The M3 is a

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in England, from Sunbury-on-Thames,

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 ...

, to Eastleigh,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

; a distance of approximately . The route includes the Aldershot Urban Area, Basingstoke, Winchester, and Southampton. It was constructed as a dual three-lane motorway except for its two-lane section between junction 8 ( A303) and junction 9. The motorway was opened in phases, ranging from Lightwater/ Bagshot to Popham in 1971 to Winchester to Otterbourne Hill in 1995. The latter stages attracted opposition from environmental campaigns across Britain due to its large cutting through wooded Twyford Down; numerous road protests were held which delayed its opening. Similar protests were avoided on the near-parallel A3 by the construction of the Hindhead Tunnel. Since completion, the motorway has been an artery to the west and midsections of the

South Coast South Coast is a name often given to coastal areas to the south of a geographical region or major metropolitan area. Geographical Australia *South Coast (New South Wales), the coast of New South Wales, Australia, south of Sydney * South Coast (Q ...

and

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...

including for tourism. The major settlements nearest to the motorway are served by a railway also used for

commuting Commuting is periodically recurring travel between one's place of residence and place of work or study, where the traveler, referred to as a commuter, leaves the boundary of their home community. By extension, it can sometimes be any regu ...

but are relatively dispersed. Traffic on the M3 sees delays and congestion on its busiest sections near commuting hotspots and during holiday periods. From Chertsey to Fleet the road was in 2017 converted to a Smart Motorway, turning the hard shoulder into a permanent fourth lane with emergency refuge lay-bys.

History

The motorway was originally approved as the "London to Basingstoke Motorway" with delays over funding for an extension to Southampton the road was built to relieve two single carriageway trunk roads that were congested. In 1967, sections of the

A33 road The A33 is a major road in the counties of Berkshire and Hampshire in southern England. The road currently runs in three disjoint sections. Route Reading–Basingstoke The first stretch of the A33 is a relatively new road, built as the A33 re ...

from Popham, Hampshire, to a northeastern point of the Winchester Bypass were widened to dual carriageways; this only partially alleviated growing congestion, especially in Winchester, which led to the southern phase gaining approval. Oral Questions in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

21 June 1967 vol 283 cc1385-7

Eastern section

The eastern section, from Sunbury-on-Thames in

to Popham near Basingstoke opened in sections: first the

section in 1971, and then the

section in 1974. The cost for this first phase was £46m. The completed road acts were as a continuation of the A316 Country Way, an express three-lane road from Apex Corner, Hanworth, in Greater London to Sunbury-on-Thames. The section is one of five routes into the southern half of London which reach Inner London with at least a dual-carriageway - or dual-direction - road, the others being the A3 (M), the A30/A4, the M20 and A2. However approximately one mile before reaching Inner London it combines with the routes of the A30 and M4 approaches.

Southern section

A first public inquiry for the "M3 London to Basingstoke Motorway: Popham to Compton extension" centred on the section passing Winchester, and was held in 1971, after which the ministry was instructed to reconsider and reconsult on the proposals. A second public inquiry was held in 1976–77. The earlier decision to route the motorway through or alongside the water meadows between St Catherine's Hill and the compact cathedral city was reopened, and during the year-long inquiry the headmaster of

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

was forcibly ejected along with others for causing a disturbance. The scope of the M3 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 1995. When this opened, the temporary junction to the A33 parallel route was removed. The section of the M3 from near Junction 12 ( Eastleigh and Chandler's Ford) to the last, Junction 14 for the M27 replaced part of the

which was upgraded to motorway standard and opened in 1991. In 2008 the busiest section of the motorway, at Chandler's Ford, carried a daily average of around 130,000 vehicles. The southern section starts as a continuation of a single-lane avenue, Bassett Avenue and The Avenue in the

City of Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also cover ...

as the

M27 motorway The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is long and runs between Cadnam and Portsmouth. It was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, providing the largest two urban areas in Hampshire ( Southampton and Portsmouth) with a direct m ...

provides alternative routes from other parts of the city, particularly its waterfront and downtown peak-hour accessway, the M271 motorway and Mountbatten Way providing dual to three lane highways starting at the northwest of the city.

Abandoned/suspended proposals

A service station was envisaged at Basingstoke upon the motorway's completion but not built – superseded by one just north of Fleet and another north of Winchester. Plans for a Basingstoke Services were again published in November 2017

Additions

An additional junction, numbered 4A, was opened in April 1992 for Fleet.

