A31 Guildford to Winchester - Were There Bigger Plans?

[Johnathan404]

When we ran services from Southampton to London Victoria we always used the A31, it was more reliable than both the M3 and the M27.

[Owain]

When we ran services from Southampton to London Victoria we always used the A31, it was more reliable than both the M3 and the M27.

It would also have been a very pleasant alternative to the interminable roadworks to downgrade the M3 to SMART motorway.

Have they finished yet? They seemed to being going on for most of the time I owned a house in Somerset (9 years!).

[multiraider2]

I should have also said that I still use part of the A31 from Guildford to get to various points south west from south London because the M25 SW quadrant, which should theoretically get me to faster roads, is mostly a car-park.

[Herned]

If you haven't seen it before, I think you'll find this thread interesting.

Cheers, yes it is!

[SteveA30]

A31 was superior in the 60's, with more dual than the A30. Alton was a major bottleneck until early 1970, when the bypass opened. After that, it was even more superior, until June 71 when the M3 opened. Traffic reduced very noticeably on the A31 and it is still quiet today, except Farnham - Guildford, which seems to get worse each year. West of the A325 rbt, it is delightful.

[Richardf]

A31 is a nice road to travel on. Very retro or old fashioned road in the most part, especially Winchester to Alresford.

[Owain]

If you haven't seen it before, I think you'll find this thread interesting.

Cheers, yes it is!

Here's another really good one, that isn't mentioned on that thread.

[Nicholas]

It would also have been a very pleasant alternative to the interminable roadworks to downgrade the M3 to SMART motorway.

Have they finished yet? They seemed to being going on for most of the time I owned a house in Somerset (9 years!).

Yes, they finished a few months ago.

Drifting back on topic, it is a pity this road was never trunk. Of course, it never will be, particularly as Highways England seems to be wanting to offload routes rather than add to their portfolio.

If we had an additional sub-network of trunk routes that was below the strategic network, then the A31 would be a good choice for adding to it. My reason for saying is it because of its "support role" for getting traffic away from the M3 towards the A3 when the former is struggling for whatever reason. Plus it is a good cross-regional route from Southampton towards Guildford... just really needing Four Marks and Farnham sorting out.

[jonnyf90]

There’s part of the A31 that’s dualled, but only has 1 lane due to hatching. Does this make it a D1?

Cheers
Edited to add photo

[Richardf]

There’s part of the A31 that’s dualled, but only has 1 lane due to hatching. Does this make it a D1?

Cheers
Edited to add photo
AFF6E2D1-8A5D-4FC3-AC3A-8D1B77082FDB.jpeg

Yes i suppose it does as you can only use one lane.

[Berk]

Where is that??

[Richardf]

Where is that??

I think it's between Alton and Bentley if memory serves.

[SteveA30]

Also between Bentley and near Farnham, eastbound only. Trouble is you can't overtake a JCB until it widens back to D2. On an S2, you can if it's clear so, worse.

[Richardf]

Where is that??

Eastbound, just before the Hen abd Chicken pub.

[mikehindsonevans]

Where is that??

Eastbound, just before the Hen abd Chicken pub.

I remember this (it was added to my old route to university, long after graduation).
It was implemented after all other efforts to cut speeding (and thereby prevent organ-donor meetings from happening outside the pub and filling station) had proven unsuccessful.

[DavidNW9]

I recently took the A31 heading for Fordingbridge and the New Forest, and discovered not only is it resected from Winchester to Romsey, there are precious few signs in either direction showing people the way through Winchester to pick up the funny little road which now connects west of Winchester through Romsey before you suddenly find an A31 the other side of it as if nothing happened.

As it goes my mission is to take photos, and when I am lost it simply means I get more 1km map squares and always get back to the main road sooner or later, but for every single other driver heading west from Guildford wanting to go right through Winchester they can easily waste half an hour each way and a good few miles driving in circles round Winchester unless they have a sat nav which wasn't the case decades ago when I'm sure the signs still were absent.

There is no Winchester bypass so not as if you can drive around it, so not even the 'deterrent' misleading signage you see in so many towns, so it is essential especially somewhere as complex as Winchester with no actual through routes (it's designed, if that word could apply, like a Gordian knot), has signs through it without an alternative.

But my main question is why the heck does the A31 have a 15 mile plus part missing? Surely it didn't have colitis and need removing, and at least if it went through Winchester as I'm sure the MoT intended in the days it was built people like me wouldn't be driving circles round the city randomly (I have a Hampshire map but forgot it that day but not many non locals would invest the £10 or so for one or two visits). They clearly hate the idea of grockles using the gold paved roads of the ex-capital of England and laugh into their cups of tea at the idea of urban families on their hols getting caught in crapholes like Badger's Drift (or is that Midsomer) or Stanmore when they never intended going within two miles of them? Surely cutting massive sections out of trunk roads is deliberately wasting people's time and should be outlawed?

[Chris Bertram]

AS ever, the SABRE Wiki is your friend. A31/History. The Winchester - Cadnam section seems to explain all.

[Johnathan404]

I recently took the A31 heading for Fordingbridge and the New Forest, and discovered not only is it resected from Winchester to Romsey, there are precious few signs in either direction showing people the way through Winchester to pick up the funny little road which now connects west of Winchester through Romsey before you suddenly find an A31 the other side of it as if nothing happened.

