The A4312 is the old main road out of Swindon to the east. The road was originally a multiplex between the A420 and A361 with the former number dominant, although the road has been heavily upgraded to become the A4312 and follows little of that road's old route.
The road starts at a GSJ on the A419 eastern bypass at the western end of the A420. It heads west, becoming residential almost immediately as it enters town along Oxford Road. It isn't long before the road bears left and the old A420 bears right. There's little difference in the road just at the moment, however.
Drakes Way at night
We cross the B4006 at a roundabout and then the road becomes dual as we continue along Drakes Way. There's a retail park to the right and an industrial estate to the left, after which a set of traffic lights gives access to a residential area. We skirt this and we have a parallel service road for the houses to front onto. There's another set of lights for the A4313 and then we meet the A4259 at the next roundabout.
For some time the A4312 ended here. However, when the A4289 was lengthened in the 2000s it took over part of the A4259, and for some reason we've taken over part as well. We therefore bear right onto Queens Drive to end at the next junction, the Magic Roundabout on the ring road. This is numbered B4289 to the left and A4289 to the right.
An amended OpenStreetMap trace for this route awaits uploading to the SABRE Wiki.
