The A13 is a major road in England linking Central London with east London and south Essex. Its route is similar to that of the London, Tilbury and Southend line via Rainham, Grays, Tilbury, Stanford-Le-Hope & Pitsea, and runs the entire length of the northern Thames Gateway area, terminating on the Thames Estuary at Shoeburyness. It is a trunk road between London and the Tilbury junction, a primary route between there and Sadlers Hall Farm near South Benfleet, and a non-primary route between there and Shoeburyness.
Route London
The A13 used to start at Aldgate Pump; but now begins at the junction with the A11 at what used to be the Aldgate one way system in east London and heads eastwards through the boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking & Dagenham and Havering before reaching the Greater London boundary.
Commercial Road and East India Dock Road At the central London end, Commercial Road and East India Dock Road form one of two main arteries through the historic East End (the other being the A11 Whitechapel Road). The A13 route is a relatively recent addition to London's radial network, having been built at the beginning of the 19th century to connect the city with the (then) newly expanding Port of London. Commercial Road dates from 1802,http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46475 British History Online - "Pennyfields", Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 111-113. Date accessed: 14 November 2007 while East India Dock Road was set out from 1806 to 1812.http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46478 British History Online - "East India Dock Road: Introduction", Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 120-126. Date accessed: 14 November 2007 The first iron bridge across the River Lea was built in 1810. Today the route is still largely single carriageway, though notable is the junction with the A12 and A102 at the northern portal of the Blackwall Tunnel. This section of A13 is used by the important London Bus routes 15 (as far as Blackwall) and 115.
East Ham & Barking By-pass (Newham Way and Alfreds Way)
However, just east of Blackwall, at the crossing of the River Lea, there is a TOTSO (turn-off to stay on) with the A1261 East India Dock Link Tunnel, and the road changes character dramatically, becoming a dual three-lane expressway. This grade-separated route continues all the way to the Greater London Boundary. Notable junctions include Canning Town, and the A406 junction near Beckton, as well as the single carriageway Lodge Avenue flyover near Barking, where the old A13 route (Ripple Road) merges with the new. Grade-separated in 2002–2004, the dual carriageway section through Newham is Newham Way, while through Barking it is Alfreds Way, both comprising the East Ham & Barking Bypass, and originally dualled by the 1960s.http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=42748 British History Online - "West Ham: Introduction", A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 43-50. Date accessed: 16 November 2007. This section is structurally sound and built to high standards, but was subject to a 40 mph (64 km/h) speed limit. Prior to grade-separation, the speed limit was 50 mph (80 km/h).http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7223&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 This thread on the SABRE forums includes a letter from TfL setting out their reasons for reducing the limit from 50 to . Letter dated 5 January 2006. Works involved inserting new underpasses at Prince Regent and Movers Lane, a new flyover at Beckton Alps, and expanding Canning Town flyover from two lanes either way to three. Also inserted was the free-flow link to the A1261 tunnel. London Bus route 173 is the only route to use the A13 here, between Beckton Alps and Ripple Road. However, the speed limit was increased back to 50 mph in 2011.
Ripple Road and the Thames Gateway East of the Lodge Avenue junction near Barking, the route then takes over the much older Ripple Road, with its last at-grade junction at Renwick Road, while the all-new grade-separated section east of the Goresbrook Interchange at Dagenham is termed the Thames Gateway, completed in 1999. This is notable for the award-winning viaduct Benaim Group webpage listing Concrete Society awards for 2000 over Fords works, opening in late 1999, Barking and Dagenham Local History website: Barking & Dagenham Post, 22 December 1999 and the causeway over Rainham and Wennington Marshes, the latter structure causing some delay to the project due to necessary studies on its environmental impact, Parliamentary debate on the A13 on 27 January 1995, first part Parliamentary debate on the A13 on 27 January 1995, second part although this section opened first, in mid-1997. Barking and Dagenham Local History website: Barking & Dagenham Post, 2 July 1997, The contract also included the Wennington to M25 motorway section (see below). It has National Speed Limit from just east of Goresbrook Interchange. London Bus routes 173 and 287 are the only routes to use the A13 here, between Ripple Road and Goresbrook.
There are some public artworks along this section. Between 1997 and 2004 Barking and Dagenham Council commissioned the A13 Artscape project including lighting at the Charlton Crescent subway and cone sculptures at the Goresbrook Interchange.Public Art Online https://publicartonline.org.uk/resources/reports/repregeneration/a13artscape.php.html Also in 2005, Havering Council commissioned the Litmus Towers sculptures on the A13 junctions near Rainham which display local environmental data using large LED arrays.