Detailed route

The M3 starts at Sunbury-on-Thames in

on the edge of South West London as the continuation of the A316 which has three lanes each way from Hanworth in the London Borough of Hounslow, and two from Chiswick. The motorway after its start turns more

west-southwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each ...

, crosses 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 ...

on the

M3 Chertsey Bridge The M3 Chertsey Bridge is a motorway bridge in England built in the 1970s. Purpose The bridge carries a minimum of medium-distance traffic along the M3 motorway between its first and second junctions across the River Thames at its north–south ...

to the north of Chertsey and then has its second junction, at the M25 motorway, before continuing through the gorse, bogs and heather of the

Surrey Heath Surrey Heath is a local government district with borough status in Surrey, England. Its council is based in Camberley. Much of the area is within the Metropolitan Green Belt. History The district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Loc ...

. Its third junction is for

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Camb ...

, Bagshot, Bracknell, Ascot and Worplesdon. From Junction 4 it bisects the northern Blackwater Valley conurbation then has its latest junction for Fleet and nearby early 21st century expanded/new villages, it crosses the South West Main Line, before skirting Old Basing and Basingstoke to its north. Turning south west again, it passes Popham and, just before reaching Junction 8, where one lane becomes the A303 road which leads to Exeter and

South West England South West England, or the South West of England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of the counties of Bristol, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. Cities ...

. From here the motorway continues as a dual two lane road through open

countryside In general, a rural area or a countryside is a geographic area that is located outside towns and cities. Typical rural areas have a low population density and small settlements. Agricultural areas and areas with forestry typically are desc ...

and Micheldever Wood until it reaches the north of Winchester. Taking over the "Winchester Bypass" the M3 resumes to three lanes each way at Junction 9, continues directly south and then takes a small curve around the east of the city running through a deep cutting in Twyford Down and then proceeding south west again, crossing the South West Main Line a second time alongside the River Itchen and through the Eastleigh urban-suburban area before crossing the Eastleigh to Romsey railway line and ending at the Chilworth Roundabout on the edge of Southampton.

Road features

*The Spitfire Bridge carries the B3404 Alresford Road from Winchester over the M3 motorway and the parallel A272 (J9-J10 spur, known as the "Spitfire Link"). It replaced a concrete

parabolic arch A parabolic arch is an arch in the shape of a parabola.Article about parabolic arch by The Free DictionaryParabolic arch , Article about parabolic arch by The Free Dictionary accessdate: March 2, 2017 In structures, their curve represents an effi ...

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, hence the name. *A private exit of the northern roundabout connected to Junction 4a provides access to the former UK headquarters of

Sun Microsystems Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Sun for short) was an American technology company that sold computers, computer components, software, and information technology services and created the Java programming language, the Solaris operating system, ZFS, t ...

. As of 2018 this is now a new housing estate, Helios Park *The section of the M3 between J2 and J4a has been converted into a smart motorway, with full opening on 30 June 2017.

Incidents

*In the early morning of 25 April 1999, the drum and bass DJ and record producer Valerie Olukemi "Kemi" Olusanya, known as

Kemistry Valerie Olukemi A "Kemi" Olusanya (13 October 1963 – 25 April 1999), commonly known by her stage name Kemistry, was a leading English drum and bass DJ of the early 1990s, half of duo Kemistry & Storm, and co-founder of the Metalheadz rec ...

, 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

about the safety of cat's eyes in light of the highly unusual incident, and Highways England conducted an investigation into the "long-term integrity and performance" of various types of road stud. *On 1 April 2000, a zebra crossing was illegally painted across the northbound carriageway of the M3 between Junctions 4 and 4a. *On 23 September 2017 two firebombs were thrown from a bridge onto the motorway between junctions 9 and 11 by 17-year-old Nicholas Elger (who suffered from a psychiactric illness) leading to an 11-hour closure costing the economy an estimated £40m. The attacker was identified after being linked to a bottle of Voss water used to transport the fuel. Elger told police he wished he had killed somebody and entered guilty pleas to two counts of arson recklessly endangering life.

