- A39 road
UK road routebox
road= A39
length-mi=
length-km=
direction= South West - North East
end= Corston
destinations=Truro Wadebridge Bude Barnstaple
Bideford
Bridgwater
start= Falmouth
construction-date=
completion-date=
junctions= ukroadsmall|4
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ukroadsmall|361
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ukroadsmall|396
ukroadsmall|399
ukroadsmall|361
ukroadsmall|377
ukroadsmall|3072
ukroadsmall|386
ukroadsmall|361
ukroadsmall|389
ukroadsmall|3059
ukroadsmall|392
ukroadsmall|30
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ukroadsmall|394 |The A39 is anA road in south westEngland . It runs south-west from Bath inSomerset throughWells ,Glastonbury , Street andBridgwater . It then follows the north coast of Somerset andDevon throughWilliton ,Minehead ,Porlock ,Lynmouth ,Barnstaple ,Bideford , Stratton,Camelford ,Wadebridge andSt Columb Major . It then joins the route of theA30 road for around five miles, re-emerging near Zelah to head for the south Cornish coast viaTruro and Falmouth.In Cornwall and North Devon (until the junction with the A361 "North Devon Link Road"), the road is known as the Atlantic Highway, and was classified as a
trunk road until 2002.Porlock Hill
Porlock Hill is a section of the A39 west of the village of
Porlock . The road climbs approximately 400 metres in under 2 miles up ontoExmoor : a very steep hill with gradients of up to 1 in 4 and hairpin bends. The hill must be driven slowly and with great care. At the bottom of the hill there have been numerous accidents when coaches have crashed into walls as their brakes failed.In 1899 a 10 ton lifeboat was somehow manoeuvred down this hill using 20 horses, after an epic overland journey from Lynmouth. Porlock was the only safe harbour from which to launch, such were the storm conditions, and the endeavour enabled 13 seamen to be rescued.
There is a less steep
toll road that small vehicles and cyclists can take as an alternative route. It formed part of the route in the 2007 Tour of Britain cycle race.Woody Bay
At
Martinhoe Cross in Devon — about five miles west ofLynton and two miles east ofParracombe — on the north side of the A39 lies a once disused but, in 2004, restored and reopened railway station. Woody Bay was once an intermediate stop on, and is now the main operating centre of, the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway anarrow-gauge line built in 1898, which closed in 1935. Over- and under-bridges and other traces of the line can be seen at various locations along this stretch of the road.Atlantic Highway
Atlantic Highway is the name given to a section of the A39, as it passes from the North Devon Link Road in
Devon until it reaches the A30 atFraddon inCornwall ,England . [cite web |url=http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=7735 |publisher=Cornwall County Council |title=Official Naming Ceremony For Atlantic Highway |accessdate=2007-10-28]It is so called, as it is the main road (it was a trunk road until
2002 ) from mid-Cornwall to North Devon and follows the line of the Atlantic Ocean's coast. It is also named thus due to the former Southern Railway express that ran in this part of North Devon and North Cornwall (theAtlantic Coast Express ). Views of the Atlantic can be seen along its length, although the road does not approach very close to thecoastline itself.The road is signified as the Atlantic Highway by road signs indicating the route mileage throughout its length, in both directions, in white on brown above the green background of the route mileage boards.
It passes by
Wadebridge ,Bude andBideford , and directly throughCamelford .ee also
References
External links
* [http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/f99/39.shtml SABRE page on the A39]
* [http://www.martynhicks.co.uk/personal/html/exmoor/porlockhill.html Pictures of Porlock Hill]
* [http://www.atlantic-highway.co.uk/ Overview of Atlantic Highway]
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