A24: London - Worthing

The A24 starts at Clapham Common, forming the "south" side, and making a triangle with the A3 (north side) and the A205 South Circular Road. It continues the line of the A3 from London Bridge, following the Roman Stane Street and the Northern Line of the London Underground, the straight route being highly convenient for railway construction. Interestingly, the typical domed station roofs of the Northern Line give way at this point to the more recent art-deco style, as the underground line south of Clapham was built some 30 years after the original stretch.

The A24 treads its dreary way through Balham (A214 - possibly part of Abercrombie's intended Ringway 2) and Tooting (A217, of which more later) to Colliers Wood. Here the original route turned right into Merton High Street (now the A238) to South Wimbledon Tube Station,where it turned left onto Morden Road (now the A219). The present route bears left at Colliers Wood (the former A236), and then turns right to leave the A236 and follow a former railway line (Merantun Way), crossing the River Wandle to rejoin its original route just south of South Wimbledon. The former railway line was only single track, and to squeeze a new road into the space certain economies had to be made - such as no pavements and thus a ban on pedestrians.

On rejoining Morden Road the A24 then crosses the Wimbledon to Croydon tram line (another former railway) at Morden Road tramstop, and contimnues to Morden Hall and Morden Tube station, the end of the Northern Line. Here the A297 branches off for St Helier and the A217, which gains in significance as it leaves London. Here also the A24 rejoins the Roman Road, which took a different line across the Wandle.

The A24, now known as London Road, heads for Ewell, which is now bypassed in a multiplex with the A240 Kingston to Banstead (for A217) road. Coming north, the A24 turns off the A240, but going south the A240 turns off the A24, and the A24 then continues into the centre of Epsom and Ashtead. It is primarily because of the lack of bypasses for these towns that A24 traffic from central London is directed to use the A3 to Hook and then the A243 to Leatherhead.

Guvva_303 writes: Once the A24 leaves Epsom, it goes through the village of Ashtead, before entering the outskirts of Leatherhead, 5 miles south of Epsom.

The A24 meets the A243 and A245 on the outskirts of Leatherhead, near junction 9 of the westbound M25 (the eastbound junction is further back towards Oxshott), at the junction of the A243 and A244. The A24 itself crosses the M25 with no junction.

Mark writes: The A24 then crosses the M25, with no junction, and meets the A243 AND b2122 on the outskirts of Leatherhead. Following the A243 here would bring you first to junction 9 of the westbound M25, and then to the eastbound junction where it also meets the A244.

At this point the original route went into Leatherhead. This, and the original A246 out the other side, became the A2012 when the A24 bypass was built, and since the coming of the M25 has been downgraded to the B2122. The bypass runs first south and then steeply downhill west to meet the original route along the River Mole south of Leatherhead, (later an extension of the A244 and now the B2450).

The Mole Gap is a strong candidate for the most scenic road in the Home Counties, as it twists through the narrow valley through the North Downs. The road is a dual carriageway, but southbound (the original road) it's marked as a single lane as it's not considered wide enough for two.

Guvva_303 adds: On the Mickleham bends [as this road is referred to] until about 7 years ago, it was 2 lanes southbound, but the VERY poor accident record led Surrey CC to hatch over one lane and impose the 50mph limit. There were elaborate plans for tunnels and new alignments, but inevitably these never got off the drawing board.

The Mole is in fact the only river between the Wey (at Guildford) and the Darent (at Sevenoaks) to breach the Downs, so the gap has been a major communications route for thousands of years. Unsurprisingly, the road has to share the valley not only with the river, but also with a railway line.

The original road through Mickleham (now B2209) is bypassed by a newer route closer to the river, which ends at Burford Bridge, the roundabout for the famed National Trust site at Boxhill. This area is also very popular with bikers.

Crossing the Mole, the A24 now runs into Dorking. A western bypass of Dorking is numbered the A2003, but the main road passes through the centre, meeting the A25 at a roundabout. The main A24 then skirts the rest of the town to the east, joining up with the A2003 at Holmwood where it becomes dual carriageway for the run through the high ground around Leith Hill (the highest point in Surrey).

At Beare Green the A29 turns off, to rejoin the Roman Stane Street on its way to Bognor Regis. The A24, on the other hand, continues on a short single carriageway stretch through Kingsfold (where a spur of the A29, now declassified turns off), to Warnham, where the A264 joins it for a multiplex bypass of Horsham. The original A24, the now the B2180 (north of the town centre) and B2237 (south), rejoins near Christs Hospital School, and the A24 then continues, bypassing Southwater, Ashington, and Washington, and crossing the A272 and A283, to reach the South Downs.

The South Downs ridge has many more gaps through it than does the north, but this time the A24 climbs over the top, to a junction with the A280 at Findon, beyond which the dual cariageway ends. It now runs down into the outskirts of Worthing, At the point where the A2031 carries straight on for West Worthing, the A24 turns ledt onto a half mile multiplex with the A27, losing it again at a junction with the A2032 where the A24, now a dual carriageway once more, grabs its bucket and spade and heads past the railway station and the other end of the A2031, straight for the sea. Were it not for the A259, which bars its way as it does so many other roads to the south coast, the A24 would carry straight on until it reached the end of the pier.

Tim