Junctions

Data from

driver location signs Driver location signs are signs placed every along each side of English motorways, and some other major English roads, to provide information that will allow motorists to know their precise location. , roads in England, but not Scotland, Wale ...

are used to provide distance and carriageway identification information.Area 3 Driver Location Signs (map) – Highway Authority, 2009 {, style="margin-left:1em; margin-bottom:1em; color:black; font-size:95%;" class="wikitable" , - style="background:#0080d0; text-align:center; color:white; font-size:120%;" , colspan="5" , M3 motorway junctions , - !scope=col, miles !scope=col, km !scope=col abbr="Northeastbound", North-east bound exits (B carriageway) !scope=col, Junction !scope=col abbr="Southwestbound", South-west bound exits (A carriageway) , - align="center" , 15.0, , 24.2 , ''Road continues as A316 to

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 ...

'' , rowspan="2", J1 , Sunbury, Kingston A308
''Non-motorway traffic'' , - style="text-align:center;" , 15.3, , 24.6 , Sunbury, Kingston A308 , ''Start of motorway'' , - style="text-align:center;" , 21.3, , 34.2 , Gatwick

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

– M25 (M23), (M4) , J2 , Gatwick, Heathrow (M23, M4) M25 , - style="text-align:center;" , 28.1, , 45.2 , Woking, Bracknell,

, Bagshot, Lightwater A322 , J3 , Woking, Camberley, Bracknell, Bagshot, Lightwater A322 , - style="text-align:center;" , 32.6, , 52.5 , Guildford, Farnham,

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

A331 The A331 Highway, also known as the Vilyuy Highway, is a highway in Russia connecting Yakutsk to Tulun, the highway is 1,166 km (724 mi), the road is paved for first 31 mi from Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkut ...

, J4 , Guildford, Farnham, Camberley, Farnborough, Aldershot A331 , - style="text-align:center;" , , , style=background:skyblue , ''Entering

'' , , style=background:skyblue , ''Entering

'' , - style="text-align:center;" , 34.4, , 55.4 , Fleet (A3013), Farnborough (West) A327 , J4a , Fleet (A3013), Farnborough (West) A327 , - style="text-align:center;" , , , '' Fleet services ( Welcome Break) '' , ''Services'' , '' Fleet services ( Welcome Break)'' , - style="text-align:center;" , 41.9, , 67.4 , Hook A287 B3349 , J5 , Hook A287 B3349 , - style="text-align:center;" , 46.6, , 75.0 , Basingstoke,

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

(A33), Alton A339
, J6 , Basingstoke, Newbury, Reading, Alton A339 , - style="text-align:center;" , 51.8, , 83.3 , Basingstoke A30 , J7 , Basingstoke A30 , - style="text-align:center;" , 53.1, , 85.5 , ''No access'' , J8 , The South West,

Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia *Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Andov ...

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

, Exeter A303 , - style="text-align:center;" , 59.9, , 96.4 , '' Winchester services ( Moto) '' , ''Services'' , ''Winchester services ( Moto) '' , - style="text-align:center;" , 63.9, , 102.8 , The Midlands, Newbury A34 trunk road
Winchester A272, Alresford A31 , J9 , The Midlands, Newbury A34 trunk road
Winchester A272 , - style="text-align:center;" , 65.2, , 105.0 , Winchester (City) B3330
Alton, Alresford A31 , J10 , ''No access'' , - style="text-align:center;" , 67.2, , 108.1 , Winchester A3090
Twyford B3335 , J11 , Winchester A3090
Twyford B3335 , - style="text-align:center;" , 70.0, , 112.6 , Eastleigh (North) A335 , J12 , Eastleigh (North), Chandler's Ford A335 , - style="text-align:center;" , 71.8, , 115.6 , Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford A335 , J13 , Bournemouth M27(W)
Eastleigh A335 , - style="text-align:center;" , , , ''Start of motorway'' , J14 , Southampton ,

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

M27(E)
The West, Southampton Docks,
Southampton A33 , - , colspan=5, Notes *Distances in kilometres and carriageway identifiers are obtained from

/location marker posts. Where a junction spans several hundred metres and the data is available, both the start and finish values for the junction are shown. , -

Notes and references

;Notes ;References

External links

*Chris's British Road Directory
Motorway Database – M3

'Bad Junctions' – M3/A31 (Winchester)
{{DEFAULTSORT:3-0003m Motorways in England Transport in Surrey Transport in Hampshire Roads in Surrey