Everything about A303 Road totally explained
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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 the south west, the A303 isn't frequently congested due to the fact that the recommended route to Honiton is the
M4 and the
M5.
History
The A303 was created out of a renumbering of several different routes to provide a long bypass for through traffic for a section of the
A30, though parts of the route, such as the section past Stonehenge have been a
right of way for people, wagons, and later 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 |
| 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 westerly, crossing the
A34 road near to
Bullington before passing south of
Andover. Dropping down it passes
Amesbury on a
bypass. 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 2 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 east 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 2 lane again, connects with the
A37 which
joins until 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 roads more south westerly through the
Blackdown Hills as a narrow road following the contours of the land. It then joins the A30 where it ends.
Proposed improvements
A substantial proportion of the road is of
dual carriageway construction, 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 the these are currently under construction.
A303 Stonehenge Improvement
The most controversial of these 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 Illminster bypass from
South Petherton to a dual 2 lane road, these have been subject of a public consultation in March 2007.
Other Schemes
A number of other schemes along the A303 were considered, but then canceled 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 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 (1st June, 1995): "Down the '303 at the end of the road, Flashing lights, exclusion zones". A sign for the road was also featured on the label for the
Universal Indicator Yellow album (see the
Discogs link
), perhaps a dual reference to the
Roland TB-303 synthesiser (featured heavily on Universal Indicator recordings) and to
Cornwall the home of Universal Indicator artist
Richard D. James.
Further Information
Get more info on 'A303 Road'.
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