A13
Route information
Length	41.7 mi[1] (67.1 km)
History	Route pre-dates inception of 1922 Roads list; first all-new bypass section opened 1924; last all-new section opened 1999; latest grade-separation completed 2013
Major junctions
West end	A11 inWhitechapel,London
Major intersections	A12 /A102 inPoplar, London A406 /A1020 nearBarking M25 /A282 nearAveley A1089 nearGrays A130 nearSouth Benfleet A127 inSouthend-on-Sea
East end	Ness Road / Campfield Road inShoeburyness
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Primary destinations	Docklands,Barking,Dartford Crossing,Tilbury,Basildon,Southend
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

TheA13 is a majorroad inEngland linkingCentral London with east London and southEssex. Its route is similar to that of theLondon, Tilbury and Southend line via Rainham, Grays, Tilbury, Stanford-Le-Hope & Pitsea, and runs the entire length of the northernThames Gateway area, terminating on the Thames Estuary atShoeburyness. It is atrunk road between London and theTilbury junction, aprimary route between there and Sadlers Hall Farm nearSouth Benfleet, and a non-primary route between there and Shoeburyness.

The A13 used to start atAldgate Pump; but now begins at the junction with the A11 at what used to be theAldgate one way system in eastLondon and heads eastwards through the boroughs ofTower Hamlets,Newham,Barking & Dagenham andHavering before reaching theGreater London boundary.

At the central London end,Commercial Road andEast India Dock Road form one of two main arteries through the historicEast End (the other being theA11Whitechapel 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 expandingPort of London.Commercial Road dates from 1802,^[2] whileEast India Dock Road was set out from 1806 to 1812.^[3] The first iron bridge across theRiver Lea was built in 1810.^[4] Today the route is still largely single carriageway, though notable is the junction with theA12 andA102 at the northern portal of theBlackwall Tunnel. This section of A13 is used by the important London Bus routes15 (as far as Blackwall) and115.

However, just east of Blackwall, at the crossing of theRiver Lea, there is aTOTSO (turn-off to stay on) with theA1261 East India Dock Link Tunnel, and the road changes character dramatically, becoming a dual three-laneexpressway. This grade-separated route continues all the way to the Greater London Boundary. Notable junctions includeCanning Town, and theA406 junction nearBeckton, 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 isNewham Way, while through Barking it isAlfreds Way, both comprising theEast Ham & Barking Bypass, and originally dualled by the 1960s.^[5] 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).^[6] Works involved inserting new underpasses at Prince Regent and Movers Lane, a new flyover atBeckton 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 route173 is the only route to use the A13 here, between Beckton Alps andRipple Road. However, the speed limit was increased back to 50 mph in 2011.

East of the Lodge Avenue junction nearBarking, the route then takes over the much olderRipple Road, with its last at-grade junction atRenwick Road, while the all-new grade-separated section east of the Goresbrook Interchange at Dagenham is termed theThames Gateway, completed in 1999. This is notable for the award-winning viaduct^[7] overFords works, opening in late 1999,^[8] and the causeway overRainham andWennington Marshes, the latter structure causing some delay to the project due to necessary studies on its environmental impact,^[9][10] although this section opened first, in mid-1997.^[11] The contract also included the Wennington toM25 motorway section (see below). It has National Speed Limit from just east of Goresbrook Interchange. London Bus routes 173 and287 are the only routes to use the A13 here, betweenRipple Road and Goresbrook.

There are some public artworks along this section. Between 1997 and 2004 Barking and Dagenham Council commissioned theA13 Artscape project including lighting at the Charlton Crescent subway and cone sculptures at the Goresbrook Interchange.^[12] Also in 2005, Havering Council commissioned theLitmus Towers sculptures on the A13 junctions near Rainham which display local environmental data using large LED arrays.^[13]

TheThames Gateway section of the A13 leavesLondon atWennington on the border withThurrock, still dual three lanes, intersecting with theM25 motorway at Junction 30, close to theDartford Crossing andLakeside 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.^[14] 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 theA1089, the road intoTilbury, and loses itsTrunk Road status to the latter. The A13 finally drops down to two lanes each way at the nearbyA128 junction. It is dual for another 9 miles (14 km), bypassingStanford-le-Hope andBasildon before it reaches the Sadlers Hall Farm (or Sadlers Farm)roundabout. Here the road meets theA130 and loses its dual and Primary Route status. The main route into Southend is now theA127Southend Arterial Road, accessible via the A130.

