of Tiverton. It terminates on the northern edge of town at the Bolham Road roundabout with the A361 and A396. In between it features three more roundabouts and two mini-roundabouts, a one-way system and three signal-controlled pedestrian crossings.
At one mini-roundabout, the junction of Leat Street, Rackenford Road and Kennedy Way, the B3137 sets off from the A3126 for Witheridge and, indirectly, South Molton. Southbound traffic on the A3126 Kennedy Way is informed of this junction by one of the most spectacularly inaccurate signs in Devon.
Kennedy Way forms the central section of the A3126 between the B3137 Rackenford Road junction and the first roundabout on a Bolham Road out of Tiverton town centre. The name is a clear indication that this road was built in the 1960s. At the time it carried the A396 and A373 around the town centre avoiding the one original bridge, of the present four, over the River Exe. Kennedy Way is now characterised by industrial development, with a Morrisons supermarket and the new Community Hospital accessed from a roundabout midway along.
There has been some suggestion that the A3126 no longer exists, with the A396 and B3391 getting their old routes back. However, signage seems to disagree (although it's not always consistent) and the A3126 is still given that number by Devon County Council.
Original Author(s): SouthWest Philip
A3126 | ||||
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