A3/Route
A road with some history and strategic significance, as it connects London with its principal naval port. In the times of the Napoleonic Wars, when the Straits of Dover were vulnerable, this road became London's principal link with the Channel ports. Its history has also given it more than its fair share of reputations for highwaymen.
London - Guildford
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Although the Bank of England is generally considered the hub of the road numbering system, the A3 was in fact the only single digit road to get there. The other roads at this junction were the A10, A11, A3211, A40 and A501. Following the creation of the "ring of steel", no A-roads now meet there, but the A3 still gets the closest, starting halfway down King William Street at the Monument (at a junction with Gracechurch Street, the A10). This junction was also the original start of the A4, Cannon Street. King William Street was built as an approach road to John Rennie's 1831 "New" London Bridge, which was constructed slightly upstream of the old medieval bridge, which is why there is a slight kink in the junction here. The current London Bridge carrying the A3 across the Thames was built 1967-73 on the centre line of the 19th century bridge it replaced - the old bridge was rebuilt in Arizona as a tourist attraction - there is an urban myth that the buyer thought he was getting the rather more distinctive Tower Bridge!
The A3 heads south down Borough High Street towards the Elephant & Castle, with the A2 peeling off at Great Dover Street to cut through to join the line of the Roman Watling Street to Dover. As far as Clapham, the A3 now follows the Roman Stane Street, which eventually reaches the coast at Chichester, mainly following the A24 and A29). As a traffic artery this section has another point of interest – deep beneath it runs the first deep-level tube in the world, now part of the Northern Line.
At Clapham, Stane Street continues as the A24 along the "south" side of Clapham Common - actually more east. However, the A3 turns west, and runs along the north side of the common to meet the South Circular road, which forms the third side of the common. The A3 and South Circular then multiplex through the congested Wandsworth one-way system before going their separate ways on West Hill, always the most frustrating bit, with the dual carriageway just ahead there never seems to be any reason why climbing West Hill is such a crawl!
At last, at Tibbet’s Corner (junction for the A219, and named after a highwayman who frequented Putney Heath) we are on the dual carriageway, with just the Roehampton traffic lights to go. The road then sweeps down Kingston Vale to the Robin Hood junction, where traffic for the original route through Kingston (now the A308) peels off to the right. Access also used to be available here to Richmond Park, but the Robin Hood Gate has been shut to motor vehicles since 26 August 2003. (This is also the first set of traffic lights for traffic approaching London).
The Kingston Bypass was built in 1927 to avoid the congested original Portsmouth road (A307), which ran through the market place. The bypass has been subject to continuous improvement ever since, and is now entirely grade separated. Until the mid 1990s, it was a scary experience for some drivers at 70mph. The revised 50mph limit can make it feel much more relaxed, even though with smaller speed differentials it seems fewer people seem prepared to pull over to let people in off slip roads. Look out for speed cameras here: most of them are hidden behind signposts, trees, bridge piers etc. The one on the northbound carriageway just by the A298 flyover at Shannon Corner is especially naughty!
At Hook the original Kingston bypass peels off as the A309 to the "Scilly Isles" junction with the old Portsmouth Road, whilst the A3 gets its NSL back and follows the 1970s Esher bypass, which rejoins the original A3 at Painshill (A245). It is worth noting that the northbound carriageway reduces to 50 mph 2 miles before Hook junction, which is immediately enforced by average speed cameras. The road then returns to its original alignment for about 2.75 miles, meeting the M25. At Ockham the A3 follows the Ripley bypass - passing Wisley Services which are about half way along the bypass - with the original road now the B2215. The two roads rejoin at Burntcommon and the A3 follows its original route for just under a mile before reaching the Ladymead bypass at Burpham.
An account of the first mile can also be found at London Geezer's Webpage here.
