Along with its neighbours to the east,
West Somerset, and west,
Torridge, North Devon has fairly sparse transport links. The
Beeching cuts in the mid-sixties left the
branch line to
Exeter as the area's only railway service. Despite being served by only one railway line, the district is served by 5 railway stations, which is a large number, comparable with more urbanised boroughs such as
Plymouth and
Mid Devon. However sizeable settlements of
Braunton and
Ilfracombe as well as
Bideford are cut off from the
Network Rail system. The district is served by three
A roads. The primary link is the
A361 (known locally as the
Link Road) which was constructed between 1986 and 1989. It heads north-west from the
M5 motorway, past
South Molton, to Barnstaple. From here the A361 classification continues northwards along older roads to
Ilfracombe, and the modern
Link Road continues westwards from Barnstaple as the
A39 where it is designated the
Atlantic Highway, and runs via
Bideford into
Cornwall. The eastern section of the A39 links Barnstaple to
Lynton, then crosses the northern coastal hills of
Exmoor into
Somerset. The other two
A roads in North Devon are the
A399, a minor local route between Ilfracombe and South Molton (used as a
de facto Barnstaple-bypass to
Ilfracombe and
Woolacombe), and the
A377, which is the main road between Barnstaple and the
county town of
Devon,
Exeter. Due to significant peak time traffic delays in Barnstaple, and severe congestion at both peak and non-peak times in the summer when tourist traffic is at its busiest, the
Barnstaple Western Bypass was opened in 2007. ==Economy==