A11 road
The
A11 is a major
road in
England. It runs roughly north east from
London to
Norwich,
Norfolk, although it apparently disappears as it goes through the
London Borough of Redbridge and the county of
Essex, and again on the
Newmarket bypass.
Originally, the A11 started at the
Bank of England in the
City of London, next to
Bank tube station, and went eastward along
Cornhill and
Leadenhall Street, past
Aldgate Pump and along
Aldgate. All this part has been declassified and is now a minor road. Thus the A11 now starts at
Aldgate, just inside the eastern boundary of the
City of London. The first stretch is Aldgate High Street, passing south of
Aldgate tube station. Traffic is one way westbound.
East of Aldgate station, the A11 enters the
London Borough of Tower Hamlets and the
East End of London. It becomes
Whitechapel High Street (containing
Aldgate East tube station). For most of its length, this stretch has one-way eastbound traffic, but traffic becomes two-way just before the eastern end of Whitechapel High Street. The A11 becomes
Whitechapel Road, famous from the
British version of the
Monopoly board. It passes through
Whitechapel, past
Whitechapel tube station and the
Royal London Hospital. It becomes
Mile End Road, passing
Stepney Green tube station and
Mile End tube station. Next, it becomes
Bow Road, passing
Bow Road tube station and
Bow Church DLR station.
There is now a flyover over the
Bow Interchange roundabout, a junction with the
A12. At the end of the flyover, the A11 crosses into the
London Borough of Newham.
The A11 now briefly becomes a
dual carriageway as it crosses the valley of the
River Lea. (Originally, there was a
strait or narrow
ford here, which gave its name to
Stratford.) This dual carriageway section ends in a one-way system marking Stratford town centre. The eastbound road, Great Eastern Road, passes
Stratford station. The westbound road is called Broadway and The Grove; the latter road runs north-south. At the end of the one-way system, The Grove becomes two-way, still going north. The A11 then becomes
Leytonstone Road;
Maryland railway station is on the corner where the name change occurs.
The A11 crosses from the
London Borough of Newham into the
London Borough of Waltham Forest and becomes High Road Leytonstone. At the northern end of this stretch is the
Green Man Roundabout, where it crosses the A12 again.
The A11 now apparently disappears. This is because, following the opening of the
M11 motorway, the A11 was re-numbered to make it seem a less important road and encourage traffic to use the M11. Its former route goes through the
London Borough of Redbridge. It becomes the A1199 and is called Hollybush Hill,
Woodford Road and High Road
Woodford Green. It crosses over the
A406 road but there are no slip roads for interchange. It merges with the A104 Woodford New Road to become the A104 High Road Woodford Green. Just before leaving London for
Essex, it becomes A104
Epping New Road.
Shortly after entering Essex, the A104 enters
Epping Forest. After a while, it reaches the
Wake Arms Roundabout and becomes the B1393. Just after leaving the forest, it crosses the
M25 motorway (which is in a tunnel at that point), then goes through
Epping. The B1393 ends at junction 7 of the M11, and the route of the A11 goes along the A414 through the eastern suburbs of
Harlow. The road then becomes the A1184 and goes through
Sawbridgeworth.
Just south of
Bishop's Stortford, the A1184 turns sharp left to become part of the Bishop's Stortford bypass, but the route of the A11 becomes the B1383 and goes through the town and through
Stansted Mountfitchet and
Quendon. It crosses the M11 and passes
Audley End. The B1383 ends at 9A (
Stump Cross), the end of a spur that comes off the M11 at Junction 9, near
Great Chesterford.
The road enters Cambridgeshire, the road number A11 re-appears and the A11 is now a
trunk road. It roughly follows the route of a
Roman road for the remainder of its length.
The A11 formerly went through
Newmarket; that stretch is now the
A1304. The Newmarket bypass is a dual carriageway. The western end is the A11, but most of its length is the
A14. The A11 re-appears north-east of Newmarket, and remains a dual carriageway until
Mildenhall. The road bypasses Mildenhall before entering Norfolk in the
Thetford Forest.
The A11 is then single carriageway to
Thetford. The road continues, bypassing Thetford,
Attleborough and
Wymondham, although up until recently it ran through the centre of Thetford, causing heavy traffic on the route. It also passes the
Snetterton Motor Racing Circuit. On entering Norwich, it becomes single carriageway again and is called Newmarket Road. It terminates at the St Stephens Street
roundabout near the city centre.
Recently, various sections of the A11 between Norwich and the junction with the M11 in Cambridgeshire have been upgrated to
dual carriageway in an ongoing effort by the
Highways Agency to modernise the City's primary road connection with London. On
17 August 2005, it was announced that works to dual a 3.3 mile section of the Attleborough bypass will soon be underway.
[Highways Agency: Newsroom]Norwich is currently the largest population centre in the UK not to be connected to any other centre by an unbroken dual carriageway.
*
Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A11*
Highways Agency - A11 Strategy: Cambridge to Norwich
*
Roads to Ruin - Critique of planned Regional road improvements
