A3 road

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**A3 road**

Direction	North east- South west
Start	City of London
Primary destinations	Cosham Esher Kennington Kingston upon Thames Guildford Haslemere
End	Portsmouth Harbour
Roads joined	M25 motorway M27 motorway M275 motorway A24 road A27 road A202 road A205 road A240 road A272 road A31 road A309 road A320 road A322 road A219 road A3100 road

The A3 is a trunk road in Southern England, connecting London to Portsmouth.

1 Cycle paths
2 London
3 A3(M)
- 3.1 Junctions
4 Trivia
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

The A3 near Liphook

Northbound near the Wisley Interchange with the M25.

The historic Portsmouth Road once had great strategic significance as the major link between the capital city and one of its major sea ports. Many of the towns and villages that it passed through gained income and prestige as a result — such as Kingston upon Thames, Esher, Guildford, Godalming, Haslemere and Petersfield. The modern A3 follows the general route of the Portsmouth Road, but bypasses many of the towns and villages along the way, leaving the various stretches of the old Portsmouth Road for local traffic -- for instance, the A307 through Esher, also known as the Portsmouth Road. For some of its length, the road follows a similar line to the Portsmouth Direct Line railway, although one of the major exceptions is that the A3 does not go through or closely bypass Havant.

However, a programme of road improvements starting in the 1920s transformed the road so that is now predominantly a two or three lane dual carriageway, bypassing the town centres, with a section of motorway, the A3(M), just before the road reaches the A27 at Havant.

The road was once the haunt of highwaymen. For example, the legendary Jerry Abershawe terrorised the area around Kingston and led a gang based at the Bald Faced Stag Inn on the Portsmouth Road.

Another particularly dangerous location was in the vicinity of the Devil's Punch Bowl, Hindhead, about 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Guildford. Today, this is an area better known for traffic jams, for it remains one of the very few stretches of single carriageway on the A3, and is heavily used by commuters. It is estimated that on average this area of road carries 28,400 vehicles per day resulting in long queues build up here, particularly during the morning peak hours. A 1.2 mile (1.8 km) twin bore tunnel bypassing the Devil's Punch Bowl (a Site of Special Scientific Interest) is set to be built, with advanced works beginning in 2007 and the main works to start in 2008. Once complete (target date 2011) the £371 million Hindhead Tunnel will be the longest non-estuarial tunnel in the UK, and will convert the last remaining single carriageway section of the A3, outside of London and Portsmouth, to dual carriageway.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Another traffic black spot during peak hours is just outside London going northbound before the Hook underpass. The road is, before that point, three lanes, yet has to go down to two in order to go in the underpass. Also, the traffic from the A309 comes in just before the underpass creating congestion. The traffic is often busy in that section from about 7:50AM to 8:30AM and from 5:15PM to 5:50PM because of the sheer volume of the traffic.

[edit] Cycle paths

There are several shared pedestrian and cycle paths on the A3, although many seem to be very infrequently used. One cycle path links the village of Liss with the town of Petersfield on the Portsmouth-bound side of the A3 Petersfield bypass. However, an alternative cycle route would be the B2070 or 'Old A3' which was the main route from Liphook and Liss to Petersfield before the construction of the bypass.

Another links the village of Greatham with West Liss. The path is on the London-bound side, linking to a bridge over the A3 to West Liss. This means cyclists and pedestrians are not required to cross the dual carriageway on foot at the Ham Barn roundabout as would be the case if they went to West Liss on Farnham Rd (the B3006).

There is also a cycle path between Greatham and Liphook, and nearer Portsmouth there is a cycle path between Clanfield and the Queen Elizabeth Country Park, a large forest near Petersfield next to the A3.

[edit] London

In Central London, the A3 starts at London Bridge, going south-west along Borough High Street and Newington Causeway to the Elephant and Castle roundabout. It continues along Newington Butts, Kennington Park Road, Clapham Road and Clapham High Street. The road then passes the north side of Clapham Common and through Wandsworth to Wimbledon Common. It bypasses Kingston upon Thames in outer London.

[edit] A3(M)


A3(M) motorway
Length	5 miles 8.5 km
Direction	North - South
Start	Horndean
Primary destinations	Guildford London Portsmouth
End	Bedhampton
Construction dates	1979 - entire motorway
Motorways joined	none

The interchange between the A3(M) and the A27.

This section of the road was opened in 1979^[4] and acts as a bypass of the A3 road in this part of Hampshire.

[edit] Junctions

A3(M) Motorway
Northbound exits	Junction	Southbound exits
Road continues as A3 towards Petersfield	J1	Horndean A3
No exit	J1	Start of motorway
Horndean, Lovedean B2149	J2	Havant, Lovedean B2149
Waterlooville, Denmead B2150	J3	Waterlooville, Havant B2150
Widley, Havant	J4	No exit
Drayton, Cosham A2030 Bedhampton B2177	J5	Chichester A27 Drayton, Cosham A2030 Bedhampton B2177
Start of motorway	Terminus	Portsmouth A27 (M27, M275)

[edit] Trivia

The construction of the Kingston and Guildford bypasses in the 1920s and 1930s made use of temporary narrow gauge railways to move the construction materials.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

	A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain road numbering system	edit

A3	A30 - A31 - A32 - A33 - A34 - A35 - A36 - A37 - A38 - A39
	A301 - A303 - A307 - A308 - A316 - A337 - A338 - A340 - A344 - A345 - A346 - A350 - A354
	A361 - A363 - A368 - A369 - A370 - A371 - A390
	A3036 - A3055 - A3203 - A3204 - A3400

	List of A roads in Zone 3

	Motorways in the United Kingdom
Great Britain: M1 • M2 • M3 • M4 • M5 • M6 • M6 Toll • M8 • M9 • M10 • M11 • M18 • M20 • M23 • M25 • M26 • M27 • M32 • M40 • M42 • M45 • M48 • M49 • M50 • M53 • M54 • M55 • M56 • M57 • M58 • M60 • M61 • M62 • M65 • M66 • M67 • M69 • M73 • M74 • M77 • M80 • M90 • M180 • M181 • M271 • M275 • M602 • M606 • M621 • M876 • M898
A1(M) • A3(M) • A38(M) • A48(M) • A57(M) • A58(M) • A64(M) • A66(M) • A74(M) • A167(M) • A194(M) • A308(M) • A329(M) • A404(M) • A601(M) • A627(M) • A823(M)

	Northern Ireland: M1 • M2 • M3 • M5 • M12 • M22 • A8(M)	edit

Past: M41 • M63 • A18(M) • A40(M) • A41(M) • A102(M) • A6144(M) Unbuilt: M12 • M15 • M31 • M64 Future: M4 Toll