B3183
| B3183 | ||||
| Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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| From: | Cowley Bridge Road, Exeter (SX911940) | |||
| To: | Honiton Road, Exeter (SX957925) | |||
| Via: | Heavitree | |||
| Distance: | 3.3 miles (5.3 km) | |||
| Meets: | A377, B3212, A3015, B3181 | |||
| Former Number(s): | A377, A30, A35 | |||
| Primary Destinations | ||||
| Highway Authorities | ||||
| Traditional Counties | ||||
| Route outline (key) | ||||
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For the original route of the B3183, also in Exeter, see B3183 (historical).
Route
The B3183 is a cross-Exeter route on the alignment of former A-roads. It starts at a sharp fork, climbing up from the A377, which winds its way along the River Exe next to the railway sidings. The University is further up the hill to the left, influencing this part of Exeter as a student quarter. Our route then swings round to the left, avoiding Queen Street, which ploughs straight into the city centre; despite this we still have to cross the main shopping street a little further to the north. There have been vague plans to re-route this section and finish the pedestrianisation of Exeter's City Centre for many years, but nothing has been done yet.
What has been done is to make the B3183 one-way, so to continue our west-east route we have to turn off, and head north east up Sidwell Street past the shops, with a bus-only lane as a contraflow. The B3183 Paris Street is only open to westbound traffic. The one-way system re-converges at the roundabout where the B3212 Western Way crosses, and we head east once more along Heavitree Road, through that suburb and onto the old Honiton Road. The B3183 then forks, with each arm soon terminating on the A3015.
History
The first section of this route was originally the A377 heading into Exeter. However, that route continued along Queen Street to the main city-centre crossroads. New North Road was originally unclassified, but Paris Street was the original route of the A30, and it is the A30's original route which the B3183 now follows all the way out of Exeter to the bypass, albeit with the right-hand terminal spur of Sidmouth Road being the old start point for the A35.
Once the Exeter Bypass was opened, there were many changes to the classified routes in and around Exeter, but it was not until the opening of the M5 that the A30 was finally re-routed out of the city centre. It appears, however, that the A377 had already been re-routed onto its current route before that.