A13 road
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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.
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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. 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. While it is still officially called Alfreds Way, this stretch is colloquially called the East Ham and Barking By-Pass. 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 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. Towards the end of the bypass, the A13 becomes a single carriageway, then changes its name to Southend Road. There is a large roundabout, the Five Bells Roundabout. The A176 comes off this roundabout. The Basildon bypass starts here and the A13 reverts to dual carriageway. (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.
It ceases to be a dual carriageway here, and is now called London Road. It continues through Thundersley, changing its name to Kiln Road. There is a roundabout, which is a 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 Queens Way. In the middle of Queens Way 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.
Categories: UK roads | Barking & Dagenham | Havering | Newham | Tower Hamlets | Essex | Southend-on-Sea | Thurrock