Essex
Wennington to Sadlers Hall Farm
The Thames Gateway section of the A13 leaves London at Wennington on the border with Thurrock, still dual three lanes, intersecting with the M25 motorway at Junction 30, close to the Dartford Crossing and Lakeside Shopping Centre. The A13 here is a much older dual carriageway, dating mostly to the 1980s, including the four-lane flyover above the M25, left incomplete for over 15 years. The Wennington to M25 section opened in late 1998. Barking and Dagenham Local History website: Barking & Dagenham Post, 16 December 1998. The next junction, the turn-off for Lakeside (A126), has only west-facing slips, so there is no exit eastbound. It is then dual three lanes past the junction with the A1089, the road into Tilbury, and loses its Trunk Road status to the latter. The A13 finally drops down to two lanes each way at the nearby A128 junction. It is dual for another , bypassing Stanford-le-Hope and Basildon before it reaches the Sadlers Hall Farm (or Sadlers Farm) roundabout. Here the road meets the A130 and loses its dual and Primary Route status. The main route into Southend is now the A127 Southend Arterial Road, accessible via the A130.
A13/A130 Sadlers Farm Junction
Improvements to the A13/A130 Sadlers Farm Junction were first given government approval in July 2006 following a 2005 public consultation. The project involved by-passing the roundabout by creating a new full-depth cutting link road between the A13 and A130, building slip roads connecting traffic to the Sadlers Farm roundabout and widening the A13 to dual four lane carriageway to Pitsea and the A130 to dual three lane carriageway to the Rayleigh Spur roundabout. The scheme is part of the Thames Gateway transport infrastructure plans which gave it an estimated cost of £63 million in 2007 and timelines it for 2012. The scheme was opened in 2012.
Benfleet to Shoeburyness
The A13 continues east of Sadlers Farm as mostly single-carriageway through Thundersley, Hadleigh, Leigh-on-Sea and Westcliff, before reaching the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea. This is the last major town on the route, but it continues eastwards, including brief dual sections (London Road, Hadleigh, Queensway round the town centre, with its roundabouts with the A127 and A1160 (another TOTSO), and Southchurch Boulevard in Southchurch), and on to Shoeburyness, on the estuary east of Southend proper. It turns to the south at Parsons Corner, and then as Ness Road, it terminates at an end-on junction with the B1016, also forming part of Ness Road. +A13 in EssexEastbound exits Junction Westbound exits Tower Hamlets Start of grade-separated section, merge with A1261 East India Dock Link, signed Barking, Tilbury A13 (see Note just below) Junction 7: Leamouth Junction Turn-off to stay on for Central London, Blackwall Tunnel A13, Leamouth (A1020), mainline signed Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs A1261, becomes East India Dock Link Newham Plaistow A124, Stratford, Canning Town, West Ham, Royal Docks, London City Airport, ExCeL A1011, B164 Note: sliproad starts on Tower Hamlets side of the River Lea! Junction 8: Canning Town Plaistow A124, Stratford, Canning Town, West Ham, Royal Docks, London City Airport, ExCeL A1011 (Entrance via Junction 7) New Barn Street, no access to A13 (New Barn Street exit) No exit - Use Junction 9. Custom House, London City Airport, ExCeL, Stratford, Plaistow A112, Tollgate Road Junction 9: Prince Regent Custom House, London City Airport, ExCeL, Stratford, Plaistow A112, Tollgate Road, Freemasons Road Noel Road (no access to A13) (signed side streets) East Ham Industrial Estate Beckton, Manor Park, East Ham, London Industrial Park A117 Junction 10: Beckton Alps Beckton, Manor Park, East Ham, London Industrial Park A117 North Circular Road, Ilford, Barking, (M11) A406, London City Airport, Royal Docks, ExCeL A1020, Woolwich Ferry (A117), Jenkins lane Junction 11: (A406 terminus) North Circular Road, Ilford, Barking, (M11) A406, London City Airport, Royal Docks, ExCeL A1020, Woolwich Ferry (A117) Barking & Dagenham Barking, Creekmouth, River Road Industrial Estate, Thames View Estate Junction 12: Movers Lane Barking, Creekmouth, River Road Industrial Estate, Thames View Estate Barking A123, Becontree, Romford A1153 Junction 13: Lodge Avenue Junction (Ripple Road Junction) (NB: flyover here is single carriageway) Barking A123, Becontree, Romford A1153 Rippleside, Commercial Estate, Container Base, Freight Centre through traffic is free-flow (Renwick Road westbound traffic lights) Rippleside, Commercial Estate, Container Base, Freight Centre