A303 road

The A303 is a trunk road in England. It is the main road between Basingstoke in Hampshire and Honiton in Devon. The M3, the A303 and the A30 together make up one of the main routes from London to South West England, running from London to Land's End in Cornwall. It is a primary A road throughout its length.

The A303 is subject to several upgrade proposals, some of which have been controversial. Despite being a primary route to southwestern England, the A303 is not frequently congested (except in the summer holiday season) as the recommended route from London to Exeter is the M4 and the M5. However, congestion is frequently reported on the route's single carriageway sections.

History

The A303 was created by a renumbering of several different routes to provide a long bypass for through traffic for a section of the A30. Parts of the route, such as the section past Stonehenge, have been a right of way for people, wagons, and later motor vehicles for centuries. Running from the M3 motorway towards the south west of England these were:

Section	Old Classification
A33 to Bullington Cross	Unclassified roads, later B3379 to Micheldever and B3049 thereon
Bullington Cross to Andover	B3049
Andover to Stonehenge	A344 road
Stonehenge Wincanton to Ilchester	B3090, later A3036
Ilchester bypass at Podimore	B3150, later A372 until bypass built
Ilchester to South Petherton	A3036
South Petherton to Ilminster	A358
Ilminster to Marsh	B3169, later A3079
Marsh to A30	B3170 later A3079

Since the designation of this route, various bypasses have been built.

Route

The A303 starts at the M3 motorway south of Basingstoke at Junction 8, as a dual carriageway. It heads south west, crossing the A34 road near Bullington before passing south of Andover. It bypasses Amesbury. The route then becomes single carriageway before passing Stonehenge. After Winterbourne Stoke the route once again becomes dual carriageway, meeting the A36 at Deptford. There is then another section of single carriageway road, before a further section of dual two lane road near Berwick St Leonard. It enters a valley through the village of Chicklade. From here it follows the terrain up to Mere, where it runs north of the town as another dual carriageway bypass. Continuing west, it passes south of Wincanton and then north of Sparkford to a roundabout where the road reverts once more to single carriageway. At Yeovilton the road becomes dual two lane again, and connects with the A37 which joins it until it reaches the end of the bypass. This final section of dual carriageway ends at South Petherton. It runs north of Ilminster where it meets the A358 road. After this, the route is more south westerly through the Blackdown Hills, where it is a narrow road following the contours of the land. The end of the A303 is reached where it joins the A30. Between Ilchester and Shores Bridge (over the River Parrett, east of South Petherton) the road follows the course of the Roman Fosse Way.

Looking west along the A303 near Bourton.

A303 passing close to Stonehenge.

A303 near its junction with the A36

Map of Route

• Route of A303 overlaid on Google Maps

Proposed improvements

Much of the road is dual carriageway, with intervening sections of single carriageway road. The Highways Agency has had plans for several years to upgrade the rest of the route to dual carriageway; however none of these upgrades are currently under construction.

A303 Stonehenge Improvement

Main article: Stonehenge road tunnel

The most controversial of the proposed alterations was the Stonehenge road tunnel, where the road passes alongside the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. On 5 June 2003, 7.7 miles (12.5 km) of improvements, including the proposed 1.3 mile (2.1 km) bored Stonehenge road tunnel under land adjacent to Stonehenge, were announced by the Secretary of State for Transport as part of a wider announcement of road improvements. A public enquiry into whether the plans were adequate was announced; it concluded that they were, despite protests from charities and landowners that the tunnel should be longer. On 31 October 2005 it was announced that there was to be a review of the options for Stonehenge, starting in January 2006, as costs had doubled. The government cancelled the whole scheme in December 2007.

A303/A358 South Petherton to M5 Taunton

In November 2004 plans to improve the route through the Blackdown Hills - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty - were abandoned in favour of upgrading the A358 from Ilminster to the M5 motorway at Taunton to reduce traffic west of Ilminster. Also incorporating plans to widen the Ilminster bypass from South Petherton to a dual 2 lane road, these were the subject of a public consultation in March 2007 but were shelved in 2009 when it was concluded that the dualling could not be funded from the Regional Funding Allocation for the South West.

Other Schemes

A number of other schemes along the A303 were considered, but then cancelled in 1998

• A30/A303 Marsh Honiton and A35 Honiton Eastern Bypass
• A303 Ilminster Bypass Improvement
• A303 Ilminster to Marsh Improvement
• A303 Sparkford to Ilchester Improvement
• A303 Wylye-Stockton Wood Improvement
• A303 Chicklade Bottom-Mere Improvement

The schemes were remitted to the London to South West and South Wales Multi-Modal Study (SWARMMS), and the conclusion of the report was that all of the schemes east of Ilminster should go ahead and that to avoid building a dual carriageway through the Blackdown Hills the A358 should be upgraded to the M5 motorway at Taunton. As of 2009 none are considered to be regional priorities so no other improvements are likely to be funded before 2019.

The road in pop culture

Kula Shaker performed their first impromptu gig at the Glastonbury Festival, which can be reached via the A303. They used this as the title of their song 303 on the album K. It was also mentioned in the Levellers' song Battle of the Beanfield, about the attack by police on travellers celebrating the Solstice at Stonehenge (1 June 1985): "Down the '303 at the end of the road, Flashing lights, exclusion zones".

In an episode of the popular BBC comedy panel show Mock The Week, comedian John Oliver responded to the prompt "Things A Frenchman would never say" with "My favourite road, now that's got to be the A303. In many ways it's quicker than the M4, and you get to go past Stonehenge. If you're going along to the West Country it's the A303 for me every time. What a road, what a road!". Oliver mentions the A303 with some frequency on The Bugle, a satirical podcast he co-hosts with Andy Zaltzman.

Prior to the broadcast of Series 15 of Top Gear, the cast of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May were spotted and recorded driving along the A303 in what appeared to be house cars. The video was recorded and put on YouTube. The show is due to be broadcast in the summer of 2010.

Points of Interest

Point	Coordinates (Links to map resources)	OS Grid Ref	Notes
North Waltham, Hampshire	51.1976°N 1.2103°W / 51.1976; -1.2103 (North Waltham, Hampshire)	SU551446	Start, North Waltham, Hampshire
Newcott	50.8755°N 3.0938°W / 50.8755; -3.0938 (Newcott)	ST230090	End - Newcott, Devon

External links

• Clark, A., 2004, "Darling to signal roadbuilding rethink" in The Guardian, November 27, 2004
• Highways Agency - A303 Stonehenge Improvement
• Department for Transport, 2005, "Way forward announced for A303 Stonehenge review"
• "Arriving soon at Stonehenge: 480 trucks a day from Tesco's 'megashed'", The Guardian, Saturday February 23, 2008
• Clip of A303 on Mock The Week