At its northeastern end, the A379 has two branches and two starting points. One branch starts with a junction with the M5 motorway at Clyst St Mary (J30), whilst the other branch starts with a junction with the A38 at Kennford. Both these branches were historically part of the A38, and the first crosses the Countess Wear bridges over the River Exe and the Exeter Canal, once infamous for the delays caused on what was then the principal route to the holiday resorts of Devon and Cornwall.