A379 road (Great Britain)

A379

Route information
Length:	69 mi (111 km)
Major junctions
Northeast end:	Exeter 50°42′45″N 3°27′55″W / 50.7126°N 3.4654°W / 50.7126; -3.4654 50°40′24″N 3°32′08″W / 50.6733°N 3.5355°W / 50.6733; -3.5355
	M5 motorway A38 road A3015 road A381 road A3022 road A3122 road A3121 road A374 road
Southwest end:	Plymouth 50°22′13″N 4°07′27″W / 50.3702°N 4.1243°W / 50.3702; -4.1243 (A379 road (southwestern end))
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

Map all coordinates using OSM Map all coordinates using Google
Export all coordinates as KML
Export all coordinates as GPX
Map all microformatted coordinates
Place data as RDF

The A379 is a road in the English county of Devon. It links points on the edges of that county's two principal cities, Exeter and Plymouth, by an indirect and largely coastal route. The A38 provides a faster and more direct inland route between Exeter and Plymouth, whilst the A380 provides a similarly faster route between Exeter and the Torbay area. However the A379 serves a large number of smaller coastal communities and ports along the coast. The indented nature of the South Devon coast means that the road is usually out of sight of the sea, but the many rivers and estuaries are crossed by bridges and, in one case, a cable ferry.

At its northeastern end, the A379 has two branches and two starting points. One branch starts with a junction with the M5 motorway at Clyst St Mary (J30), whilst the other branch starts with a junction with the A38 at Kennford. Both these branches were historically part of the A38, and the first crosses the Countess Wear bridges over the River Exe and the Exeter Canal, once infamous for the delays caused on what was then the principal route to the holiday resorts of Devon and Cornwall.

From the junction of the two branches, some 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Exeter city centre, the A379 heads south parallel to the estuary of the River Exe. At Starcross the road runs close alongside both the Exeter to Plymouth railway line and the estuary, and the Exmouth to Starcross passenger ferry provides a connection to Exmouth on the other side of the estuary. Beyond Starcross, the road continues through the coastal resorts of Dawlish and Teignmouth.

...
Wikipedia