A245

Route

Like the A244, the A245 is a non-primary link road in Surrey that was supposed to have been relieved by the construction of the M25. Again, like the A244, 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, especially on the approaches to the A3 at Painshill!

Leatherhead - Horsell Common

The A245 starts at Leatherhead Interchange, the southern roundabout of M25 J9. It begins by heading west into the middle of Leatherhead. The road name, By-Pass Road, dates back to when this was part of the A243 Leatherhead bypass. The A245 has an almost immediate TOTSO to the left at the roundabout junction for the original A243 (which to the north is now the B2430). Heading south, we join the town's one-way system after about 400 metres and do an almost complete loop to exit it beside the railway station. Now, we are on the original route heading northwest towards Cobham and as the A245 heads out of town, we leave the business parks behind. Crossing under the M25, the road loops around to the left passing the Woodlands Park Hotel, before reaching a T- junction.

The A245 heads off to the right and after passing a school and a garden centre, the road crosses the Surbiton - Guildford 'New Line' at Cobham and Stoke d'Abernon station on a blind humpback bridge. Heading straight through Stoke, the road is residential all the way into the bends at the bottom end of Cobham High Street. This part of the road next to the River Mole floods regularly, since the river is right alongside for about 300 metres. Cobham High Street itself is filled with the usual range of restaurants, banks and shops. At Waitrose, we pass the junction with the quite lengthy C42, which runs down towards Effingham and Horsley. A little further on, tucked in on the left hand side, is the entrance to the public car park of Painshill Park. About 300 metres afterwards, we reach the junction with the old Portsmouth Road, which used to be the A3, but which is now numbered the A307). Bearing left at the roundabout onto the original line of the A3, the A245 crosses a roundabout and the River Mole at Cobham Bridge, before heading up a fairly steep hill to the Painshill junction with the A3 'Esher Bypass'. This roundabout over the A3 mainline now has full-time traffic lights to try and improve the traffic flow, but I will reserve my comments about the effectiveness of the chosen solution!

Sheerwater Bridge, Basingstoke Canal

After crossing the roundabout, the A245 takes the left-hand lane at the next set of traffic lights, whilst the B365 'Seven Hills Road' to Walton-on-Thames takes the two right hand lanes. Crossing straight over at the junction, the road is full of blind dips for the next mile or so, before a set of S-bends brings us to the junction with the B374 'Brooklands Road' to Weybridge. Heading along the northern edge of Byfleet, the A245 goes over the River Wey at Plough Bridge, and then straight across 3 roundabouts in a row. The first of these is the current start of the A318, which runs up towards Addlestone and M25 J11, while the second is the historic start of that road at Oyster Lane. Heading east, this is where the queues for the A3 tend to start, a full two miles before the intersection. Crossing over the M25 again, there is now a long straight into West Byfleet, which more often than not is filled with stationary traffic. Heading straight through West Byfleet, there is a TOTSO to the right at a mini-roundabout. We pass the 'West Byfleet Golf Club', cross over the main London to Woking railway line and head through yet another set of lights. After crossing over the Basingstoke Canal, which runs (as of November 2013) from New Haw, in Surrey, to Greywell, a small village, near Odiham, in Hampshire, the road reaches a roundabout at the junction with Woodham Lane.

With the B385 heading east towards Addlestone, the A245 takes a TOTSO to the left. Heading down 'Woodham Lane', the A245 is a fairly residential road, with the houses fairly well set back from the road. This section used to be NSL until about 1998, when it was reduced to a 40mph (a limit which is pretty academic most of the time anyway though). After about a mile, we reach the Six Crossroads junction with the A320, the original end of the A245. It sometimes feels as if it can take forever to get onto the roundabout here, especially during the rush hours. Anyway, having crossed the roundabout, the A245 runs alongside Horsell Common (on what was the B384 until the mid 2000s to finish at the A3046, which runs from Woking to Chobham.

If you ever get stuck on the M25, between J9 and J11, think very carefully before you consider this route as an alternative... it will probably be even slower than the motorway.

Mileage listing

Distance (m)	(km)	Name
0	0	Leatherhead Interchange (M25 / A243)
1	1	Leatherhead Town Centre
4	6	Cobham & Stoke d'Abernon Station
5	8	Cobham (A307)
6	10	Painshill (A3)
8	13	Byfleet (A318)
9	14	West Byfleet
10	16	Woodham (B385)
11	17	Six Crossroads (A320)
12	19	A3046 Junction

Signage

Westbound: Cobham; Woking; Chobham.
Eastbound: Cobham; Leatherhead

Original Author(s): Graham Mackay