A3 ROAD

The 'A3' is a trunk road in Southern England, connecting London to Portsmouth.


The historic 'Portsmouth Road' once had great strategic significance as the major link between the capital city and one of its major sea ports. Many of the towns and villages that it passed through gained income and prestige as a result — such as Kingston upon Thames, Esher, Guildford, Godalming, Haslemere and Petersfield. The modern A3 follows the general route of the Portsmouth Road, but bypasses many of the towns and villages along the way, leaving the various stretches of the old Portsmouth Road for local traffic -- for instance, the A307 through Esher, also known as the Portsmouth Road. For some of its length, the road follows a similar line to the Portsmouth Direct Line railway, although one of the major exceptions is that the A3 does not go through or closely bypass Havant.
However, a programme of road improvements starting in the 1920s transformed the road so that is now predominantly a two or three lane dual carriageway, bypassing the town centres, with a section of motorway, the A3(M), just before the road reaches the A27 at Havant. The construction of the Kingston and Guildford bypasses in the 1920s and 1930s made use of temporary narrow gauge railways to move the construction materials.
The road was once the haunt of highwaymen. For example, the legendary Jerry Abershawe terrorised the area around Kingston and led a gang based at the Bald Faced Stag Inn on the Portsmouth Road.
Another particularly dangerous location was in the vicinity of the Devil's Punch Bowl, Hindhead, about 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Guildford. Today, this is an area better known for traffic jams, for it remains one of the very few stretches of single carriageway on the A3, and is heavily used by commuters. It is estimated that on average this area of road carries 28,400 vehicles per day resulting in long queues build up here, particularly during the morning peak hours. A 1.2 mile (1.8 km) twin bore tunnel bypassing the Devil's Punch Bowl (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) is set to be built, with advanced works beginning in 2007 and the main works to start in 2008. Once complete (target date 2011) the £371 million Hindhead Tunnel will be the longest non-estuarial tunnel in the UK, and will convert the last remaining single carriageway section of the A3, outside of London and Portsmouth, to dual carriageway.^[1][2][3]
Another traffic black spot during peak hours is just outside London going northbound before the Hook underpass. The road is, before that point, three lanes, yet has to go down to two in order to go in the underpass. Also, the traffic from the A309 comes in just before the underpass creating congestion. The traffic is often busy in that section from about 7:50AM to 8:30AM and from 5:15PM to 5:50PM because of the sheer volume of the traffic.

Contents

Cycle paths

London

A3(M)

Junctions

See also

References

External links

Cycle paths

There are several shared pedestrian and cycle paths on the A3, although many seem to be very infrequently used. One cycle path links the village of Liss with the town of Petersfield on the Portsmouth-bound side of the A3 Petersfield bypass. However, an alternative cycle route would be the B2070 or 'Old A3' which was the main route from Liphook and Liss to Petersfield before the construction of the bypass.
Another links the village of Greatham with West Liss. The path is on the London-bound side, linking to a bridge over the A3 to West Liss. This means cyclists and pedestrians are not required to cross the dual carriageway on foot at the Ham Barn roundabout as would be the case if they went to West Liss on Farnham Rd (the B3006).
There is also a cycle path between Greatham and Liphook, and nearer Portsmouth there is a cycle path between Clanfield and the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, a large forest near Petersfield next to the A3.

London

In Central London, the A3 starts at London Bridge, going south-west along Borough High Street and Newington Causeway to the Elephant and Castle roundabout. It continues along Newington Butts, Kennington Park Road, Clapham Road and Clapham High Street. The road then passes the north side of Clapham Common and through Wandsworth to Wimbledon Common. It bypasses Kingston upon Thames in outer London.

A3(M)

This section of the road was opened in 1979^[4] and acts as a bypass of the A3 road in this part of Hampshire.

Junctions

'A3(M) Motorway'
Northbound exits	Junction	Southbound exits
''Road continues as 'A3' towards Petersfield''	J1	Horndean 'A3'
''No exit''		''Start of motorway
Horndean, Lovedean 'B2149'	J2	Havant, Lovedean 'B2149'
Waterlooville, Denmead 'B2150'	J3	Waterlooville, Havant 'B2150'
Widley, Havant	J4	''No exit''
Drayton, Cosham 'A2030' Bedhampton 'B2177'	J5	Chichester 'A27' Drayton, Cosham 'A2030' Bedhampton 'B2177'
''Start of motorway''	Terminus	Portsmouth 'A27' ('M27', 'M275')

See also

★ Great Britain road numbering scheme

★ List of motorways in the United Kingdom

★ British industrial narrow gauge railways

References

1. Highways Agency - A3 Hindhead Improvement
2. Government News Network - ''£371 million A3 improvements will go ahead '' - 26/10/2006
3. A3 Hindhead Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page
4. The Motorway Archive - M27 Dates Page

External links

★ CBRD Motorway Database - A3 and A3(M)

★ TAB-MSAs: Photos: A3(M)

★ A3 Hindhead Improvement – Highways Agency page

★ Pathetic Motorways - A3(M)

★ Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A3

★ A3 Hindhead Tunnel - Mott MacDonald Project Page