M3 motorway (Great Britain)

M3
Route information
Part of E05
Length	58.6 mi (94.3 km)
Existed	1971–present
History	Constructed 1971–1995
Major junctions
From	Sunbury-on-Thames (A316) 51.4166°N 0.4240°W / 51.4166; -0.4240 (M3 motorway (northeastern end))
Major intersections	J2 → M25 motorway Junction 12 J14 → M27 motorway Junction 4
To	Southampton (M27) 50.9545°N 1.4081°W / 50.9545; -1.4081 (M3 motorway (southwestern end))
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Primary destinations	Staines-upon-Thames, Bracknell, Basingstoke, Winchester
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The M3 motorway runs in England for approximately 59 miles (95 km) from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Southampton, Hampshire and forms an unsigned section of European route E05. It is dual three lanes as far as Junction 8 (A303 road) near Basingstoke and then dual two lane until Junction 9 near Winchester and then dual three lane to Southampton. It was opened in sections starting in 1968 and was eventually completed in 1995 in the face of widespread opposition to the section past Winchester that now passes through Twyford Down.

History

See also: Twyford Down

Originally conceived as the 'London to Basingstoke Motorway', the road was built to relieve traffic on the A30 and A33, the congested single carriageway trunk roads that previously carried the traffic.

The first section, from Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey to Popham near Basingstoke opened between in sections, first the Hampshire section in 1971 and then the Surrey section in 1974 at a cost of £46m and by 1967, sections of the A33 road from Popham to the eastern end of the Winchester Bypass were being widened to dual carriageway.

The first public inquiry for the 'M3 London to Basingstoke Motorway: Popham to Compton' extension of the motorway which include the section past Winchester was held in 1971.

A second public inquiry into the extension was held in 1976-7. The earlier decision to route the motorway through or alongside the water meadows between St Catherine’s Hill was reopened and during the year-long inquiry the Headmaster of Winchester College was forcibly ejected along with others for causing a disturbance.

The scope of the extension was reduced to defer the difficult decision about the section around Winchester and it was built in two sections (from 'Popham to Bridget's Farm' and from 'Bridget's Farm to Bar End') in 1985. When it was opened the temporary junction to the A33 was removed.

The M3 motorway at East Stratton

Southern end of the M3 motorway, meeting the A33 at Southampton

The M3 under construction at Twyford Down

The section from near Junction 12 (Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford) to the M27 motorway (Junction 4) followed the route of the A33 road which was upgraded to motorway standard and opened in 1991.

An additional junction, numbered 4a, opened in April 1992 near Farnborough

This left the unresolved issue of the route of the final section past Winchester. A tunnel design was proposed, but rejected. The final route, though Twyford Down resulted in major road protests between 1991 and 1995 when the final section of the motorway was finally opened. A service station was planned at Basingstoke upon the motorway's completion, but this was never built.

On opening the extension of the old Winchester Bypass, which had been constructed in the 1930s, was closed and reverted to rich grassland.

By 2008 the busiest section (at Chandler's Ford) carried a daily average of around 130,000 vehicles.

Detailed routing

The motorway starts as a dual three lane route at Sunbury on Thames on the edge of South West London. It heads south west, crosses the River Thames on the M3 Chertsey Bridge to the north of Chertsey and passes under the M25 motorway, before continuing in a more westerly direction south of Camberley. From Junction 4 it runs across the northern suburbs of Farnborough it enters a more rural setting, crosses the South Western Railway Main Line, and passes close to the Basingstoke Canal before reaching the outskirts of Basingstoke. Turning south west again, it runs across the south of Basingstoke, before reaching Junction 8, where lane 1 becomes the A303 road and the motorway continues as a dual two lane road through open countryside and Micheldever Wood until it reaches the north of Winchester.

Forming the Winchester Bypass it widens to three lanes at Junction 9, continues directly south and then into a small loop around the east of the City. It runs through a deep cutting in Twyford Down and then proceeds south west again, crossing the South Western Railway Main Line a second time alongside the River Itchen and back into a more urban environment before crossing the Eastleigh to Romsey railway line and ending at the Chilworth Roundabout on the fringes of Southampton.

