The A354 is a
primary route
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Work ...
in
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
which runs from
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
to
Easton on the
Isle of Portland in
Dorset
Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
, a total distance of . From Salisbury the road crosses
Cranborne Chase. At
Woodyates the road follows the route of
Ackling Dyke, a
Roman Road
Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...
for a short distance. The A354 briefly merges with the
A350 at the
Blandford Forum
Blandford Forum ( ) is a market town in Dorset, England, on the River Stour, Dorset, River Stour, north-west of Poole. It had a population of 10,355 at the United Kingdom 2021 census, 2021 census.
The town is notable for its Georgian archit ...
bypass before crossing the
Dorset Downs and merging with the
A35 at the
Puddletown bypass. to the west it splits from the
Dorchester bypass and runs south. The road now bypasses
Upwey and
Broadwey on a new section of road which has some two lane sections going north and one lane continuously going south towards
Weymouth. After the old and new sections meet at Manor Roundabout the road follows down Weymouth Way alongside
Radipole Lake. The final stretch runs across a short bridge over
Chesil beach onto Portland. Historically the section between Dorchester and Fortuneswell was part of the A37 with the extension to Easton being the original B3154. This section of the A37 became part of the A354 in 1935 but the B3154 was only renumbered as part of the A354 in the 1980s.
Weymouth Relief Road
The project was to build a single carriageway road, with crawler lane along part, linking the A354 Manor Roundabout near Radipole to the A354 at the top of the Ridgeway Hill.
The main carriageway of the Weymouth Relief Road opened on Thursday 17 March 2011.
The 2012 Olympics at Portland played a major factor in making £89m funding for the road available.
The History of Improving the A354 Dorchester Road
References
External links
Dorset for you – Weymouth Relief Road
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Roads in England
Roads in Dorset
Roads in Wiltshire