Improvements to the A13/A130 Sadlers Farm Junction were first given government approval in July 2006 following a 2005 public consultation.^[15] 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.^[16] The scheme is part of theThames Gateway transport infrastructure plans which gave it an estimated cost of £63 million in 2007 and timelines it for 2012.^[17] The scheme was opened in 2012.

The A13 continues east of Sadlers Farm as mostly single-carriageway throughThundersley,Hadleigh,Leigh-on-Sea andWestcliff, before reaching the seaside resort ofSouthend-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 theA127 and A1160 (anotherTOTSO), andSouthchurch Boulevard inSouthchurch), and on toShoeburyness, on the estuary 3 miles (4.8 km) east of Southend proper. It turns to the south at Parsons Corner, and then asNess Road, it terminates at an end-on junction with the B1016, also forming part ofNess Road.

East of the River Lea, through Newham and Barking, the original route followed theA124Barking Road and then theA123Ripple Road.^[18] The present A13 still uses much of the eastern end ofRipple Road. The route was replaced by theEast Ham & Barking Bypass first opened in 1928,^[19] which was given the number A118 before being redesignated.^[18] As with the route west of theRiver Lea,Barking Road is a relatively new route, being builtc. 1812.[20]

Ripple Road leads toDagenham. The eastern end of this as well asNew Road heading towardsRainham, in Havering, and the Greater London border, were bypassed by the new-buildThames Gateway in 1999. The former route was redesignated A1306. The western end between Dagenham and Rainham is still dual, but a short section near Rainham was singled in recent years. LikeBarking Road further west, the original section ofNew Road between Dagenham and Rainham dates fromc. 1810,[21] and was dualled at roughly the same time as theEast & Ham and Barking Bypass.New Road east of Rainham is much newer, and dates from the 1920s. It is and was single all the way towards the border atWennington, consequently suffering congestion, especially afterLakeside Shopping Centre opened in 1990.

The eastern half ofNew Road originates from 1924,^[22] and continues past Wennington as the A1306Arterial Road, completed in 1925,^[23] bypassing Purfleet (the project including that town's now unclassified "bypass"). It subsequently intersects with the M25 andA282 at Junction 31, heads past Lakeside and then ends at the A1012 nearGrays. The route continues as the unclassified Lodge Lane before the latter becomes part of the A1013. The A1013 continues as far as Stanford-le-Hope, where the old A13 route merges with new at the A1014 junction. The eastern end of the erstwhile single-carriageway bypass is now a farm access, but can be shadowed on foot, meeting the B1420 at a roundabout just south of the modern A13 (the actual original A13 (pre-1930s) followedLondon Road andSouthend Road through Stanford andCorringham^[24]). East of there, the B1420 meets the A13 at theA176 junction atThurrock/Essex border and then the B1464London Road continues the route south of Basildon, before meeting the newer road and the A130 at Sadlers Farm. The section of the route between the M25 and Sadlers Farm was by-passed or dualled in several stages between the mid-1970s and early 1990s,^[25][26][27] with Wennington to M25 opening in 1998 (see above).

In Southend, the short dual carriagewayQueensway bypasses the original route through the town centre, and while much of this is pedestrianised, it can be followed on foot. East of the town centre,Shoebury Road was bypassed by the single-carriagewayBournes Green Chase, just a few yards to the north, linking Southchurch withShoeburyness. Finally, the terminus of the A13 has been truncated, the road formerly ending on ShoeburynessHigh Street at therailway station.^[28]

In the 1960s, a route along the lines of the A13 was planned to take traffic to a new airport located atMaplin Sands near Southend. Only preliminary planning was carried out for the road (which may have been designated amotorway) before the proposals for the airport were dropped in favour of expandingStansted Airport).^[29]The route would have followed a similar route to the current A13 through Barking and Dagenham to Rainham before heading north-east towards South Ockendon then east towards Basildon. It would have continued eastwards between Basildon and Stanford-le-Hope before passing north of Canvey Island and south of Hadleigh, Leigh-on-Sea. The last section of road would have been constructed in theThames Estuary passing south of Southend-on-Sea and Shoeburyness to reach the proposed site of the airport.^{[citation needed]}

