A3

A3 and A3(M)

London to Portsmouth

The A3 is the historic route south-west from London to Portsmouth, connecting the capital with the home of the navy, and thanks to a steady programme of upgrades since the early part of the 20th Century, it still is, and today it's virtually a motorway from the city to the coast.

Routes

A3

The A3 has been one of London's most important approaches for centuries. Planned upgrades in the sixties were almost all built, but not quite, making a very fast road that fizzles out at Wandsworth.

Routes
A3

What's new

Signs and sensibility

The one great attempt to make London’s streets logical - and how one retired chauffeur’s favourite routes changed the way you get around the capital.

A bridge under troubled bridges

A bridge that was ruined by another bridge, and a type of highway planning beyond any of the UK’s worst nightmares.

The monster seen from below

What might it have been like to stand in one spot and witness the arrival, and the uncertainty, of plans for an urban motorway in West London?

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Oxfordshire Signs

This is the story of one man at Oxfordshire County Council who pre-empted the development of modern road signs - much to the annoyance of the men from the Ministry.