A380 road

The A380 is a road in South West England, connecting the Torbay area to the Devon Expressway, and hence to the rest of Great Britain's main road network.

Route

The A380 leaves the A38 at Kennford, some 3 miles (4.8 km) from that road's junction with the M5 motorway, and 6 miles (9.7 km) from the centre of the city of Exeter. It then proceeds in a generally southerly direction, climbing over the Haldon Hills, past junctions for Mamhead and Teignmouth, before descending past the towns of Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot and continuing on a flyover over the Penn Inn roundabout heading towards Torquay. Before the current road layout existed, the two carriageways used to split in the Haldon Hills with the Exeter bound carriageway taking a more northern route closer to Ugbrooke House.

Beyond Newton Abbot, the road bypasses the village of Kingskerswell on the South Devon Highway. The road soon comes to Edginswell (a signal controlled junction) at Torquay where it meets the A3022 that (as Dual carriageway) serves the large seaside resort of Torquay. The road then heads right up a hill towards Gallows Gate roundabout then Preston Down roundabout and then Churscombe Cross roundabout on the Paignton ring road where the road reduces to single carriageway and enters Paignton finally ending at Collaton St Mary 1 mile (1.6 km) inland from Paignton, where it meets the A3022 (again) and the A385 at Tweenaways Cross. Prior to the construction of the Kingkerswell bypass, the A380 passed through Kingkerswell (although the original route was along Fore Street) and into Torquay along the current A3022 terminating on the now declassified Union Street which was then the A379. Another branch ran past Torre Abbey to the sea front.

Kingskerswell bypass

There have been plans to alleviate the traffic congestion on the stretch of the road between Newton Abbot and Torquay since 1951.