The section betweenLimehouse andWennington is maintained by RMS (A13) Plc as part of a 30-yearDBFO deal reached with theHighways Agency in 2000.^[30][31] It was RMS who undertook grade-separation of theEast Ham & Barking Bypass section in 2002–2004. RMS also maintain the A1203Limehouse Link tunnel as well as theAspen Way and East India Dock Link tunnel sections of the A1261 throughDocklands. This latter route runs just south of the A13, is dual carriageway and nearly all grade-separated and acts as an alternative toEast India Dock Road and much ofCommercial Road.

Despite the DBFO,Transport for London (who took over responsibility for all trunk non-motorway routes in London from the Highways Agency in 2000^[32]) still have overall responsibility for the entire A13 section inside Greater London, while theHighways Agency have responsibility for the remainingTrunk Road section between Wennington and the A1089 junction near Tilbury.^[33] From there until Sadlers Hall Farm, the A13 is aprimary route and is maintained byEssex County Council, as is the non-primary section throughCastle Point, although the sections throughSouthend-on-Sea andThurrock are managed by their respectiveunitary authorities.

v t e Cycleway 3 (C3)
Legend
C27 Westbourne Terrace Westbourne Crescent toBayswater Sussex Gardens toMarylebone Lancaster Gate Bayswater Road toShepherd's Bush Bayswater Road toOxford Street North Carriage Drive toMarble Arch The Serpentine toExhibition Road &Kensington High Street The Broadwalk toMarble Arch Hyde Park toPark Lane Hyde Park Corner Buckingham Palace The Mall toTrafalgar Square Buckingham GatetoVictoria St James's Park Parliament Square Millbank toPimlico andBattersea Whitehall Palace of Westminster Westminster station  C56 Westminster Bridge Northumberland Avenue toTrafalgar Square River Thames Embankment Temple  C6  ( Blackfriars Bridge ) toElephant and Castle  C6  ( A201 ) toFarringdon &St Pancras Blackfriars Queen Victoria Street toBank  CS7  toElephant and Castle Great Tower Street toCannon Street Tower of London Tower Hill Tower Bridge/Ring Road Ring Road Shadwell station Limehouse and Limehouse Basin Regent's Canal Limehouse Cuttowpath toStratford Westferry Poplar NCN 13 toExCeL Bow Creek Canning Town  C22 The Greenway toWest Ham &Stratford NCN 13 toBeckton Barking Creek Greatfields Park nearBarking NCN 13 toDagenham

Cycleway 3 (C3) runs along the A13 betweenPoplar andBarking.

To the east C3 joins the A13 at the junction with theA1020/Leamouth Road. C3 runs eastbound, crossing theBow Creek andBarking Creek and passing throughCanning Town andBecktonen route. To the west, C3 ends atGreatfields Park, Barking, at the junction with Movers Lane/River Road.^[34][35]

West from Canning Town, C3 crosses over the A1020/Leamouth Road, heading southbound along the pavement until a junction with Sorrel Lane, where it turns right. It is signposted from Sorrel Lane and runs unbroken toTower Hill in theCity andLancaster Gate,Hyde Park.^[34]

For the entirety of its route, C3 runs adjacent to the westbound carriageway of the A13 (to the south of the road) as a two-waybike freeway. The route is segregated from other traffic, except at some junctions. It is signposted and marked by blue paint.