A bridge known as the Spitfire Bridge carries the B3404 Alresford Road to Winchester over the M3 motorway, and the parallel A272 which is known as 'Spitfire Link'. It replaced a concrete parabolic arch bridge under which a Curtiss P-40 had been flown by George Rogers in October 1941. It was generally assumed locally that the aircraft had been a Spitfire and so the name 'Spitfire Bridge' stuck. It is still used for the replacement bridge.

A private exit off the northern roundabout at Junction 4a provides access to the UK headquarters of Sun Microsystems. The A325 has a roundabout junction with a minor road over the M3 between junctions 3 and 4, but there is no junction with the motorway.

Incidents

In the early morning of 25 April 1999, the drum and bass DJ and record producer known as Kemistry was killed on the M3 near Winchester by the steel body of a cat's eye, which had been dislodged by a van and flew through the windscreen of the following car in which she was a passenger. The coroner recorded a verdict of accidental death. A question was asked in the House of Lords about the safety of cat's eyes in light of the highly unusual incident, and the Highways Agency conducted an investigation into the "long-term integrity and performance" of various types of road stud.

On 1 April 2000, pranksters painted a zebra crossing across three lanes of the M3 between junctions 4 and 4a on the northbound carriageway near Farnborough in Hampshire.

Junctions

Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identification information.

M3 motorway junctions
miles	km	Northeastbound exits (B Carriageway)	Junction	Southwestbound exits (A Carriageway)
15.0	24.2	Road continues as A316 to London	J1	Sunbury, Kingston A308 Non-motorway traffic
15.3	24.6	Sunbury, Kingston A308		Start of motorway
21.3	34.2	Gatwick (M23), Maidstone (M20), Stansted (M11), The North (M1), Heathrow (M4), Chertsey (A320), Staines (A30) M25	J2	Gatwick (M23), Maidstone (M20), Stansted (M11), The North (M1), Heathrow (M4), Chertsey (A320), Staines (A30) M25
28.1	45.2	Woking, Bracknell, Bagshot, Lightwater A322	J3	Woking, Bracknell, Bagshot, Lightwater A322
32.6	52.5	Guildford, Farnham, Camberley, Farnborough, Aldershot A331	J4	Guildford, Farnham, Camberley, Farnborough, Aldershot A331
34.4	55.4	Farnborough (West) A327 Fleet (A3013)	J4a	Farnborough (West) A327 Fleet (A3013)
		Fleet services	Services	Fleet services
41.9	67.4	Hook A287 B3349	J5	Hook A287 B3349
46.6	75.0	Basingstoke, Newbury, Alton A339 Reading (A33)	J6	Basingstoke, Newbury, Alton A339
51.8	83.3	Basingstoke A30	J7	Basingstoke A30
53.1	85.5	No access	J8	The South West, Andover, Salisbury A303
59.9	96.4	Winchester services	Services	Winchester services
63.9	102.8	The Midlands, Newbury A34 Winchester A272	J9	The Midlands, Newbury A34 Winchester A272
65.2	105.0	Winchester (City) B3330 Alton A31	J10	No access
67.2	108.1	Winchester A3090 Twyford B3335	J11	Winchester A3090 Twyford B3335
70.0	112.6	Eastleigh (North) A335	J12	Eastleigh (North), Chandler's Ford A335
71.8	115.6	Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford A335	J13	Eastleigh A335
		Start of motorway	J14	Southampton , Portsmouth M27(E) The West, Southampton Docks, Bournemouth M27(W) Southampton A33
Notes Distances in kilometres and carriageway identifiers are obtained from driver location signs/location marker posts. Miles are provided for information only, but are not displayed on the motorway. Where a junction spans several hundred metres and the data is available, both the start and finish values for the junction are shown.
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

See also

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

External links

• CBRD
  • Motorway Database – M3
  • Bad Junctions – M3/A31
• The Motorway Archive – M3