A36 road

The A36 is a trunk road and primary route in southwest England that links the port city of Southampton to the city of Bath. At Bath, the A36 connects with the A4 road to Bristol, thus providing a road link between the major ports of Southampton and Bristol. It also provides a link between Bristol and London via the A303. Originally, the A36 continued to Avonmouth, but this section was renumbered to the A4. Within Bath the A36 acts as a ring road on the southern side of the river from the junction with the A4 at Newbridge to the west, with another link to the A4 on the eastern side at Cleveland Bridge, which also provides a route to the A46 and M4 motorway and is highly congested. Plans to alleviate this by bypassing Bathampton have long been proposed and several properties have remained derelict for many decades due to indecision. Part of the proposal bypassing Batheaston between the A4 and A46 was built at enormous expense, but despite crossing to the south side of the river it was never linked to the A36 on either side of Bathampton, therefore defeating much of its intended purposes. On its way south from Bath, the A36 encounters difficult terrain at Limpley Stoke before passing a number of towns and a city, including Frome, Warminster, Wilton and Salisbury in Wiltshire, and Totton in Hampshire, on the western outskirts of Southampton, where it joins the A35.

A36
A36 close to its junction with the A303
Route information
Length	62 mi (100 km)
Major junctions
North end	Bath
	A4 A367 A366 A361 A350 A362 A303 A30 A360 A345 A338 A27 A3090 M27 A326 A336 A35
South end	Southampton
Location
Primary destinations	Warminster Salisbury
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones