B3174
| B3174 | |||||||||||||
| Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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| From: | Clyst Honiton (SX991933) | ||||||||||||
| To: | Seaton (SY245903) | ||||||||||||
| Distance: | 11.3 miles (18.2 km) | ||||||||||||
| Meets: | A30, B3184, B3180, B3177, A3052, B3172 | ||||||||||||
| Former Number(s): | A30, B3173, B3172 | ||||||||||||
| Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
| Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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The B3174 in east Devon is a road in two distinct parts, its middle section – from Ottery St Mary to the A3052 at Three Horseshoes (midway between Sidford and Colyford) – having been declassified.
Clyst Honiton – Ottery St Mary
The western end of the B3174 today is at Pound Corner, a grade-separated junction (GSJ) with the modern course of the A30 at Clyst Honiton, close to Exeter Airport. Heading briefly north, between the village to the west and the airport to the east, the road passes beneath the western end of the latter by means of a short tunnel before turning northeastward and picking up the A30's original route by way of Rockbeare.
Some 7.5 km further on the A30 is met again and we cross beneath it by means of another GSJ (Daisymount Junction), which also serves the B3180. This is very close to the original starting point of the B3174. Our route now heads east through open countryside, eventually to cross the River Otter and enter the small town of Ottery St Mary. A one-way system in the centre brings us to an end-on junction with the B3177, which leaves to the left (signposted Honiton). The old B3174 ahead is now unclassified from here (although still signposted Seaton, which will be the eventual destination of the second part of the route).
Hangman's Stone – Seaton
After a gap of nearly 15 km the B3174 reappears at a point known as Hangman's Stone on the A3052 roughly midway between Sidford and Colyford. Striking off in a southeasterly direction, the road is flattish at first but then heads steeply downhill to the coast at Beer before finally making its way to Seaton, where it ends on the B3172. In the town's one-way system the end point for eastbound traffic is a set of traffic lights at the top end of Queen Street; westbound B3174 traffic starts its journey by following Fore Street from a mini roundabout a little further east.
History
As mentioned above, the B3174 originally began close to the modern Daisymount Junction and continued east and southeast from Ottery St Mary to the old A35 (now A3052), which it met at a rather lonely spot immediately west of the Three Horseshoes coaching inn. In 1935 it was extended from Hangman's Stone (some 2 km further east along the A35) to take over the route of what had been the B3173 to Beer, and (later still) the Beer to Seaton section of the B3172.
In 2012 the B3174 was extended at its western end to incorporate the old A30 from Clyst Honiton to Daisymount Junction. This stretch is intended to serve the new town of Cranbrook, which is being developed north of the airport – between the B3174 and the railway line from Exeter to Honiton – and which will eventually itself be the size of the latter town.
The 0.7 mile Clyst Honiton Bypass on the east of the village from A30 Airport Junction to London Road was opened on 3 October 2013. It included an 80m tunnel under the end of the runway at Exeter International Airport and opened up direct accesses into the Skypark Business Park, the Intermodal Freight Terminal and the new community of Cranbrook. Cost was £9 million.
Defunct section: Ottery St Mary - Hangman's Stone
Originally the road left Ottery St Mary to the east then climbed steeply up Chineaway Hill (perhaps a reason the road was declassified) before meeting the A375 at Putt's Corner. It then ran along a ridge, descending as it went. Presently it met the A35 (present A3052) at Three Horseshoes and multiplexed along that road to the east.
