The A217 is a

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types o ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It runs north–south. It runs from

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

, crosses the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

at Wandsworth Bridge, then passes through

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its nam ...

, Earlsfield, Summerstown,

Tooting Tooting is a district in South London, forming part of the London Borough of Wandsworth and partly in the London Borough of Merton. It is located south south-west of Charing Cross. History Tooting has been settled since pre-Saxon times. Th ...

Mitcham Mitcham is an area within the London Borough of Merton in South London, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross. Originally a village in the county of Surrey, today it is mainly a residential suburb, and includes Mitcham Common. It h ...

, Rosehill and

Sutton Common Sutton Common is the name of former common land and a district and neighbourhood located in Sutton, London. The area is mostly located within the London Borough of Sutton, with some of the streets to the north and west of Sutton Common Park ...

in Sutton, then

Cheam Cheam () is a suburb of London, England, south-west of Charing Cross. It is divided into North Cheam, Cheam Village and South Cheam. Cheam Village contains the listed buildings Lumley Chapel and the 16th-century Whitehall. It is adjacent to ...

. Then, widened as a dual carriageway, comes Belmont, a suburban district built on a slope rising southward. On the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills ...

the road then skirts past Banstead and through its late 19th century offspring villages particularly

Burgh Heath __NOTOC__ Burgh Heath ( or, especially amongst older residents, ) is a residential neighbourhood with a remnant part of the Banstead Commons of the same name. Immediately north of Upper Kingswood on the A217 road, it adjoins part of Banstead t ...

and

Kingswood, Surrey Kingswood or Kingswood with Burgh Heath is a residential area on the North Downs in the Borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Part of the London commuter belt, Kingswood is just to the east of the A217 separating it from Tadwort ...

. It then crosses the

M25 motorway The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...

at Junction 8, then, returning to single carriageways, passes through the castle town of

Reigate Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...

. It then cuts through the green buffer farmland of two rural villages and terminates at the road network at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after ...

's northern perimeter.

Route

Fulham to Tooting

The A217 starts as a non-primary A-road named Wandsworth Bridge Road,

in the

London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham The London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham () is a London borough in West London and which also forms part of Inner London. The borough was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former Metropolitan Boroughs of Hammersmith and Fulham. The bor ...

and runs for 0.8 miles (1.3 km) before crossing over the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

at Wandsworth Bridge. The road enters the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and

London borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth Town. The borough border ...

. The road turns right at a roundabout on to Swandon Way, becoming a primary route for a short stretch (as a continuation of the A3205), before passing

Wandsworth Town railway station Wandsworth Town railway station is in the London Borough of Wandsworth, in south London, in Travelcard Zone 2. It is down the line from . The station and all trains serving it are operated by South Western Railway. History The station opened ...

. It is briefly called Fairfield St before meeting the A3 (Wandsworth High St.). The road reverts to non-primary status, and changes name to

Garratt Lane Garratt Lane is a long street (numbered to 1085) in the London Borough of Wandsworth, part of the A217 road. It connects Wandsworth High Street to Tooting Broadway and is approximately long. It passes through the Earlsfield and Summerstown nei ...

, passing Southside shopping centre, before it heads out of Wandsworth and into Earlsfield. It passes the B234 shortly before reaching Earlsfield railway station. It continues through Summerstown as Garratt Lane and the road passes the B229 (Burntwood Lane) before it reaches Streatham Cemetery. In Lower

, it meets Tooting Broadway, a busy junction with the A24 and tube station, before becoming Mitcham Road and passing the B241 (Rectory Lane). It passes Tooting railway station and this is where the road exits the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Mitcham to Belmont

A217, passing Figges Marsh (geograph 3515432)

It becomes London Road as it enters the

London Borough of Merton The London Borough of Merton () is a borough in Southwest London, England. The borough was formed under the London Government Act 1963 in 1965 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Mitcham, the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon and the Mer ...

