A23

From Roader's Digest: The SABRE Wiki

A23
No pictures uploaded (Upload?)
From:	London
To:	Brighton
Meets:	M23,A3,A25,A27
Route outline (key)
A23 London-Hooley A23 Hooley-Pease Pottage A23 Pease Pottage-Brighton
Related Pages
Hooley Interchange Pease Pottage services

Route

Section 1: London - Hooley (M23 J7)

Oddly for one of the "radial" roads, the London end of the A23 is in the 3-zone -- one might logically expect it to start on the A3, but in fact it starts at the eastern end of Westminster Bridge near what used to be County Hall (the A302/A3200/A3036 junction, in fact). This used to be a roundabout, but one side of it was closed a few years ago and now traffic flows in both directions round the remaining parts. The A23 runs along Westminster Bridge Road underneath Waterloo International Station, turning right at Lambeth North underground station along Kennington Park Road. Opposite Kennington Park it crosses the A3 (with the tiniest of multiplexes) and branches off along Brixton Road, crossing the A202 near Kennington Oval. In Stockwell it is joined by the A203 Stockwell Road, and near Brixton station there is a five-way junction with the A2217 and A204, from which the A23 progresses up Brixton Hill to cross the A205 South Circular Road.

The next stretch, Streatham Hill, is dual carriageway. Unfortunately, that's one of the few stretches of dual carriageway you'll find before reaching Surrey. Most of the main arterial roads out of London become dual carriageway or even motorway near their junction with the North or South Circular and continue that way, but the main route to Gatwick Airport and the south coast has many miles of single carriageway through the south London suburbs, making the journey agonizingly slow. This is partly because the South Circular runs closer to central London at its junction with the A23 than just about anywhere else, but mainly because the original plans to extend the M23 into central London were scrapped many years ago. Perhaps that's part of the reason why the next section, Streatham High Road, was recently voted the worst street in Britain by listeners to the BBC's Today programme!

At Streatham station there's a one-way system providing connections with the A214 (west) and A216. There's a small section of dual carriageway at Streatham Common which meets the A214 (east), and the road forks right in Norbury. The next notable junction is at Thornton Heath Pond, a roundabout where the original road carries straight on into Croydon as the A235 and the A23 turns right along Thornton Road. It crosses the A236 Mitcham Road at the Lombard Roundabout, becoming Purley Way, a feeble attempt at a Croydon bypass. Another short section of dual carriageway heads over the Croydon Tramlink line and past an industrial estate before reverting to single carriageway towards Fiveways Corner, the junction with the A232. Yet another short dual carriageway runs between the playing fields at Roundshaw, from which the road continues into the centre of Purley.

Purley Cross is a five-way junction with the A22, A235 and A2022. From here the A23 runs parallel to the main London-Brighton railway line, via Coulsdon where it's joined by the A237. At last we start to emerge from endless suburbia into Surrey proper, though the open area on the right turns out to be the entrance to the Cane Hill Forensic Mental Health Unit! As the road skirts the village of Hooley it once again becomes dual carriageway on the approach to the start of the M23 at junction 7. I understand from here that this junction is being converted to a roundabout and that the ghostly "flyovers to nowhere" are being removed, but presumably the junction number will remain as a permanent reminder of the M23 extension that was never built.

Original Author(s): Guy

Section 2: Hooley - Brighton

At Hooley, traffic tends to like to leave the A23 for its larger neighbour the M23. Frankly, traffic would probably have much rather made this change much earlier, but that’s another story. For those who follow the green signs, they find themselves first heading under the dead-end of the M23 flyover and then a few miles south heading over the might of the M25 and into Merstham: once a sleepy village, now at the junction of two motorways and trapped between two railway lines!

Immediately after crossing 'the Orbital', the road takes a sharp bend to the left (much to the consternation of many a driver). At this point, the traffic often begins to jam as the single lane road weaves through the village and on to Redhill. In Redhill, the road briefly becomes dual carriageway as it runs around the eastern side of the town centre (the direct route now being pedestrianised). It is here that it meets the busy A25 route running east-west across Surrey. The obvious result is more traffic!

