A3
A3  A397 (former A3)
Route information
Length	72 mi (116 km)
Major junctions
North-east end	City of London 51°30′39″N0°05′12″W / 51.5108°N 0.0866°W /51.5108; -0.0866 (A3 road (northern end))
Major intersections	A2 A23 A24 A205 M25 A31 A3(M) A27 M27 M275
South-west end	Portsmouth Harbour 50°47′30″N1°06′31″W / 50.7918°N 1.1086°W /50.7918; -1.1086 (A3 road (southern end))
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Kingston upon Thames Guildford Petersfield
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A2 →A4

TheA3, known as thePortsmouth Road orLondon Road in sections, is a major road connecting theCity of London andPortsmouth passing close toKingston upon Thames,Guildford,Haslemere andPetersfield. For much of its 67-mile (108 km) length, it is classified as atrunk road and therefore managed byNational Highways. Almost all of the road has been built todual carriageway standards or wider. Apart from bypass sections in London, the road travels in a southwest direction and, afterLiss,south-southwest.

Close to its southerly end, motorway traffic is routed via theA3(M), then either the east–westA27 or the Portsmouth-onlyM275 which has multiple lanes leading off the westbound A27 — for non-motorway traffic, the A3 continues into Portsmouth alongside the A3(M), mostly as a single carriageway in each direction throughWaterlooville and adjoining small towns. The other section of single carriageways is through the urban environs of Battersea, Clapham and Stockwell towards the northern end, which has to accommodatebus lanes andparking meter bays.

By the 17th century, the historic Portsmouth Road bore great strategic significance as the road link between the capital city and what became the settled main port of theRoyal Navy, as well as a non-military port like nearbyChichester; in 1603, a petition was passed by The Queen for the expansion of the bench of justices of the town ofGuildford along its route, in consideration of the importance of the Portsmouth Road.^[1] Many of the other towns and villages that the road passed through gained income and, in the case of towns, a market advantage as a result — principally in the history ofKingston upon Thames,Godalming andPetersfield.

The road was once the haunt ofhighwaymen such asJerry Abershawe (executed in 1795), who in the 18th Century terrorised the area around Kingston and led a gang based at the Bald Faced Stag Inn on the Portsmouth Road.^[2] In 1749, theHawkhurst Gang committed a murder atRake, nearLiphook.^[3] Another particularly dangerous location was in the vicinity of the wooded crest skirting theDevil's Punch Bowl,Hindhead, about 8 miles (13 km) south-west ofGuildford where, in 1786 asailor was murdered; the three perpetrators were hanged in chains nearby in 1787.^[4]

While parishes had historically been responsible for the upkeep of roads, with increasing traffic the financial burden became too much, soturnpike trusts were set up to enable tolls to be levied on travellers, which was often unpopular. Road traffic was to some extent alleviated by the coming of the railways in the 19th century, but the Portsmouth Road always remained a major route. By the 1870s, responsibility for roads had passed to county councils, with the Portsmouth Road outside London falling mainly underSurrey andHampshire county councils, with a short distance inWest Sussex.^[5][6]

A programme of road improvements, starting in the 1920s, transformed the road, so that it became predominantly a two- or three-lanecarriageway, bypassing some town centres; south of theSouth Downs National Park, it included a section ofmotorway, theA3(M), just before the road reaches theA27 at Havant. The construction of the Kingston and Guildford bypasses in the 1920s and 1930s made use of temporarynarrow-gauge railways to move the construction materials.

Lord Montagu of Beaulieu stressed the urgency of building a Kingston bypass in 1911, but public funds were not secured before the onset ofWorld War I and were not available in the aftermath.^[7] By the early 1920s, traffic in Kingston town centre had increased by over 160% in 10 years in the coaching town and the decision was taken in 1923 to revive the plans, with the contract worth £503,000 (equivalent to £36,200,000 in 2023).^[8] Work started in 1924, and it was opened by the Prime Minister,Stanley Baldwin, on 28 October 1927. It ran for 8.5 miles (13.7 km) from the Robin Hood Gate ofRichmond Park to the outskirts ofEsher. The opening ceremony concluded with refreshments for 800 guests in marquees near to the northern start/end. Its construction immediately attracted developments of housing where access was easiest. TheRestriction of Ribbon Development Act 1935 came too late to prevent this private housing, which is apparent where the A3 winds throughTolworth andNew Malden, where the architecture includes concrete toart nouveau apartments^{[n 1]},Mock-Tudor gabled houses andgabledArts and Crafts movement-inspired houses. The final section of the Kingston bypass now forms part of theA309 thanks to the construction of the Esher bypass.

