A327
A327 | |||||||||||||
Location Map ( geo) | |||||||||||||
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From: | Farnborough (SU868552) | ||||||||||||
To: | Reading (SU716732) | ||||||||||||
Distance: | 18.9 miles (30.4 km) | ||||||||||||
Meets: | A325, A3013, M3, A30, A4, A329 | ||||||||||||
Former Number(s): | A33 | ||||||||||||
Old route now: | B3272, B3349, B3030, B3349 | ||||||||||||
Primary Destinations | |||||||||||||
Highway Authorities | |||||||||||||
Traditional Counties | |||||||||||||
Route outline (key) | |||||||||||||
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Route
The A327 is a semi-urban A-road running through Hampshire and Berkshire.
Farnborough - Reading
The road starts on the A325, as it always did (originally in Farnborough Green), but nowadays begins further down on a large roundabout at the top right-hand corner of Farnborough Airfield. It then darts around on previously unclassified local roads up to junction 4A of the M3, where it settles down on a straight road which is polluted by 40/50 limits and a mountain of GATSOs.
The A327 multiplexes with the A30 past Blackbushe Airport and Market, which is a huge car auction centre and open air market which is basically in the middle of nowhere. After this, it branches off to the right and heads up to Eversley, where it rejoins its original route at a roundabout.
After this, the A327 crosses the Blackwater River to leave Hampshire for Berkshire, and the quality of the road starts improving. Arborfield Garrison has been replaced with the rapidly growing new village of Arborfield Green, and two new relief roads studded with roundabouts have been built for Arborfield itself (in 2020) and Shinfield (in 2018). The A327 then crosses over the M4, where on the edge of Reading it finally rejoins its original route.
From here it's a slow drive through the suburbs of Reading past the University and the Royal Berkshire Hospital up to a roundabout with the old A33 (now B3031), where it originally terminated.
Now the A33 has been rerouted via its new relief road to the west, the A327 takes over the last bit of its old route, which runs down Southampton Street on one side and London Street / Silver Street on the other. After crossing the A4 at traffic lights it now terminates at the infamous former Ski Jump on the Reading IDR (aka the A329).
History
The A327 used to start just over a mile further north on the A325, and then followed what's now the B3272 through Yateley before joining its current route in Eversley. The rerouting occurred when M3 J4A opened in April 1992. Between Eversley and the M4 much of the original route has now been bypassed: it ran through Arborfield along the B3030 and the unclassified Reading Road, and then through Shinfield on the B3349. The final mile into the centre of Reading is on the old line of the A33.