. It continues through the one-way system at Mitcham and passes Mitcham tram station before becoming Bishopsford Road. The road enters the St Helier Estate, firstly in the Morden area before the Carshalton part in the ondon Borough of Sutton.The road reaches Rosehill, which contains a busy 6-way roundabout, before becoming a primary class A-road as it becomes Reigate Avenue (effectively the Sutton by-pass.) As the Sutton by-pass, the road passes the B279 (Sutton Common Road) and

area, which changes name to Oldfields Road and passes the Tesco superstore in the Kimpton Park commercial and industrial area on the edge of North Cheam. It passes a crossroads with Gander Green Lane and becomes St Dunstans Hill before reaching a junction in

with the A232 (High St and Ewell Road). It becomes Belmont Rise and goes past a crossroads with Northey Avenue and the road leaves the suburban area of Belmont, as well as Greater London.

Bishopsford Road Bridge

=Details

= The A217 crosses the

River Wandle The River Wandle is a right-bank tributary of the River Thames in south London, England. With a total length of about , the river passes through the London boroughs of Croydon, Sutton, Merton and Wandsworth, where it reaches the Thames. A sho ...

in Mitcham on ''Bishopsford Road Bridge'', also known as ''Mitcham Bridge''.

=Flood and collapse

= On 10 June 2019, unusually high river waters began while the bridge was being surfaced.

Jack post A jack post (telepost, adjustable steel column) is a steel post used in the construction trades for temporary support of ceilings, walls and trenches (shoring). They are designed to be able to mechanically telescope to about twice their shortest ...

s had been placed underneath to support the vehicles and machinery. These trapped debris (branches, weeds etc.) for four days. The pent-up head of water surged through causing

Bridge scour Bridge scour is the removal of sediment such as sand and gravel from around bridge abutments or piers. Hydrodynamic scour, caused by fast flowing water, can carve out ''scour holes'', compromising the integrity of a structure. In the United Sta ...

(eroding) up to deep and undermined the bridge footings. This led to the partial collapse of the northern arch on 14 June 2019. The southern arch was unaffected and the central arch suffered minor structural damage. Due to the collapse, the road is anticipated to reopen by the onset of Summer 2021. The Borough Council's repair work involved FM Conway and the Environment Agency. They have stabilised the bridge, pre-inspection and repair. Crack-injection and underpinning has secured the central arch. Bed scouring to the west has been filled with stone and gravel; that under the north arch, with marine concrete. Works halted for insurance investigators to inspect for evidence of liability.

Banstead to Lower Kingswood

At the road enters Surrey, it meets the B2230 again at a roundabout to the south of Belmont before entering the notorious 'Mad Mile' section (Brighton Road). The speed limit changes from 40 to 70 mph (113 km/h), quickly down to 60 mph and returns to 40 mph at the Banstead Crossroads junction with the A2022. For the next 5 miles, the road has an unbroken chain of average speed cameras, all of which the speed limit is 40 mph. In this area the road passes Banstead Downs, and its golf course. After passing the Banstead Crossroads, it acts as a boundary between Nork and Banstead as it heads towards

, passing the junctions with Garratts Lane (B2219) and Tattenham Way (B2221) before reaching the A240 (Reigate Road) at the centre of Burgh Heath. It passes near the large suburban villages of

Tadworth Tadworth is a large suburban village in Surrey, England in the south-east of the Epsom Downs, part of the North Downs. It forms part of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. At the 2011 census, Tadworth (and Walton-on-the-Hill) had a population o ...

and Kingswood, passing several B-roads, including the B2032. It travels beside Banstead Heath (still as Brighton Road) before reaching the small settlement of Lower Kingswood. After passing a roundabout near Kingswood Manor, the road arrives at the Reigate Hill Interchange, which is also Junction 8 of the M25.

