B1007
B1007 | ||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||||||||
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From: | Chelmsford (TL707064) | |||||||||
To: | Stanford le Hope (TQ679829) | |||||||||
Via: | Billericay | |||||||||
Distance: | 18.2 miles (29.3 km) | |||||||||
Meets: | A1060, A1114, B1009, A12, A129, A176, B1036, A13, A1013, A1014 | |||||||||
Former Number(s): | A12 | |||||||||
Old route now: | A176 | |||||||||
Primary Destinations | ||||||||||
Highway Authorities | ||||||||||
Traditional Counties | ||||||||||
Route outline (key) | ||||||||||
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The B1007 is a two-part north-south route in mid south Essex which starts (unsigned) on the A1060 Parkway south of the centre of Chelmsford, following the original route of the A12 southwards out of town. The point at which it reaches a roundabout with the A1114 is the original northern end of the B1007.
After leaving Chelmsford, the road goes through Galleywood before reaching a grade-separated junction with the current route of the A12. The next village is Stock and after that comes the town of Billericay. The B1007 meets the A129 here, at a roundabout on the southern edge of town, and appears to come to a stop. In 1922 the route did indeed end here; however, it was subsequently extended in stages, though later reclassifications have meant that today there is a gap of several kilometres before the B1007 reappears.
The way straight ahead – Laindon Road – is the A176. (However, see the note below.) In 1922 this had been an unclassified road but in the early 1930s it was upgraded to become a prolongation of the B1007, extending as far as High Road junction on the then-new A127 Southend Arterial Road. By the end of the 1930s the B1007 had been extended still further – through Laindon, Westley Heights, and Horndon on the Hill – to terminate on the A13 to the west of Stanford le Hope.
In the 1960s, the A176 Basildon and Billericay road was built, taking over a three-kilometre section of the B1007. Later still, in 1984, Laindon and Horndon on the Hill were each bypassed, and as a result the two ends of the now-detached southern portion of the B1007 were moved: the route now beginning further down the A176, at Lee Chapel on the western edge of Basildon, and ending at the A13/A1013/A1014 interchange on the Stanford bypass, a kilometre northeast of the B1007's former terminus on the A13.
Laindon Road in Billericay – A176 or B1007?
Most maps show this road as forming a part of the A176. Nevertheless, it is signed at its northern end (the High Street / London Road / Sun Street roundabout) as the B1007. At its southern end it is not signed at all – because for the final 230 m approaching the roundabout junction with the main A176 and Kennel Lane south of the town it is one-way southbound. In other words, there is no exit onto Laindon Road for northbound traffic from this roundabout. (Judging by the number of two-way-traffic "reminder" arrows painted on the road surface before the one-way section begins, it looks, though, as if some drivers have been tempted to regard it as longer than it really is!)