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The 'A13' is a trunk road in England linking the City of London with East London and south Essex. Its route is roughly similar to the route of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway and runs the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area.

Contents

Route

London

Essex

Southend-on-Sea

Trivia

External links

Route

London

The A13 starts on the boundary between the City of London and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as Braham Street, a turning off Mansell Street. Traffic in this street is one way westbound. Being east of the City, it is technically in the East End of London.
It is then named ''Commercial Road'' for about 2 miles until its junction with ''West India Dock Road'' at Limehouse where it becomes ''East India Dock Road''. Parts of both of these roads are dual carriageway. Its route further east has been altered several times, and several new roads have been built. The road becomes ''Newham Way'' upon crossing the River Lea and entering the London Borough of Newham. This section was originally opened as the ''East Ham and Barking By-Pass'' in 1928, and was made a dual carriageway in 1959. The A13 is now dual carriageway for most of its remaining length.
The A13 changes its name to ''Alfreds Way'' near Beckton. Immediately after this, it has a junction with the ''North Circular Road'', marking the eastern end of the A406. The A13 then crosses the River Roding and enters the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, where it is officially called Alfreds Way. The A13 bypasses Barking and becomes ''Ripple Road'' which bypasses Dagenham until its junction with the A1306 (Goresbrook Interchange) which continues as Ripple Road and was the original route of the A13. After this junction, the A13 is called ''Thames Gateway''. Shortly after this, it enters the London Borough of Havering and crosses Wennington Marshes, bypassing Rainham and Wennington, London before entering Essex.

Essex

The A13 enters Essex at Aveley in Thurrock and forms a junction with the M25 motorway close to the Dartford Crossing and Lakeside Shopping Centre. East of the M25, it has no official name other than the A13 until it reaches Stanford-le-Hope; the bypass is called ''Arterial Road''. It also bypasses Corringham. There is subsequently a junction with three roundabouts above the A13, the ''Five Bells Junction''. The A176 comes off the northern-most roundabout heading north to Basildon. The Vange bypass starts here and the A13 runs south of the old A13 (The old A13 is now the B1464.) This stretch also bypasses Pitsea and Bowers Gifford. After this, the A13 crosses the A130 at a complex junction consisting of a ring of five roundabouts. This is the ''Sadler's Hall Farm Roundabout'', known locally as ''Sadler's Farm''.
It ceases to be a dual carriageway here, and is now called ''London Road''. It continues through Benfleet and Thundersley, where its name changes to ''Kiln Road''. A large roundabout, ''Vic House Corner'', exists at the junction with the A129. The A13 continues through Hadleigh. At one point, there is a large island in the middle of the road housing the fire station, the library and a church.

Southend-on-Sea

The A13 now enters the Borough of Southend-on-Sea, passing through Leigh-on-Sea and Chalkwell. In the centre of Southend-on-Sea, the A13 is a town centre relief road called ''Queensway''. In the middle of Queensway is a roundabout, a junction with the A127. It then enters Southchurch, being called ''Southchurch Road'' and ''Southchurch Boulevard''. After a roundabout, a junction with the A1159, it becomes ''Bournes Green Chase''.
At another roundabout, ''Parsons Corner'', it enters Shoeburyness. It turns through a right angle, heading south, and becomes ''North Shoeburyness Road''. After about 1.1 miles (1.7 km), the A13 terminates.

Trivia

The A13 has inspired at least two rock songs, Billy Bragg's ''A13, Trunk Road to the sea'', a parody of Bobby Troup's song about Route 66, as well as a number by Jah Wobble.

External links

★ A13 road photographs