From here, the road heads south again through Earlswood and Salfords (briefly gaining a 2nd lane for approximately ¼ mile) until it reaches Horley. At the apex of Horley town, the A23 heads slightly south-west, while heading south-east is the B2036 Balcombe Road. The route skirts along the western edge of Horley, and finally arrives at Povey Cross, where the route meets the A217 from Reigate, and the Sussex border. At this point, drivers must take a left-turn at the roundabout, and are rewarded with the a proper stretch of dual carriageway, which runs round the outskirts of London Gatwick Airport. In fact, from here onwards, the A23 remains dual-carriageway until Brighton.

Just north of the airport are the access roads allowing traffic to join the M23 spur to access the airport, or the M23 proper. From the Gatwick Airport M23 spur (J9a), to the Pease Pottage M23 junction (J11), the road acts as the Crawley bypass (built in 1938/9). There are no fewer than 5 roundabouts, 5 sets of traffic lights, and one gyratory on this 7-mile stretch of road. The roundabouts keep the traffic flowing, the traffic lights keep the traffic alternating, and the gyratory tends to bring things to a great halt! The junctions include those with the A2011, the A2220 (former A264) and finally the A264 (new route).

Upon reaching Pease Pottage, the road comes to a GSJ, namely J11 of the M23. Here, the road becomes 3-lane Motorway-standard heaven! After years of work in the 1990s, the journey to Brighton is a pleasure – with the exception of Handcross Hill. About 5 miles south of Pease Pottage (where most traffic has flowed directly from the M23, probably not even realising that the ‘M’ has been dropped for an ‘A’), the road narrows to two lanes and begins to swerve down the hill with an (understandable) 50mph speed limit. At the foot of the hill, the road returns to 3 lanes, and again is a pleasure to drive.

The roads travels across the Sussex Weald until it passes over the (somewhat dwarfed) A272 – perhaps one of the most understated, and enjoyable single-lane roads to drive. Shortly after this, as the signs for the A2300 to Burgess Hill appear, the left-hand lane becomes the slip to join the A2300, and the main road reverts to just two lanes. Having passed the junction, the South Downs come into view – and look magnificent. It is from here that you can sense you are almost reaching the coast, although until the last minute it really does appear that there is no way through the downs. At the last minute the roads skirts east, then west again to sneak through a gap in the hills and then onwards into Brighton. As the A273 joins on the left-hand side, the road once again becomes 3, and then 4 lanes.

As you reach the outskirts of the city, it is clear that the road has been widened considerably. The obelisks that once stood either side of the road at the city’s edge now only just manage to stay either side of the Southbound carriageway.

Finally, we reach the junction with the A27 –- one of the most ill conceived junctions I’ve seen! Traffic wanting to join the A27 must join the left-hand lanes, to be swung through 180 degrees (or 270 for westbound traffic) in a very small area, at which point the Eastbound traffic must negotiate a narrow, split roundabout junction. Worse still is the deal for those who wish to follow the A23 into Brighton. Having spent the last 10 miles cruising on a 3/4-lane dual carriageway, the road comes to an abrupt stop at a roundabout, and becomes a single-lane jam the other side.

From here on in, the road weaves between houses and offices (in increasing numbers the further south one travels) and an ever-more-complicated array of one-way systems, and lane arrangements before emerging at the Old Steine. It is here that the view of the Brighton Pavilion, and then the Palace Pier confirm that you have finally reached the coast itself. However, it is not until you use the roundabout at the very end of the A23 to join the A259 that sea-water comes in to view – such is life!

Original Author(s): Michael Tidd

History

Some of the oringail 1923 A23 go though what is now Gatwick Airport.

Pictures

Links

CBRD

• Handcross - Warninglid Improvement

roadsUK

• Route Guide

Wikipedia

• A23 Page