Reigate to Horley

At this point, the A217 becomes a non-primary A-road. It is now named Reigate Hill, in a very steep section of the

. The area become more urban at the bottom of the hill, on the northern outskirts of the town of

. It passes through a level crossing next to Reigate station. It runs concurrently with the A25 through the main one-way system of Reigate town centre. It carries on through the localities of Woodhatch and Doversgreen before going into a very rural area. It travels over the

River Mole The River Mole is a tributary of the River Thames in southern England. It rises in West Sussex near Gatwick Airport and flows northwest through Surrey for to the Thames at Hampton Court Palace. The river gives its name to the Surrey distri ...

in the small hamlet of Sidlow. After a period of farms, the road passes the village of Hookwood, taking a left turn at a roundabout. Continuing past Povey Cross, the road reaches Longbridge Roundabout on the border with

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

Landmarks on the route

* Wandsworth Bridge *The converted

Young's Brewery Young's (Young & Co.'s Brewery Plc) is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs. The company was founded as a brewery in 1831 by Charles Young and Anthony Bainbridge when they purchased the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth. The company closed ...

South Thames College South Thames Colleges Group (STCG) is a large further education institution operating four colleges in south-west London: South Thames College, Kingston College, Merton College, and Carshalton College. The four main campuses are in Wandsworth, ...

and

Southside Wandsworth Southside Wandsworth is a shopping centre in the district of Wandsworth in London, England. When it was built it was the largest indoor shopping centre in Europe and is currently the fifth largest indoor shopping centre in London after Westfi ...

* Earlsfield railway station * Tooting Broadway tube station * Tooting railway station *

Figges Marsh Figges Marsh is a 25-acre public park in the London Borough of Merton. It is in Mitcham, close to Tooting railway station. Originally, the park was next to a toll road into London, which was turnpiked in 1745; now known as London Road. The Na ...

(Park), Tooting *

Cricket Green * Mitcham tram stop and Station House *Rosehill Recreation Ground * Banstead Downs *Banstead Heath *

College, Town Hall and castle ruins/tunnel *

Sidlow Sidlow is a mainly rural, lightly populated village in the parish of Salfords and Sidlow, in the south of the borough of Reigate and Banstead in Surrey, England. Geography and sublocalities Sidlow is the west of the civil parish; a high propor ...

Bridge over the River Mole, Surrey *Holiday Inn Gatwick/Longbridge Roundabout/Best Western Gatwick Moat House

Major roads intersected by the route

* A3 and A205 South Circular Road at Wandsworth * A24 at Tooting *

A232 List of A roads in zone 2 in Great Britain starting south of the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest r ...

at Cheam * M25 at Junction 8 * A25 at Reigate

Illegal racing at Banstead

The stretch of the A217 nicknamed ''The Mad Mile'' has been a focal point of illegal

street racing Street racing is typically an unsanctioned and illegal form of auto racing that occurs on a public road. Racing in the streets is considered an ancient hazard, as horse racing occurred on streets for centuries, and street racing in automobiles ...

since the mid-20th century. It is a straight length of

dual carriageway A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...

which runs downhill from the Banstead crossroads with the A2022 to the roundabout with the B2230 near Belmont. The road's notoriety developed shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

due to the increasing affordability and popularity of motorbikes and cars. During the early 1980s, bikers illegally marked out "starting grids" at either end of the Mile on more than one occasion, which were later scrubbed out by the local authority; this activity restarted in the early 2000s among wayward modified car enthusiasts, whose races would often take place on Thursday nights. Information regarding races spread quickly through increasing use of the Internet and some participants and spectators travelled to races from as far away as Birmingham. Police presence gradually diffused this illegal activity, but it has not completely disappeared. Measures to stop these races include barriers erected on the centre grass verge which runs the length of this stretch, where people used to park to watch illegal road use.

Fatal incidents

In August 2006 two men illegally racing along this stretch of a public highway caused an accident that killed three people, a separate offence, and were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of years. Aggravating the offence committed, the conviction found from the evidence in the case that the two men were driving recklessly at a speed much faster than the limit on the road at the point of the accident.

References

External links

SABRE Roads By Ten – A217
{{DEFAULTSORT:2-0217 Roads in West Sussex Roads in London Roads in Surrey Streets in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham Streets in the London Borough of Wandsworth Transport in the London Borough of Merton Transport in the London Borough of Sutton