Between Greatfields Park and the Lodge Avenue Junction, the two-way, segregated bikeway continues along the southern edge of the A13. The route is part ofNational Cycle Route 13 (NCR 13), but not theTfL Cycleways network. NCR 13 leaves the A13 to the east of Lodge Avenue Junction, crossing the A13 and joining residential streets as it runs towardsRainham. The northern terminus of NCR 13 is inFakenham,Norfolk.^[36][37]

The scheme aims to improve public transport along the A13; it includes bus stop improvements, provision ofreal time information and bus prioritisation at signals as well as junction enhancements and road widening. The road widening is planned for a number of points on the Hatley Gardens and Kenneth Road stretch of the A13. Following a public consultation in March 2009, the scheme was approved.^[38]"The people of Thurrock have been calling for this for more than a decade, now at last the money is in sight and we can start to get things moving."^[39] The original estimated cost of the scheme was given at £4 million in the 2001–2006Local Transport Plan and increased to £4.9 million in the 2006–2011 update.^[38] "The government is recognising that a further £80 million more is needed to actually build the scheme."^[39]

Grade-separation ofRenwick Road traffic lights inBarking, the final at-grade junction between Canning Town and Sadlers Hall Farm, was due to be undertaken "in time for the Olympics in 2012".^[40] The works may also involve replacement of the nearby Lodge Avenue Flyover (Ripple Road Flyover), but this is subject to available funding and development ofBarking Riverside.^[41]

The junction with theA406 North Circular Road was built in 1987^[42] and is incomplete. The long-awaitedThames Gateway Bridge is yet to get the go ahead,^[43] but if built it will start at a flyover above the A13, thereby linking the A406 with the road network south of theRiver Thames. As of 2008, the project in its original form was cancelled by newly electedmayorBoris Johnson.^[44]

Improvements including widening are being made at J30 of theM25 motorway and at nearby Lakeside turn-off (A126), following a Route Management Strategy undertaken by theHighways Agency.^[45]The work commenced in late 2014 and was scheduled to be completed in autumn 2016.

