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M3

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M3
Location Map ( geo)
Cameraicon.png View gallery (201)
From:  Sunbury, Middlesex (TQ098701)
To:  Southampton (SU422171)
Distance:  61 miles (98.2 km)
Meets:  M25, M27 A30, A33, A34
Primary Destinations
Highway Authorities

National Highways

Traditional Counties

Hampshire • Middlesex • Surrey

Route outline (key)
M3 Sunbury – Southampton
Junction List
Junc Northbound Southbound
1 A316, A308 Start of Motorway
Services symbol.gif Shepperton services
2 M25 M25
Services symbol.gif Drumpfs Green & Chobham Common services
Services symbol.gif Windlesham & Valley End services
3 A322 A322
4 A331 A331
4A A327, (A3013) A327, (A3013)
Services symbol.gif Fleet services
5 A287, B3349 A287, B3349
Services symbol.gif Andwell services
6 A339 A339
Services symbol.gif Kempshott services
7 A30 A30
Services symbol.gif Basingstoke services (at J7)
8 No Exit A303
Bridge Itchen Bridge
Services symbol.gif Winchester services
9 A34 A34
Bridge Spitfire Bridge
10 A31, B3330 No Exit
11 A3090 A3090
12 A335 A335
13 A335 A335, Inner Carriageway
14 (Outer) No Exit M27 West
14 (Inner) No Exit M27 East
- Start of Motorway A33, A27
Globe.png
For detailed information about this topic, see Roads.org.uk Motorway Database
This article is about the motorway in England.
For the similarly numbered motorway in Ireland, see M3 (Republic of Ireland)
.

London to Southampton motorway. Confusingly referred to as Exeter Radial in early documentation, though this was because it followed the A30 corridor, rather than any plan for the motorway to reach Devon. It also only partially forms the zone boundary between motorway zone 2 and motorway zone 3, with the section south of junction 8 being within zone 2.

History

The early parts of the motorway, opened in two phases between 1971 and 1974, was an offline replacement for the A30 covering the route between J1 and J8. At J8 the road would split into two, with one arm heading towards Exeter and the mainline heading towards Southampton. Both arms ended with a fork junction, joining their respective roads, after half a mile.

Before this was finished, it was already established that the M3 would eventually meet the M27, it was just a question of when.

In 1985 an extension opened to take the road to J10. Most of this was another simple offline upgrade, albeit to a lower D2M standard. However, for the last half-mile near Winchester, the road was an online upgrade of the A33 Winchester Bypass. This meant the road between J9 and J10 was opened before the bit in between, even though motorway restrictions were not applied.

When the road between J8 and J9 did open, motorway restrictions still finished at J9, and continued to do so until tie-in works could be completed at J10. During this time the southbound carriageway was marked as two lanes, even though it was ready for a third lane to join from J9.

The rest of the history of the road is perhaps best told by the A33, but suffice to say the majority of the remaining route, between Hockley and J14, was opened in 1991 after an extensive replacement of the existing dual carriageway. This can be seen in the concrete retaining walls all over the road, where the cuttings have been widened. This connected with the recently-added M27 eastbound.

In 1995 the most controversial section, between J10 and Hockley, was completed by creating the Twyford Cutting. This saw new layouts at the two junctions.

Junctions

Thorpe Interchange

Thorpe Interchange.PNG
Main Article: Thorpe Interchange

Thorpe Interchange, Surrey is the name of the junction between the M3 and M25 motorways. It is of a whirlpool design, and the M3 is has a lane painted out through the junction, which although it decreases the capacity through the junction actually helps the interchange move more freely due to the amount of interchanging traffic here.

Services

Fleet services

M3 Fleet Services - Geograph - 1288241.jpg
Main Article: Fleet services

Fleet services were for a long time the only services on the M3, and are located in a forest environment. The services did not open with the motorway, although the footbridge across the motorway was.

Winchester services

Winchester Services - Geograph - 1329655.jpg
Main Article: Winchester Services

Winchester services opened in 2001 and are located between junctions 8 and 9. Unusually for a 21st century MSA, it is located on two sites, one for each direction, but less unusually are quite some distance from the named town, in this case Winchester. There is also no connection between the two sites, meaning that northbound traffic wishing to stay at the hotel must detour via junction 7.

Opening Dates

For detailed information about this section, see CBRD Motorway Database: M3 Timeline

Traffic Data

From http://www.dft.gov.uk/traffic-counts/

Link 2002 AADF 2006 AADF 2010 AADF 2014 AADF
J1 48566 51536 46414 46481
J1-2 66872 66670 58395 63604
J2-3 107563 127770 118777 126097
J3-4 124390 125605 118183 115512
J4-4A 89459 111693 102700 99421
J4A-5 93465 92349 91272 87004
J5-6 99235 111133 104110 94843
J6 SPUR 48650 50431 43762 47049
J6-7 88424 96038 89124 87265
J7-8 94278 92671 86356 88938
J8-9 62012 58416 55920 57932
J9-10 94465 103262 102052 100067
J10-11 107018 116121 109915 121784
J11-12 115347 116169 116045 124229
J12-13 109107 112244 124790 126457
J13-14 118748 131488 127145 133083
J14-A27 65108 67966 27282 22550


Links

legislation.gov.uk

  • The M3 Motorway (Compton-Bassett Section) (Revocation) (No.2) Scheme 1987 - This Scheme revokes the M3 Motorway (Compton-Bassett Section) Connecting Roads Scheme 1974, made under sections 11, 12 and 14 of the Highways Act 1959 (c. 25), which provided for the trunk road slip roads between the existing A33 Otterbourne and Chandlers Ford Bypass (which it was proposed to up-grade to become a motorway) and the local road system at Compton and Leigh Road, Eastleigh to become special road

National Highways

Roads.org.uk




M3
Junctions
Services
Crossings
Roads
Places
Related Pictures
View gallery (201)
Premier Travel Inn M3 southbound - Geograph - 853999.jpgApproaching M3 junction 12 - Geograph - 795208.jpgM27 Junction 4 - Geograph - 947833.jpgDSC 0034.JPGJunction 9.png
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