page_title: Transport in Somerset
section_title: Road
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in Somerset / Present day networks / Road
caption_attribution_description: English: M5 Heading North, Brent Knoll in the background.
context_page_description: The earliest known infrastructure for transport in Somerset is a series of wooden trackways laid across the Somerset Levels, an area of low-lying marshy ground. To the west of this district lies the Bristol Channel, while the other boundaries of the county of Somerset are along chains of hills that were once exploited for their mineral deposits. These natural features have all influenced the evolution of the transport network. Roads and railways either followed the hills, or needed causeways to cross the Levels. Harbours were developed, rivers improved, and linked to sources of traffic by canals. Railways were constructed throughout the area, influenced by the needs of the city of Bristol, which lies just to the north of Somerset, and to link the ports of the far south-west with the rest of England.
  Today, the trunk road and rail routes to the south-western counties of Devon and Cornwall pass through Somerset. This gives the county good connections to Wales, London, and the north of England. A major port and an international airport are situated in the north of the county.
context_section_description: Somerset has 6,531 kilometres (4,058 mi) of roads, ranging from motorways to narrow country lanes. There were 32 deaths on the county's roads in 2010, the fewest in 20 years.
  The M5 motorway from Birmingham to Exeter provides a north–south trunk route from the Avonmouth Bridge in the north, to the Devon border in the south, with eight junctions in the county:
  Junction 19 (Portishead) with the A369 and close to the Royal Portbury Dock
  Junction 20 (Clevedon) with the B3133
  Junction 21 (Weston-super-Mare) with the A370 and close to the A371
  Junction 22 (Burnham-on-Sea) with the A38
  Junction 23 (Puriton) with the A38 and A39 north of Bridgwater
  Junction 24 (North Petherton) with the A38 south of Bridgwater
  Junction 25 (Taunton) with the A358
  Junction 26 (Wellington) with the A38
  The older A370 and A38 roads serve many of the same towns as the motorway. The other principal north–south route through the county is the A37 which links Bristol with Shepton Mallet and Yeovil.
  The nearest east–west motorway is the M4 from London to Wales which runs just beyond the northern boundary of the county. It intersects with the M5 at Almondsbury (M5 junction 20, M4 junction 15) north west of Bristol, and serves Bath via the A46 from Junction 18. The equivalent A4 passes inside the county boundary through Keynsham and Bath. The other principal east–west routes are:
  A371 from Shepton Mallet, Wells and Cheddar to Weston-super-Mare
  A39 from Bath to Wells, Glastonbury, Bridgwater, Williton, Minehead and north Devon
  A358 from Chard to Ilminster, Taunton and Williton
  A303 from M3 motorway at Basingstoke to Devon via Wincanton and Ilminster.
  People are encouraged to use integrated transport routes by maps that show how bus routes link with the railway network. Car-sharing is promoted by multi-occupancy traffic lanes to reduce the number of cars with just a driver and no passengers. The county council, unitary authorities and Bristol City Council subsidise many bus services, for example there is a £70 million scheme to improve services and facilities on ten routes that link Bristol with areas outside the city. This includes 5 miles (8 km) of bus lanes and improved bus stops. However cuts in funding across local services in 2011 included a reduction of 46% (that is £2.6 million) in the subsidies paid by Somerset County Council to bus operators, leading to the withdrawal of at least five services and many reductions in routes and service levels during evenings and weekends.
  The dominant bus operator in the north and east of the county is First West of England which has a network of routes between all the main population centres while sister company The Buses of Somerset serves the south and west. Other services are provided by Wessex Connect in the north of the county
  and Stagecoach Somerset in the south.
  There are also some independent operators such as Abus
  and Nippy Bus Park and ride schemes link out-of-town car parks with the centres of both Bath
  and Taunton.
caption: The M5 motorway crossing the Somerset Levels near Brent Knoll
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