M3 motorway

M3 motorway in the UK
map
Basic data
Operator:	Highways Agency
Overall length:	94.3 km (58.6  mi )
Countries :	England
Development condition:	mostly six lanes
The M3 at Winchester at Junction 11 as seen from Twyford Down
Course of the road Surrey Continue on the direction of London Start of the Autobahn (1)  Sunbury-on-Thames (2)  Gatwick , Heathrow , The NORTH , Dartford , Chertsey , Staines (3)  Woking , Bracknell , Lightwater (4)  Guildford , Farnham , Camberley , Farnborough , Aldershot Hampshire (4A)  Farnborough, Fleet Fleet (5)  Hook B3349 (6)  Basingstoke , Newbury , Alton , Reading (7)  Basingstoke (8th)  The SOUTH WEST , Andover , Salisbury ( HAS London) Winchester (9)  The MIDLANDS , Newbury, Winchester (10)  Winchester, Alton B3330 (11)  Winchester B3335 (two-piece junction) (12)  Eastleigh , Chandler's Ford (13)  Eastleigh, Chandler's Ford (14)  The WEST, Southampton (Docks), Bournemouth (14)  Southampton Airport , Fareham , Portsmouth End of the highway Continue on  Southampton

The M3 motorway ( English for 'Autobahn M3') is a motorway operated by the Highways Agency in the English counties of Hampshire and Surrey . It runs from Sunbury-on-Thames to Eastleigh and is approximately 94 kilometers long. The motorway was built to relieve the A30 and A33, the congested single-lane expressways that previously carried the traffic load. Part of the motorway is a section of European route 5, but this is not signposted in the UK .

history

The construction of the M3 took a total of 24 years (1971–1995) and was essentially carried out successively from northeast to southwest:

• Connection 1 to 3: 1974
• Port 3 to 8: 1971

an additional junction, designated 4a, opened in April 1992 near Farnborough, Hampshire

• Connection 8 to 10: 1985

The original end, built in 1971, the M3 was a provisional exit, near today's junction 8, led directly to the A33 at Popham . When the M3 was further built up to connection 10 in 1985, the temporary structure was demolished.

• Connection 10 to 12: 1995

this section was partly built on the original route of the A33

• The section between junction 12 and 14 was signposted as a motorway in 1992.

Web links

Commons : M3 motorway  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information on the M3 at cbrd.co.uk