A602 road
Road in England
title: "A602 road" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["roads-in-england", "roads-in-hertfordshire", "stevenage", "hitchin"] description: "Road in England" topic_path: "geography/united-kingdom" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A602_road" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Road in England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox road"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| country | GBR |
| type | A |
| route | 602 |
| image | Stevenage Road A602.jpg |
| direction_a | Northwest |
| terminus_a | Hitchin |
| direction_b | Southeast |
| terminus_b | Ware |
| junction |
| | destinations | Stevenage | ::
| country = GBR | type = A | route = 602 | image = Stevenage Road A602.jpg | length_mi = | direction_a = Northwest | terminus_a = Hitchin | direction_b = Southeast | terminus_b = Ware | junction =
| destinations = Stevenage
The A602 is a road linking Hitchin in Hertfordshire, England, with A10 at Ware in Hertfordshire, via Stevenage.
The course of the road has changed significantly since the 1960s with the construction of several bypasses and relief roads.
In Hitchin, the road starts at a junction with the A505, and follows a relief road round the south of the town centre, before re-joining the course of the original route for 0.9 mi.
The village of Little Wymondley is bypassed by a dual carriageway route to the A1 junction at Corey's Mill.
In Stevenage, the road takes two courses through the town – the first is a concurrency with the A1 round the new town to the junction at Langley Sidings. The second is a route through the town itself, following closely the route of the old Great North Road. The two routes converge and form a northern bypass for the suburb of Broadwater (the old Hertford Road through Broadwater has been closed to motor vehicles since the 1990s, to prevent rat-running).
The next 3 km of road is the only remaining original piece of the route, travelling through the villages of Bragbury End and Hooks Cross. The next feature is a roundabout, and the road once again diverges from its original course and takes a left to bypass the village of Watton-at-Stone. At the eastern end of the Watton-at-Stone bypass (constructed in the late 1980s) it reaches another roundabout.
In the 1970s, the road continued from this point straight ahead down what is now the A119 to Hertford, and then travelled along the course of what is now the B1197 through Hertford Heath to Hoddesdon. With the opening of the A10 Hoddesdon and Ware bypass in the late 1970s, the A602 temporarily terminated at the A414 in Hertford. In 1987, with the opening of the Tonwell bypass, the road was completely re-routed along the course of the B1001 from Watton-at-Stone to meet the modern A10 at Ware. The B1001 itself remains for a short distance, linking the modern A10 with the old road in the town centre (now known as the A1170).
Future developments
A602 Corridor Improvements
|property_name = A602 Corridor Improvements |location = Hertfordshire |proposer = Hertfordshire County Council |official website = |status = proposed |type = Road |max cost = £15.8 million |min cost = £14.3 million |planned start = Summer 2007 |planned finish = |image_name = A602development.png |image_size = 250px |caption = |osm_id = |supporters = |stakeholders = |opponents = |geometry = KML Due to the old nature of the road it suffers from congestion, substandard structure and a high level of accidents. As such a series of developments along much of its stretch where proposed in the 2006-2011 Local Transport Plan. These comprise a number of different schemes but are put forward together under the collective title of 'A602 Corridor Improvements'. |url = http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/ltp2section12.pdf |title = Section 12 – The five year implementation programme |publisher = Hertfordshire County Council |accessdate = 2008-12-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20081010124043/http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/ltp2section12.pdf |archivedate = 10 October 2008 |url=https://www.hertsdirect.org/yrccouncil/civic_calendar/archive/Highways%20&%20Transport%20Panel_7/Item%204%20-%20transport%20panel%20A602%20060706.doc |title=A602 Corridor Improvements (A10 Ware to Hertford Rd, Stevenage) |publisher=Hertfordshire County Council |accessdate=2008-12-10 |url = http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/a602waresummaryandplan.pdf |title = Notification of Planning Application received by Hertfordshire County Council |publisher = Hertfordshire County Council |accessdate = 2008-12-10 |url-status=dead |archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927051619/http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/docs/pdfstore/a602waresummaryandplan.pdf |archivedate = 27 September 2007
References
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::