Slaugham Junction

Slaugham Junction was a folded diamond junction on the A23. It closed during the works widening the A23 to D3. The former slip roads are still used with the southbound (north side of junction) being repurposes as an access to a farm as previous access was removed from the A23. The northbound (south side of junction) is now part of the alternative National Cycle Route 20

View from the east taken after the junction was closed

History

Pre 1930s

Initially it was a crossroads with both roads being single carriageway

1940s

The A23 was dualed up a fair amount of its route so the cross roads at Slaugham Junction had to be adjusted. Historic maps are unclear about the status of this junction however it appears that initially that staplefield road was bent against the flow of traffic on the A23 (like off-slip roads) So coming off the A23 was easy, but getting onto it would require a 270 degree bend both southbound and north bound and if you wanted to go East to West (or West to East) along Stapefield Road you would have to go along the A23 for 150 meters before crossing over the over carriageway.

1950s

A map from the 50s shows that the southbound carriageway is on a bridge over the Staplefield Road, leaving a cross road on the northbound carriageway. Northbound the bend in Staplefield Road was removed at ended with crossroads, but the southbound still have the off-slip appearance but for on traffic too.

1970s

Along with many other changes to the A23/M23 the junction did receive its second bridge for the Northbound traffic. This made the road much quicker and safer to go east to west and the original northbound slip-road was introduced again.

2010s

Between 2012 and 2014 there were upgrades between Handcross and Warninglid Junctions on the A23. This bought two main things, upgrade of D2 to D3 and the removal of Slaugham Junction. Both the northbound and southbound bridges were upgraded to handle the extra lane. The northbound slip road was removed and a cycle path follows part of its route. The southbound sliproad remains, however only connects to the A23 as a cycle path and the old slip road is now the start of the road to a farm which had its access changed from the A23 due to the upgrades.

Future

This junction is extremely unlikely to ever be reinstated due to Staplefield road mostly carrying East to West local traffic and there are other junctions onto the A23 which are shorter and quicker for most of the local villages and towns.

Routes

Route	To	Notes
A23	Crawley, London
A23	Brighton
	Slaugham
	Staplefield