Route
This road is a non-primary link road that was supposed to have been relieved by the construction of the M25. Despite this, it can regularly take almost two hours to drive from one end of this road to the other. The traffic really can be that bad!
Leatherhead - North Feltham
Gaston Bridge Rd.,Shepperton
The A244 starts at the northern roundabout of J9 of the M25, just outside Leatherhead. This roundabout is also the junction with the A243, which heads north towards the A3 at Hook and south towards the junction with the A24, the A245 and the M25 towards Heathrow Airport. The A244 heads north-west past the junction with the old A243 (now the B2430) and through some woodland (Leatherhead Common) towards Oxshott. After passing Danes Hill school, the road drops down into the middle of Oxshott. After passing the usual parade of shops, pub and restaurants, there is a junction with the B280 to Epsom after which the A244 crosses the railway line from Surbiton to Cobham and Guildford . There is a run of about a mile through more woods (Oxshott Heath) until we approach the 'Esher Common' GSJ with the A3 Esher Bypass. This junction has a roundabout carrying the A244 under the A3, and after going straight across we pass through yet more woods (Esher Common) before reaching the outskirts of Esher.
We cross the old A3 (now numbered as the A307) in the centre of Esher and run along a one-way system past two churches before a sharp left-hand turn towards Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge. One quirk of the A244 in Esher is that the eastbound lanes run along the A3009, which is one of Britain's shortest A roads. However, not only does the A3009 number still appear on large scale OS mapping, but it is also still officially recognised in work such as this Local Air Quality Assessment from 2010. See page 12 and Appendix B1 for further details. I have, however, still never seen any signs for this 130 metre long road on the ground. All the signs in the area show the A244 (without brackets) as the road and Leatherhead as the destination.
Leaving Esher, we head downhill past some private estates and the Princess Alice Hospice, before crossing a very tight roundabout and the Albany Bridge over the River Mole. This takes us onto our first stretch of dual carriageway which runs for about a mile through Hersham.
The A244 crosses a roundabout and uses the eastern half of the Hersham Bypass before a right hand TOTSO at the junction with the A317 (which heads west towards Weybridge and Chertsey). The environment is now an urban one of houses and apartment blocks everywhere. The road goes under the main LSWR main line from Waterloo to Woking and after a mile or so, the A244 reaches the Walton one-way system. We TOTSO to the left at a set of lights, and run along past a parade of shops, the police station and a Homebase to yet more lights at the junction with the A3050. After crossing the lights, we head onto the new Walton Bridge and across the River Thames. The current structure replaced the temporary bridge that managed to last for 46 years (1953-1999). The old bridge is still in place for cyclists and pedestrians.
As we leave the bridge, we enter the ancient county of Middlesex. Before reaching the dual-carriageway Upper Halliford Bypass, we go round a tight S-bend and cross yet another roundabout. The bypass finishes at another roundabout, the A244 bears to the left and passes a Gatso before crossing the M3. The A244 then drifts downhill through a set of lights to the junction with the A308 (to Staines and Kingston). After less than half a mile, the road passes some very large BP labs and offices and into the London Borough of Hounslow. There is a set of lights at the top of this section at which the A244 TOTSO's to the right. From here to the end of the road on the other side of town, the A244 cuts a rather nondescript path through Feltham. Past shops, the railway station and loads of traffic lights, the A244 has a junction with the A312 in North Feltham before petering out at a crossroads with the A315 (to Staines and Hounslow) and a service road into the North Feltham Industrial Estate.
Mileage Listing
Signage
Northbound: Esher, Walton Feltham, Hounslow
Southbound: Feltham, Walton, Esher, Leatherhead
Original Author(s): Graham Mackay
Links
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