B3240
B3240 | ||||
Location Map ( geo) | ||||
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From: | Exeter Street (SX484545) | |||
To: | Union Street (SX472544) | |||
Via: | Bretonside, Notte Street | |||
Distance: | 1 miles (1.5 km) | |||
Meets: | A374, A374 | |||
Primary Destinations | ||||
Highway Authorities | ||||
Traditional Counties | ||||
Route outline (key) | ||||
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The B3240 provides a southern "bypass" of Plymouth city centre area, effectively linking the A374 to itself.
Route
From east to west, the B3240 leaves the A374 Exeter Street at a light-controlled, limited junction (westbound A374 to westbound B3240 and eastbound B3240 to eastbound A374) to follow Bretonside, Vauxhall Street, and Notte Street through some of the more historical areas of the city, skirting the southern edge of the centre and providing access to the Barbican, Hoe, and ferryport (which is served by a short spur). At its western end the route, which is S2 throughout, curves north around The Crescent to meet the A374 again at a curiously laid-out junction that is half roundabout and half crossroads, but does not provide for all turns.
History
The B3240 is described in the 1922 Road Lists as Plymouth (Vauxhall Street to Barbican) and maps indicate that it originally began at the junction of Bretonside (at that time, the A38) and Vauxhall Street, running south along the latter and then, via Southside Street, around the west side of Sutton Harbour to a terminus below the Citadel.
Shortly afterwards the road gained a westward extension along Notte Street (the original mainline to the Barbican thus becoming a spur) to rejoin the A38 further west. The centre of Plymouth was extensively redeveloped following its destruction by aerial bombardment in World War II and the original street plan was largely obliterated, so that the route's alignment today, especially at its western end, corresponds only approximately to its pre-Blitz course. However, given that the 1920s route, as eventually completed, constituted a loop off the A38, it would appear that the post-war route was planned to fulfil the same role.
The Barbican spur south of Vauxhall Street was still marked as forming part of the B3240 in the early 1980s. However, this section is today unclassified.