The complexity of the double roundabout at the junction between the A309 Kingston by-pass and the A307 led to it being referred to colloquially as the Silly Isles; later the junction officially adopted the name The Scilly Isles.^[9]

In 2011, theHindhead Tunnel became the centrepiece of the Hindhead bypass, away from the road through the village, where the only urban set of traffic lights on the route outside London had created a bottleneck. Until 2011, the road through Hindhead was the last single-carriageway section of the route, outside London and Portsmouth.^[10]

Once south-west of the Elephant and Castle in Southwark, the road follows a route roughly parallel to thePortsmouth Direct line railway which goes through, rather than past, all of the towns which the road serves, withHavant andWoking 2 miles (3.2 km) and 3 miles (4.8 km), respectively, off the road.

The A3 starts atKing William Street at its junction withGracechurch Street in theCity of London, crosses theRiver Thames atLondon Bridge while entering theLondon Borough of Southwark, and goes south-west alongBorough High Street andNewington Causeway to theElephant and Castle roundabout. It continues alongNewington Butts, and bounds then enters theLondon Borough of Lambeth onKennington Park Road which becomesClapham Road andClapham High Street. The A3 then turns west (leaving as its straight continuation theA24) asClapham Common North Side. Along this road, it enters theLondon Borough of Wandsworth, after which it runsconcurrently with the A205 'South Circular' alongBattersea Rise,Wandsworth Common North Side andEast Hill, and goes throughWandsworth, and then the A205 carries on west towards Richmond. OnWest Hill, just east of the Tibbets Corner junction with theA219 nearPutney Heath, the road increases from one lane each way to a three-lanes-each-waydual-carriageway and the speed limit increases from 30 to 40 mph (48 to 64 km/h). The A3 then continues south-west betweenRichmond Park andWimbledon Common, asKingston Road before beginning to bypassKingston upon Thames while going throughRoehampton Vale. The A3 enters The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames just beforeKingston Vale where there is a junction with theA308 for Kingston upon Thames and Richmond Park.

For the first 5 km (3.1 mi) south of Richmond Park, the A3 runs within 300 m (980 ft) of theBeverley Brook, crossing it three times. Although there is no point where the stream itself can be seen when driving along the road, the bridgeparapets are visible and, for 2 km (1.2 mi), where the road runs along the edge ofWimbledon Common, the trees flanking the stream can be glimpsed across playing fields, with the lightly managed "natural" woodland of the common rising beyond. Except for the playing fields, the whole of the common, including Beverley Brook, is both aSite of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)^[11][12] and aSpecial Area of Conservation (SAC).^[13] The speed limit then increases to 50 mph (80 km/h) before going under the Coombe Flyover. The A3 then goes on a flyover at Shannon Corner located on the edges ofMotspur Park,Raynes Park andNew Malden, before having an additional junction forNew Malden, thenTolworth andHook along theKingston By-pass.

Brief features of a section of road contribute to a traffic pinch-point duringpeak hours around the Hook underpass. The road reduces from three lanes to two in the underpass. The speed limit at this point in the London-bound direction reduces from 70 to 50 miles per hour (113 to 80 km/h), with the first of a handful ofGatso speed enforcement cameras. If returning to London, traffic from the A309 also joins just before the underpass.^{[n 2]}

The A3's Kingston By-pass now ends sooner leaving a spur junction the A309 to the Scilly Isles junction nearSandown Park,Esher, its route instead becoming theEsher By-pass on the border ofHook, London andLong Ditton,Surrey. Here the speed limit rises to 70 mph, with 3 lanes and a motorway-grade hard shoulder.