As it goes my mission is to take photos, and when I am lost it simply means I get more 1km map squares and always get back to the main road sooner or later, but for every single other driver heading west from Guildford wanting to go right through Winchester they can easily waste half an hour each way and a good few miles driving in circles round Winchester unless they have a sat nav which wasn't the case decades ago when I'm sure the signs still were absent.

There is no Winchester bypass so not as if you can drive around it, so not even the 'deterrent' misleading signage you see in so many towns, so it is essential especially somewhere as complex as Winchester with no actual through routes (it's designed, if that word could apply, like a Gordian knot), has signs through it without an alternative.

But my main question is why the heck does the A31 have a 15 mile plus part missing? Surely it didn't have colitis and need removing, and at least if it went through Winchester as I'm sure the MoT intended in the days it was built people like me wouldn't be driving circles round the city randomly (I have a Hampshire map but forgot it that day but not many non locals would invest the £10 or so for one or two visits). They clearly hate the idea of grockles using the gold paved roads of the ex-capital of England and laugh into their cups of tea at the idea of urban families on their hols getting caught in crapholes like Badger's Drift (or is that Midsomer) or Stanmore when they never intended going within two miles of them? Surely cutting massive sections out of trunk roads is deliberately wasting people's time and should be outlawed?

I don't see the problem.

The reason traffic isn't directed down the road between Winchester and Romsey is that since the 1960s the plan has been to replace that road with a motorway, and the motorway has been complete for over 20 years. Whether or not that necessitated renumbering the old road is debatable but hardly unprecedented: in Winchester alone you have the former A31, A33, A272 and A333 all downgraded, and more famously the A34 and A41 are in two halves.

The reason the road signs didn't make it clear that the old A31 is that way is that road signs aren't provided for the benefit of enthusiasts trying to satisfy their curiosity, in exactly the same way as airlines don't allocate their fleet based on what plane spotters would like to see. The route to the south west is the M3, clearly signposted throughout with the control destination 'Bournemouth'. If you had your own unofficial route you wanted to use instead it's your responsibility to know it.

The road you wanted is called the A3090, and has been for as long as I've been alive. Once you know this, you'll find it is clearly signposted both from within Winchester and from the M3.

With regards to Winchester not having a bypass, it clearly does. The road the M3 replaced was literally called "Winchester Bypass". In addition, while Badger Farm Road is suburban in nature, it forms a very effective relief road for the estates and the city.

Like all major roads around cities the route of the A31 has changed over time. The route you were probably looking for required turning off at Percy Hobbs Roundabout (where you will see the street name continues), and following it onto the High Street. However the High Street is now pedestrianised, as is the diversion along Middle Brook Street, but Eastgate Street is a reasonable and clearly-signed alternative.

Between 1976 and 1991, as Chris's link explains, the A31 multiplexed with the Winchester Bypass between Petersfield Road and Poles Lane. The Petersfield Road junction has now been replaced by M3 J10 and the Poles Lane junction has now been replaced by M3 J11, so that route is still there - slightly convoluted now, but no worse than trying to follow the old route of any other realigned trunk road.

To answer your final point I suspect what they really hate is people driving around the city centre who don't know where they want to go. If you followed the A31 to its end you would have passed this sign. This is the fastest route to both Romsey and to the old road that went there. If you chose to ignore it, I'm not sure how the city can be blamed on you becoming unstuck.

[Richardf]

While it is a shame the A3090 isn't the A31 any more, you can see why it was renumbered, to deter traffic using it instead of the M27 and M3. If it were still A31 I'm sure some would still use it, particularly at peak times on the motorways. That said there are plenty of F99s with non primary sections or sections that have been bypassed that have kept the old number. The A30 and A35 are 2 that spring to mind. It could have kept the number but just made non primary and that might have done the job.

To be honest those in the know probably still use it to get from places at the western end of the M27 to Winchester to actively avoid the motorway.

DavidNW9 does make a point though ant it will probably open a can of worms by mentioning it and that is that apart from the M3 ,there is no bypass connection at Winchester between the current and former sections of A31. To get from the A31 to the A3090 at Badger Farm Rd (western bypass in all but name) you either have to use the M3 or go through the city.

[someone]

DavidNW9 does make a point though ant it will probably open a can of worms by mentioning it and that is that apart from the M3 ,there is no bypass connection at Winchester between the current and former sections of A31. To get from the A31 to the A3090 at Badger Farm Rd (western bypass in all but name) you either have to use the M3 or go through the city.

Indeed. And whilst signposts do tell you to use the motorway, not all traffic is allowed on a motorway so those signs are of no help at all to some legal road users.

The road numbering in general is a complete mess, though. North of Cheltenham the A46 diverts to the M5 to use it as a bypass, whilst the A435 number takes over the way to the town centre. The A435 being a road that had reached the A46 and then stopped being used as a number 18 miles further north.

Yet south of Cheltenham the A46 does not meet the M5 (you can get to it via the A417), instead it continues all the way into town to end on the A435, the latter going off to Cirencester the scenic way.

So the A46 and A435 merge and multiplex for 25 miles, only with one section being called the A46, until it has a spur to the M5, when the A435 number takes over for seven miles until they separate in the centre of Cheltenham.