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 The A316 road inRichmond（Twickenham Road）, nearOld Deer Park. | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Length | 9.5 mi (15.3 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| East end | Chiswick | |||
| Major intersections |  A315 A4 A3003 A205 A307 A3004 A310 A305 A312 A314 A308 M3 | |||
| West end | Sunbury-on-Thames | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United Kingdom | |||
| Primary destinations | Richmond Twickenham | |||
| Road network | ||||
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TheA316, known in parts as theGreat Chertsey Road, is a majorroad inEngland, which runs from theA315Chiswick High Road,Turnham Green,Chiswick to join head-on theM3 motorway atSunbury-on-Thames. Its initial London sectionChiswick Lane (to theHogarth Roundabout) heads south – following this it is a mostly straight dual carriageway alignedWSW.
Outward from London the road starts asChiswick Lane atChiswick, between 75 and 79 Chiswick High Road(51°29′35″N0°15′06″W / 51.493056°N 0.251667°W /51.493056; -0.251667 (A316 road (eastern end))). Near the geographical centre of Chiswick it crosses theA4 at theHogarth Roundabout, the connection for central London, the west of England, and South Wales. The road goes on past the grounds ofChiswick House asBurlington Lane, and then becomesGreat Chertsey Road, passingChiswick School. It then crosses theThames onChiswick Bridge.
After Chiswick Bridge, the A316 isClifford Avenue until its next crossroads, theSouth Circular Road (A205) and the A3003 to Mortlake and Barnes at Chalker's Corner. It becomes thedual-carriagewayLower Richmond Road before crossing the B353 at Manor Circus,North Sheen and then the single-carriagewayLower Mortlake Road before crossing theA307 at Richmond Circus. Finishing its bypass ofRichmond to the north, it forms a long bend, asTwickenham Road, passingPools on the Park and skirting most ofOld Deer Park on the south side, before crossing the Thames again onTwickenham Bridge. After this the road is calledThe Avenue, and includes a sharp 35 degree correctional bend, before reaching St Margarets Roundabout,St Margarets, which is the junction for the short A3004 in both directions.
The long western section after this in the Borough isChertsey Road. It passes the London Road (A310) Roundabout, before passing an unusually relocated and architecturallyGrade I church,All Hallows (formerlyWren's All Hallows, Lombard Street).[1] The road passes Whitton Road Roundabout, also in northTwickenham, which is the turning forTwickenham Rugby Stadium. The road then becomes dual-carriageway again and runs through southWhitton, passingThe Stoop rugby ground and a prominent pub/hotel complex. After crossing theRiver Crane, the A316 leaves Richmond-upon-Thames and returns to Hounslow.
Between Hospital Bridge Roundabout in Richmond-upon-Thames, and Apex Corner Roundabout, the road resumes the nameGreat Chertsey Road. After Apex Corner Roundabout, which the A316 crosses over by way of a flyover – most of the remainder of the road is calledCountry Way. The road crosses theLongford River while bisectingHanworth. By theKempton Park Reservoirs SSSI the A316 turnsSSW with sliproads to the Nallhead Road Roundabout, and passes aDairy Crest building: formerly Job's Dairy, the building later belonged to Unigate before being bought by Dairy Crest. The building has distinctive sculptures of cows made of fibreglass on the roof, installed in 1977, which replaced some earlier stone cow sculptures.[2]The road passes theKempton Park Steam Engines at the prominent waterworks, and then exits the London area.
The final short section of the A316 is inSpelthorne,Surrey and is calledHanworth Road. The road enters the borough nearKempton Park Racecourse, before joining the motorway end-on at Sunbury Cross (Junction 1 of the M3) also inSunbury-on-Thames. Slip roads link the road with theA308.(51°25′10″N0°25′06″W / 51.419444°N 0.418333°W /51.419444; -0.418333 (A316 road (western end))). Just to the north of the road as it joins the M3 is the site of some formergreyhound kennels, now occupied by warehouses.[3]
The greater part of the road was originally planned in the 1920s as a relief road linkingLondon withSouth West England. Construction began in 1928 and the road, together with Chiswick and Twickenham Bridges, was opened in 1933. The section between Hanworth and Sunbury is part of an older route; before being widened and renamed Country Way in the 1970s, this section had the names Twickenham Road (between Apex Corner and Bear Road) and Sunbury Road (between Bear Road and Kempton Park).[4] Apub once stood adjacent to the A316 in Hanworth called the "Brown Bear"; it was demolished in 1973 when the road was made into triple lanes and the flyover with limited access over the junction of Bear/Hanworth Road built.[5]
The A316 was the first road in Britain to have stationarytraffic enforcement cameras on it, when, on 13 October 1992, the first camera, aGatso, near Twickenham Bridge facing the road westbound was turned on.[6][7]
Nicola Regan, who died after being run over in front of a group of friends on 22 March 1991,[8][9] is commemorated by a nearbymemorial bench in Old Deer Park.
On 6 October 1997, the A316 in Hanworth was the scene of one of the earliest recordedroad rage incidents in Britain when Toby Exley, a chef fromTeddington, and his partner Karen Martin, fromTwickenham, both died when their car, aFord Fiesta, collided with the central reserve after being hit by a speedingVauxhall Senator which drove away.[10] The driver of the Vauxhall Senator, Jason Humble, fromCove inHampshire, was eventually arrested, found guilty at theOld Bailey on 2 April 1998 of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[11]
A roads in Zone 3 of theGreat Britain road numbering scheme | ||
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