After passingClaygate, the motorway-standard section has junctions with the A244 betweenEsher andOxshott, then the A245 betweenCobham andHersham.^{[n 3]} The road'sWisley Interchange with theM25 enables a flyover still with a 70 mph (110 km/h) speed limit.^{[n 4]} It bypassesWisley,Ockham,Ripley (andBurpham which is a suburb ofGuildford) before cutting through the major town itself as a dual carriageway and changing to a 50 mph (80 km/h) speed limit.^[14] It returns to 70 mph (110 km/h) at the A31 and A246 junction before bypassingGodalming andMilford. It continues through a tunnel atHindhead (constructed in 2011 to improve capacity and bypass theDevil's Punch Bowl) before leaving Surrey.

The A3 enters Hampshire just after exiting the Hindhead Tunnel, passesLiphook andBramshott, turnsSSW pastLiss, then passesPetersfield. The A3's original route between Hindhead and Petersfield, passing through several villages, became the B2070. At Liss, there remains anat-grade roundabout, the only such junction on the route. Over theSouth Downs, it passes Clanfield andHorndean. From just north of Horndean, (still heading towards Portsmouth) the A3 separates from theA3(M) (below) and continues asLondon Road as far as Hilsea, south of which it is Northern Parade^{[n 5]}. It runs along the west side ofPortsea Island which forms Portsmouth proper, roughly parallel with theM275, into the nearly waterfront centre of the city where, after passing theCatholic cathedral, it meets with theA2030. Here, it reachesOld Portsmouth, passing theAnglican cathedral and the 15th century harbour where it comes to an end atBroad Street^[15] andPortsmouth Point.

TheHindhead Tunnel is a 1,830-metre (1.14 mi) twin bore tunnel,^[16] which cost £371 million to construct, and is the longest non-estuarial road tunnel in the UK.Transport SecretaryPhilip Hammond conducted the opening ceremony on 27 July 2011, though the northbound tunnel opened to traffic two days later than the southbound one, on 29 July.^[17][18][19]

The new dual carriageway diverges from the original route where the old A3 began climbing sharply as it headed towards the scenic Devil's Punch Bowl. The old road now turns right and continues into Highfield Lane. From there, the remainder of the original road to Punch Bowl Common - a short distance north-east of the Hindhead traffic lights - has been completely ripped up and returned to nature. From the south, the short and largely built-up southern stretch of old A3 (now bypassed) runs up from the Grayshott exit into Hindhead and remains in use, but has been renumbered from A3 toA333.

Since the 2011 opening of theHindhead Tunnel, the modern route (or, in the case of the southernmost section, its associated motorway section) is at least dual-carriageway, but atLiss is the sole at-grade roundabout. Widely considered the main traffic pinch-point and an accident hotspot (due to its unusual egg-shape andcamber angle which can cause lorries at excess speed to tip over), there have been wide calls for its removal,^[20] the projected increase in traffic with the completion of the tunnel supporting the proposal. In November 2010, theHighways Agency announced it would discuss three options for the roundabout's future, but in December it announced that no change would be commenced before 2015:^[21][22]

• full-time signalling,
• removing the roundabout entirely (and thereby removing the A3/B3006 connection completely),
• keeping the existing system.

The slip road exiting the A3 leading to theRoyal Surrey County Hospital and theSurrey Research Park regularly creates congestion on the main A3 during peak times, when the traffic queue reaches onto the main carriageway. In May 2011, it was announced that this is to be resolved with new improvements to the traffic system directly adjacent to the A3, with work funded jointly by theUniversity of Surrey andSurrey County Council.^[23]

Various schemes exist to manage urban traffic and economise land use, and include running park and ride services. The main such scheme along the route is in Guildford. In February 2015, theMayor of London Boris Johnson announced plans to build over a short section atTolworth, after visiting a similar site inBoston, Massachusetts; the Mayor said "rebuilding some of our complex and ageing road network underneath our city would not only provide additional capacity for traffic, but it would also unlock surface space and reduce the impact of noise and pollution." Similar plans have been proposed for other areas of London but proven cost-prohibitive.^[24]

A3(M)
A3(M) highlighted in blue
The junction between the A3(M) and the A27
Route information
Maintained byNational Highways
Length	5 mi (8.0 km)
Existed	1979–present
Major junctions
Northeast end	Horndean
Southwest end	Bedhampton
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	(London), (Portsmouth), (Chichester), (Petersfield),Waterlooville
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

This section of the road was opened in 1979^[25] and acts as an alternative to the A3 road in this part of Hampshire.

