B1062

This article is about the current B1062 in the north of Suffolk.
For the original B1062 in the south of the county, see B1062 (Baythorne End - Long Melford).

Route

The B1062 at Flixton

The B1062 is a medium-length B-road, mostly in Suffolk.

The road starts at the eastern end of the A143 Wortwell bypass. It heads east, immediately crossing the River Waveney to enter Suffolk, after which it goes through Homersfield and then follows the river downstream, not particularly closely. There's a straight section through a wood before we go through Flixton, after which a straight section across fields takes us into Bungay. On the near side of town we meet the B1435 which takes traffic into the town centre, which we pass to the south of. After crossing the A144 at a staggered crossroads we meet the other end of the B1435 and then re-enter open country.

The road continues east, forming the boundary of the Norfolk Broads National Park for most of the remainder of its route. There are a couple of villages, for example Barsham, before we reach Beccles. After passing the War Memorial Hospital the road reaches traffic lights to the south of the town centre. This used to be the junction with the A145 and the end of the route, but since September 2018 this road takes over part of that road's former route. So turning right, it passes the southern suburbs of Beccles before crossing a level crossing and now terminates south of the town on a new roundabout where the A145 leaves on the new Beccles Southern Relief Road.

History

On classification in 1922 the only section of the present B1062 that was classified was the section between Bungay and Beccles, which was numbered A145 - and that road had different endpoints.

The B1062 came into being in the mid-1920s as the road west of Bungay on the Suffolk side of the river. Meanwhile the B1383 had come into existence in Beccles town centre on what is now the easternmost section of the present B1062.

In 1935 the A145 was renumbered A1116, giving rise to the numbering that existed for the majority of the 20th century. However, the A1116 was downgraded in the mid-1980s and the B1062 was extended along most of its old route to give the road its current length.

On 25 September 2018 the new Beccles Southern Relief Road was opened and the road was extended by a short length over part of the former A145 route into Beccles.