Junction Names in order (London to Hindhead)
| Road | Name |
|---|---|
| A219 | Tibbet's Corner |
| Not Numbered | Stag Lane (Asda) |
| A306 | Roehampton Vale |
| A308 | Robin Hood |
| A238 | Coombe Lane |
| A298/B282 | Shannon Corner |
| A2043 | Malden Junction |
| A240 | Tolworth Junction aka 'Tolworth Towers' |
| A243/A309 | Hook Junction |
| A244 | Esher Common |
| A245 | Painshill |
| M25 | Wisley Interchange |
| B2215/B2039 | Ockham |
| A247 | Burnt Common |
| A3100 | Burpham |
| A320/A25 | Stoke |
| A322/A25 | Wooden Bridge |
| Stag Hill (For University and Cathedral) | |
| A31 | Hogs Back |
| B3000 | Compton |
| Hurtmore | |
| A283 | Milford |
| Thursley |
Original Author(s): mistral
Guildford - Petersfield
Guildford does not have a proper bypass – for all its grade separated junctions it is more of an inner ring road following the River Wey and then skirting Stag Hill (with the cathedral) up onto the Hog’s Back. With its narrow lanes, sharp bends and steep hills, the 50mph restriction is quite fast enough.
The A31 coming out of Guildford crosses the A3 at a limited access junction with a flyover, to continue as the "Hogs Back" route to Farnham, whilst the A3 itself follows largely new routing past Compton and Milford, where the A283 branches off to begin its trek across the South Downs to the coast at Shoreham. The original A3 (now A3100) rejoins here having taken the more urban route through Godalming and Farncombe. There are a couple of at-grade junctions with unclassified roads along this stretch. Beyond the Thursley turn the only remaining single carriageway section used to climb up to the Devil's Punch Bowl at Gibbet Hill (more highwaymen!) and through Hindhead, where there was a junction with the A287 at a notorious set of traffic lights. Now all is plan sailing and the dual Hindhead Tunnels at 2,001 yards are now Britain's longest untolled ones. SPECS cameras guard the tunnels but the NSL limit seems more than fine for drivers here. After the tunnel the old A3, now renamed A333 links to Hindhead at the new Hazel Grove junction. The old A3 around the Devil's Punch Bowl is being returned to nature.
The still fairly new Liphook and Petersfield bypass is then joined. This was built in the early 1990s. The original route is now the B2070, whilst the new route partially follows the old B2131 and A325. At Longmoor, there is a fairly recent grade-separated junction with the re-routed A325, which was diverted to here so as to allow traffic from Bordon and Farnham to avoid the village of Greatham. The junction may have been built in the late 1990s, but it is exceptionally poor quality, with a very sharp right-angled bend on the southbound approach, and a horrendously short slip road! Fortunately, this junction is fairly quiet, although this counts against us as we approach the next junction, a flat roundabout! The traffic is never heavy here, as the junction is with the B3006 to Liss and Selborne (formerly the A325), and so there will sadly never be the need to grade separate this, although following the opening of the Hindhead Tunnel, this is the only major obstacle between Roehampton and Portsmouth City Centre.
Petersfield - Portsmouth
At Petersfield, the re-routed eastbound (primary) A272 meets us, channelling most of the traffic out of Petersfield town, which is certainly not suitable for it! The original westbound A272 leaves at the next junction, which also hosts a service area. Beyond Petersfield, the original A3 rejoins us at Buriton for the climb through the South Downs, between Butser Hill and the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, before it descends and divides: the road ahead is the A3(M) bypassing Horndean and Waterlooville to eventually merge with the A27 at Bedhampton, whilst the original A3 takes a more westerly route through these towns. Although our non-primary and trunk road status has been removed, the route has not gone without improvement, as almost continuous works have taken place in the last 10 years between Horndean and Cosham to provide a rapid bus corridor through the suburbs.
The road climbs out of Waterlooville at a fairly steady rate, through Purbrook and Widley, before reaching the crest of Portsdown Hill and a grade separated junction with the B2177, before the steep descent into Cosham. Here it has been re-routed to the west to meet the M27 & M275 following the old A27 Southampton Road, before multiplexing with the new A27 to rejoin its original route. The original A3 route is now numbered the A397 - although being east of the new A3 it is actually in the 2-zone. The A3, having resumed its original route, now shadows the M275 for its entire length, at the end of which the roundabout sports a "priorité à droite" sign, to remind drivers leaving the continental ferry port here which way to look at the junction.
The A3 resumes its primary status and runs through the city centre, where it meets the A288 and A2030 at a gyratory outside the University of Portsmouth. From here, the final leg is non primary past the Cathedral and ending in the Old Town on Broad Street. The Isle of Wight ferries leave from here, but access is on the other side of the harbour. Finding itself surrounded by water on all sides except the way it came in, the A3 has to call it a day!
Original Author(s): T1(M)
