A13 road

The A13 is a major road running from central London eastwards through east London and into south Essex. It links the City with the Thames Gateway, passing through Tower Hamlets, Newham, Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Thurrock before ending at Shoeburyness on the Thames Estuary. The road follows a route similar to the London, Tilbury and Southend railway line, running north of the Thames through Rainham, Grays, Tilbury, Stanford-le-Hope and Pitsea. The A13 is worth the journey for its mix of old and new sections and its role in London’s transport network. Commercial Road and East India Dock Road, built early in the 19th century, were designed to connect the city with the expanding Port of London. The East Ham & Barking Bypass, completed in the 1960s and upgraded in the early 2000s, carries heavy traffic with grade-separated junctions and a 50 mph speed limit. The Thames Gateway section, opened in 1999, includes an award-winning viaduct and a causeway across Rainham and Wennington Marshes. A visitor finds a road that changes character along its length. In east London it starts as single carriageway, then becomes a dual three-lane expressway through Newham and Barking. East of Barking it follows the older Ripple Road past Dagenham into the Thames Gateway, where wide dual carriageways run through marshland. Near Southend the road narrows again, passing through Thundersley, Hadleigh and Leigh-on-Sea before reaching the seaside town of Southend-on-Sea and ending at Shoeburyness on the estuary.