County	Location	mi[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Greater London	Tower Hamlets	0.0	0.0	Whitechapel High Street (A11 west)	Western terminus; no access from A13 to A11 east or from A11 west to A13
		1.3	2.1	Butcher Row (A126 south) toA1203 –Wapping,Isle of Dogs	To A1203 signed westbound only, Isle of Dogs eastbound only; northern terminus of A126
		1.8	2.9	A101 south (Rotherhithe Tunnel) –Surrey Quays	Northern terminus of A101
		2.2	3.5	A1261 east /A1205 north (Burdett Road) –Docklands,Isle of Dogs,Mile End	Only A1205 and Mile End signed westbound; western terminus of A1261; southern terminus of A1205
		3.0	4.8	A1206 south (Preston's Road) –Isle of Dogs,Docklands,City Airport	Docklands and City Airport signed westbound only; northern terminus of A1206
		2.8	4.5	A12 north-east /A102 south (Blackwall Tunnel) –Stratford,Dalston,Lewisham,Bow,Hackney	Bow and Hackney signed westbound only; south-western terminus of A12; northern terminus of A102
		3.1	5.0	A1020 east –Leamouth,Woolwich Ferry,City Airport,Isle of Dogs,Canary Wharf	Woolwich Ferry and City Airport signed eastbound only, Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf westbound only; western terminus of A1020
		3.2	5.1	Begin expressway
				A1011 –Stratford,Canning Town	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
				A1261 west –Isle of Dogs,Canary Wharf	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance; eastern terminus of A1261
	Newham	3.7	6.0	A1011 –Stratford,City Airport	Westbound exit only
		4.4– 4.9	7.1– 7.9	A112 –Custom House,Silvertown,Plaistow,City Airport	Plaistow signed eastbound only, City Airport westbound only
		5.6– 6.0	9.0– 9.7	A117 –Manor Park,East Ham,Beckton
		6.3– 6.7	10.1– 10.8	A406 west (North Circular) /A1020 west toA12 /M11	Eastern terminus of A406 / A1020
	Barking and Dagenham	7.2– 7.6	11.6– 12.2	Barking,Creekmouth
		8.0– 8.4	12.9– 13.5	A1153 –Romford,Becontree Heath A123 –Barking	A1153 and destinations signed eastbound only, A123 and Barking westbound only
		9.3– 9.7	15.0– 15.6	A1306 –Dagenham,Hornchurch
	Havering	10.8– 11.2	17.4– 18.0	ToA1306 /A125 –Dagenham east,Hornchurch,Elm Park	To A1306, A125, and Elm Park signed westbound only
		11.6– 12.1	18.7– 19.5	Ferry Lane Industrial Area
Greater London— Essex boundary	Havering— Aveley boundary	13.8– 14.3	22.2– 23.0	A1306 toA1090 / B1335 –Wennington,West Thurrock,Purfleet,Aveley,Rainham	To A1090 and B1335 signed eastbound only, A1306 and Rainham westbound only
Essex	​	15.9– 16.4	25.6– 26.4	M25 north /A282 south (Dartford Crossing) toM11 /M1 –Stansted Airport	Southern terminus of M25; northern terminus of A282
	South Ockendon— Grays boundary	16.9	27.2	A126 east –Thurrock	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance; western terminus of A126
	Grays	18.0– 18.5	29.0– 29.8	A1012 south toA1036 –Grays	Northern terminus of A1012
	Orsett—Grays boundary	19.6– 20.3	31.5– 32.7	A1089 south –Tilbury Docks	Tilbury Docks signed westbound only; northern terminus of A1089
		21.0– 21.6	33.8– 34.8	A128 north –Brentwood	Southern terminus of A128
	Stanford-le-Hope— Horndon-on-the-Hill boundary	23.1– 23.5	37.2– 37.8	A1014 east /A1013 / B1007 –Shell Haven,Coryton,Stanford-le-Hope,Horndon-on-the-Hill,Corringham,East Tilbury,Linford	A1013, East Tilbury, and Linford signed westbound only; western terminus of A1014
	Fobbing—Basildon boundary	25.9– 26.5	41.7– 42.6	A176 north –Basildon	Southern terminus of A176
	Basildon	28.0– 28.4	45.1– 45.7	A132 north-east –Basildon	South-western terminus of A132
	Basildon—Castle Point district boundary			End expressway
		29.3– 29.9	47.2– 48.1	A130 (Canvey Way) / B1464 (London Road) /A127 –Chelmsford,Canvey Island,Bowers Gifford,Southend Airport
	Hadleigh	32.5	52.3	A129 north-west (Rayleigh Road) / B1014 (Benfleet Road) –Rayleigh,Canvey Island,South Benfleet	South-eastern terminus of A129
	Southend-on-Sea	36.1	58.1	A1158 north (Southbourne Grove) toA127 –London,Chelmsford,Airport	Only Airport signed eastbound; southern terminus of A1158
		37.7	60.7	A127 west (Victoria Avenue) toA130 –London,Basildon,Chelmsford	Eastern terminus of A127
		37.9	61.0	Queensway (A1160 south) / Sutton Road (B1015) / Southchurch Road	Northern terminus of A1160
		39.7	63.9	A1159 north-west / Thorpe Hall Road toA127 /A130 –Rochford,London,Chelmsford	Only A1159 and Rochford signed eastbound; south-eastern terminus of A1159
		41.7	67.1	Ness Road (B1016) / Campfield Road	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Incomplete access

The A13 has inspired at least tworock songs:Billy Bragg's "A13, Trunk Road to the sea", which is a localisation ofBobby Troup'ssong aboutRoute 66;^[46] The music video for theUnderworld song "Scribble" also features the A13, with the distinctive fencing on the side of the road clearly visible during the video.^{[citation needed]} There is also the spoken word track called 'A13' featured on the albumWithout Judgement byJah Wobble's Invaders of the Heart, in which Wobble intones his deeper, satirical thoughts concerning the "hopeless highway of Essex" over the musical backing of the band.^{[citation needed]} In 2004, British authorIain Sinclair published a psychogeographic road novel, titledDining on Stones, which loosely follows the route of the A13 from East London to the Thames Estuary.^[47] Mike Newman published an account of attempting to walk the route of the A13 inAdverse Camber: An Incomplete walk to the seaside in 2018.^[48]

• A13 road photographs
• Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A13Archived 16 November 2007 at theWayback Machine
• Adverse Camber: An Incomplete walk to the seaside

• A13 road (England)
• Transport in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
• Transport in the Borough of Basildon
• Transport in the London Borough of Havering
• Transport in the London Borough of Newham
• Transport in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
• Roads in Essex
• Roads in London
• Transport in Castle Point
• Transport in Southend-on-Sea
• Transport in Thurrock

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