Road in England
The A380 on the top of Haldon.
The
A380
is a road in
South West England
, connecting the
Torbay
area to the
Devon Expressway
, and hence to the rest of
Great Britain
's main road network.
Route
[
edit
]
The A380 leaves the A38 at
Kennford
, some 3 miles (4.8 km) from that road's junction with the
M5 motorway
, and 6 miles (9.7 km) from the centre of the city of
Exeter
. It then proceeds in a generally southerly direction, climbing over the
Haldon Hills
, past junctions for
Mamhead
and
Teignmouth
, before descending past the towns of
Kingsteignton
and
Newton Abbot
and continuing on a flyover over the Penn Inn roundabout heading towards
Torquay
.
Beyond Newton Abbot, the road
bypasses
the village of
Kingskerswell
on the South Devon Highway. The road soon comes to Edginswell (a signal controlled junction) at Torquay where it meets the A3022 that (as
Dual carriageway
) serves the large seaside resort of Torquay. The road then heads right up a hill towards Gallows Gate roundabout then Preston Down roundabout and then Churscombe Cross roundabout on the Paignton ring road where the road reduces to single carriageway and enters Paignton finally ending at
Collaton St Mary
1 mile (1.6 km) inland from Paignton, where it meets the A3022 (again) and the
A385
at
Tweenaways Cross
.
[1]
Prior to the construction of the Kingkerswell bypass, the A380 passed through Kingkerswell (although the original route was along Fore Street) and into Torquay along the current A3022 terminating on the now declassified Union Street which was then the A379. Another branch ran past Torre Abbey to the sea front.
Kingskerswell bypass
[
edit
]
There have been plans to alleviate the traffic congestion on the stretch of the road between Newton Abbot and Torquay since 1951.
[2]
Construction of a
bypass
around Kingskerswell was almost authorised by the
Department for Transport
, with construction to start in 2010 and completion in 2013,
[3]
but in March 2009 it was suggested that with the economic recession there may not be sufficient money left for constructing a bypass, since money was awarded to other road building schemes elsewhere in the UK the previous autumn.
[4]
A public enquiry was held in 2009. In October 2010 the government refused to fund the scheme,
[5]
and placed it in a funding pool to compete against 33 other schemes nationwide for a £600 million development fund. However, in November 2011 the government awarded £74.6 million towards the cost of the bypass, with construction to start the following year.
[6]
Construction began in October 2012 with the road completed and opened in December 2015.
[7]
This new section of road is designated the South Devon Highway.
Penn Inn Roundabout
[
edit
]
Penn Inn roundabout - northern approach
The Penn Inn
Roundabout
is a
signal
-
controlled
roundabout interchange at Newton Abbot where the A380 used to meet the
A381
and an unclassified road at one of the busiest roundabouts in
Devon
. The A380 now continues over the roundabout on a flyover continuing to
Exeter
as part of the South Devon Highway (Traffic can still get to the roundabout off the dual carriageway using the other lane). This is to relieve congestion especially at peak times. There is a completely separate system of subways for pedestrians underneath the roundabout.
It is a junction which is noted for being subject to very high vehicle flows (in 2008, 73000 vehicles per day entered the roundabout)
[8]
and as a result can be subject to long queues at peak times. Various upgrades have been made to the junction since its construction in an effort to increase capacity; it now has four lanes on the A381 approach and northern section of the roundabout. The Kingskerswell bypass completed in December 2015 has a single carriageway flyover north?south so that through traffic on the A380 dual carriageway does not have to negotiate the junction.
The junction takes its name from the similarly named adjacent Penn Inn
pub
which in May 2015 was acquired by
Mitchells & Butlers
and rebranded as
Toby Carvery
.
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
50°32′20″N
3°35′08″W
/
50.5389°N 3.5856°W
/
50.5389; -3.5856
(
A380 road
)