^[26]

There are several cycle routes which follow the route of the A3.

v t e Cycle Superhighway 7 (CS7)
Legend
Queen StreettoMoorgate  C3 toBlackfriars  C3 toTower of London Southwark Bridge River Thames Southwark  C14 toWaterloo  C14  toLondon Bridge &Bermondsey  A3 toLondon Bridge  A3 toElephant and Castle  C6 toSouthwark  C6 toElephant and Castle  A3 /Ring Road  toElephant and Castle Ring RoadtoVauxhall Kennington Road toLambeth  CS5  A202 toVauxhall  CS5  A202 toCamberwell Oval  A23 toBrixton Stockwell Clapham North (Clapham High Street) Clapham Common station  A3 toWandsworth Clapham Common  A205  (South Circular Road) toWandsworth  A205  (South Circular Road)  toStreatham Hill Clapham South Balham Tooting Bec Tooting Broadway River Graveney Colliers Wood  A24 toMitcham andSutton River Wandle Wandle TrailtoEarlsfield Wandle Trail toMorden &Carshalton Merton High Street toSouth Wimbledon

In London,Cycle Superhighway 7 (CS7) runs either side of the A3 fromElephant and Castle toClapham Common. The route is signposted and marked using painted blue cycle logos, carrying cyclists throughKennington,Stockwell, andClapham. North from Elephant and Castle, CS7 runs along theA300/Southwark Bridge Road towards theCity. South of Clapham Common, CS7 runs along theA24 toColliers Wood, viaBalham andTooting.^[27]

BetweenWandsworth andKingston Vale, ashared-use path runs alongside the A3 for cyclists and pedestrians. The path is segregated from other road traffic and links to cycle paths which run alongside theA308/Kingston Hill. This providesNorbiton with a traffic-free route to Wandsworth, which is also the terminus ofCycle Superhighway 8 (CS8 toMillbank).^[28][29]

Shared-use paths and cycle lanes run alongside the A3 at points between the Greater London boundary and Portsmouth.

BetweenThursley andMilford in Surrey, cycle crossings of theslip roads exist for cyclists travelling along thecycle lanes.

There is a cycle path betweenLiss andPetersfield which runs along the Portsmouth-bound (southbound) side of the A3. The route joins the A3 south ofWest Liss and leaves the dual-carriageway to the north of Petersfield (at Farnham Road). The route between Liss town centre and Farnham Road is part ofNational Cycle Route 22 (NCR 22).^[30]

South of Petersfield,National Cycle Route 222 (NCR 222) follows the route of the A3 until the route reachesWaterlooville. The route passes through theQueen Elizabeth Country Park and passes along the eastern rim ofClanfield. The main cycle route between Petersfield and the Country Park follows NCR 22 throughBuriton.^[31]

• Great Britain road numbering scheme
• List of motorways in the United Kingdom
• British industrial narrow gauge railways

Notes

References

Media related toA3 road (England) at Wikimedia Commons

• CBRD Motorway Database – A3 and A3(M)
• A3 Hindhead Improvement – Highways Agency page
• Society for All British Road Enthusiasts entry for the A3Archived 29 September 2021 at theWayback Machine

• Roads in England
• Roads in Surrey
• Transport in Hampshire
• Transport in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames
• Roads in London
• Streets in the London Borough of Lambeth
• Transport in the London Borough of Merton
• Streets in the London Borough of Southwark
• Proposed roads in the United Kingdom
• Streets in the London Borough of Wandsworth

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