A338 road

A338 road
Route information
Length:	92 mi (148 km)
Major junctions
South end:	Bournemouth, Dorset (A35) 50°43′26″N 1°54′25″W / 50.7240°N 1.9070°W / 50.7240; -1.9070 (A338 road (southern end))
	A35 road A31 road A354 road A36 road A303 road A346 road M4 motorway A420 road
North end:	Besselsleigh, Oxfordshire (A420) 51°42′10″N 1°20′55″W / 51.7029°N 1.3487°W / 51.7029; -1.3487 (A338 road (northern end))
Location
Primary destinations:	Bournemouth Ringwood Salisbury
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

The A338 is a major trunk road in southern England, that runs from the junction with the A35 at Bournemouth in Dorset to the junction with the A420 at Besselsleigh in Oxfordshire, roughly 92 miles (148 km) long.

Route

The A338 near Wilton

The road begins on the very edge of Poole - by the border with Bournemouth, before heading northward as a grade separated dual carriageway, one of the main roads in the South East Dorset conurbation. From near Bournemouth International Airport it follows the western side of the Avon valley, joining the route of the A31 road heading north-east for 1+¹⁄₂ miles (2.4 km) to cross the valley, before turning left at Ringwood in Hampshire where it joins the original, single carriageway route to the east of the river.

Heading northward up the east side of the Avon, it crosses to the west again near the town of Fordingbridge. After crossing into Wiltshire near Downton, it meets the A354 road at a roundabout on the southern outskirts of Salisbury (Britford), before joining the route of the A36 road as it bypasses the city centre to dual carriageway standard. It meets the A30 road at a roundabout, before continuing in a north-easterly direction, to follow the entire length of the River Bourne. It has a junction with the main A303 road, which it crosses, and then travels through the town of Tidworth. From there the road travels north to Collingbourne Ducis, where it twists through the village around the church to a mini-roundabout. It turns right to continue northwards alongside the Bourne through another narrow stretch at Collingbourne Kingston to another mini-roundabout before again heading north.

Near Burbage the continued route north to Swindon is designated A346, the A338 turning off to the right at a roundabout and heading east then north-east and crossing the border into Berkshire. It passes through the town of Hungerford, where it meets the A4 road (to Marlborough and Newbury). It meets the M4 motorway at junction 14, passes through the village of Great Shefford and heads roughly northward into Oxfordshire. It goes through Wantage where it meets the A417 road, and past the villages of Grove, East Hanney and Frilford. It terminates at its junction with the A420 road near Bessels Leigh, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-west of Oxford.

The section of the A338 south of the A31 to the west of the Avon consists mostly of a relatively newly built road. Part is constructed along the trackbed of the former railway line between Ringwood and Christchurch, which closed in 1935. Originally, the A338 went from Ringwood to Christchurch on the east side of the valley, along what is now the B3347.

Trivia

The A338 figures in Thomas Hardy's 'Jude the Obscure', chapter 3. The point where the road crests the downs before beginning the steep drop into Wantage ('Alfredston') is the spot where young Jude stands one evening and looks out for the first time on Oxford ('Christminster').^[1]

A338 Ringwood to Salisbury

The section of A338 between the A31 dual carriageway at Ringwood and Salisbury's A36 Churchill Way is built on a substandard single carriageway alignment with multiple sharp bends as the road follows the line of the River Avon. This section of the road has a poor safety record; it is heavily trafficked and the resulting risky overtaking is responsible for a number of head-on collisions.

Following four fatal head-on collision accidents in 2008 alone, local residents have renewed their calls for the road to be upgraded to dual carriageway to provide a safe overtaking facility and deal with the capacity problems.

Central Bournemouth speed limit

The Bournemouth Town Centre section of the A338 Wessex Way is carried on viaducts across the Bourne Valley. On 21 January 2010 Bournemouth Borough Council imposed a 40 mph speed limit on this section of A338 dual carriageway (between Bournemouth West Roundabout and St Paul's Roundabout) in an attempt to reduce the accident rate of 198 accidents in four years. The experimental speed limit is to run for six months and has provoked fierce opposition from the town's residents, with a protest group on Facebook gaining thousands of members who argue that other options such as improving the slip-road lengths should have been trialled before lowering the speed limit.

Repair work and funding

In February 2011 it was announced that £20m of funding for repair works on the 6.5 mile stretch south of the junction with the A31 was turned down by the government.^[2] Dorset County Council had planned to start work in September 2010, but had to await funding following a Spending Review. As a result of the funding request being unsuccessful, ad hoc work will now be carried out over a number of years instead of a period of about 6 months as originally planned. Dorset and Bournemouth councils are expected to meet the cost of the ad hoc work at around £1m per year.^[3]

Sources

1. ^ DI Rosie Blanchard, http://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/roadlists/r10/notes.php?number=A338
2. ^ Department for Transport, http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/regional/ltp/major/transportschemesupdate/pdf/transportschemesupdate.pdf
3. ^ DorsetForYou.com (Partnership of several Dorset councils), http://www.dorsetforyou.com/394920

External links

• SABRE page on the A338
• Daily Echo 'How Many More Must Die on A338?'
• Hants County Council A338 Route Strategy
• Bournemouth Borough Council Experimental 40mph Limit
• This Is Dorset - Facebook Campaign

v t e A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme A3 A30 A31 A32 A33 A34 A35 A36 A37 A38 A39 A301 A303 A307 A308 A316 A329 A337 A338 A340 A342 A344 A345 A346 A350 A354 A360 A361 A363 A368 A369 A370 A371 A374 A379 A380 A386 A390 A3036 A3054 A3055 A3090 A3203 A3204 A3220 A3400 List of A roads in Zone 3 List of B roads in Zone 3

Coordinates: 51°12′40″N 1°39′58″W / 51.2112°N 1.6660°W / 51.2112; -1.6660 (A338 road)