Talk:M3 motorway

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The junction and exit labelling for J13 & 14 is incorrect.

The M3 J14 & M27 J4 is the interchange between the 2 motorways, sometimes refered to by local radio travel as the Southampton Interchange.

The J13 Southbound exit is to the A335 Eastleigh. The southbound entrance onslip at this junction is onto the M27 Westbound spur and you can only access M27 West and the A33 sliproad - not the M27 East. J13 Northbound exits onto A335 Eastleigh - this can be accessed regardless to whether you join from the M27 East, M27 West or the A33. The onslip joins from the A335 and heads North.

The J14 Southbound exit is 1/4miles after J13 and the motorway is signed to into M27 West and M27 East - both are also signed A33 Southampton. The A33 is accessible by both spurs as the A33 slip on the M27 West spur merges into the A33 from the M27 East spur. The A33 slip terminates at the Chilworth roundabout at the junction with the A27. J14 Northbound, the A33 from Southampton merges with the M27 from the East and then the M27 from the west. This is a 4 lane motorway for a brief period before the left lane becomes the J13 A335 slip road. There is no access to the M27 East or West from the A33.

This junction is known to be very busy and often a point of confusion for many unwary travellers.

If no-one has any objections, I will update the page..

--Bodlang 10:25, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Would Farnham count as a primary destination of the M3? Basingstoke and Winchester are along the motorway, but Farnham isn't.

Now removed Farnham as "primary destination". Enchanter 21:05, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

I've removed this text:

The southern end of the M3 originally only connected to the A27 / A33 roundabout. Westbound connections to the M27 were added in 1975 and eastbound connections were added in 1984.

This can't be right; the M3 up to Southampton was completed long after 1975. Enchanter 20:59, Apr 16, 2005 (UTC)

At that time the M27 did not exist. It's construction meant adding a new junction to the M3 between Junction 13 and the A27/A33 roundabout. The M27 was opened in sections hence different dates for west- and east-bound. -- Nick1nildram 09:15, Apr 19, 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Enchanter here. I've just checked this in an Ordnance Survey road atlas dated 1986, and it shows the M27 complete from Portsmouth to its current end just short of the New Forest, but the M3 still terminating at J10 in Winchester. I think the confusion arises because the section of the M3 between just south of the current J11 and the M27 was created in the mid-90s by extensively upgrading the previously existing A33 trunk road along the same alignment, as described in the 'Construction and History' section of the article. Presumably the M27 connections were built on the dates described, but to connect with the A33 not the M3. -- Chris j wood 13:39, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)

The original terminus of the M3 was with a temporary junction near junction 8 that fed directly into the A33 at Popham, built in 1971. When the M3 was extended to junction 10 in 1985, this temporary junction was removed.

The alignment of the M3 from near junction 11 to junction 14 was built as the A33 in 1968. The westbound M27 link was completed in 1975 and the eastbound link in 1986. The road was upgraded to motorway in 1991 but only as far as a temporary junction at Compton south of present-day junction 11. This temporary junction was removed when the final section of M3 between this and junction 10 was completed in 1995.

I dislike the sentence that suggests the completion of the M3 over Twyford Down saved the motorist five minutes. I assume the intent is to emphasise the negative impact of Twyford Down on the environment; however I do not believe it takes into account the lower speeds created by congestion on the former A33 at Winchester, particularly the traffic lights at Hockley. Whilst I think the way Twyford Down was completed was disasterous for the landscape, from my personal experience the time saved is more realistically actually upwards of an hour.

--Ritchie333 15:45, 10 December 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the excellent summary of the timetable of construction; do feel free to dive in and edit the article to add this sort of information.

Agreed on the statement of completion saving five minutes; a statement like this ought to be sourced (because is is likely to be controversial), otherwise it should go. Enchanter 21:05, 3 January 2006 (UTC)