It’s been the bane of commuters for years – probably since the M3 was opened between Southampton and Winchester, if not longer. The bottleneck that can add half an hour to your journey north and south – trying to get between the M3 and the A34 at Junction 9.
Morning queues on the M3 can stretch back to the Twyford cutting and evening traffic on the A34 is often standstill from Three Maids Hill. I speak from experience here.
Well, all that is about to change.
OK. “about to change” may be putting it a bit strongly. But plans are afoot.
Highways England have published plans to make drastic improvements to the junction. The main change will be to provide dedicated slip roads – bypassing the roundabout – between the A34 and the M3 southbound, and between the M3 northbound and the A34. The roundabout will be changed to a “dumb bell” layout, and used primarily for local traffic and the M3 to and from Basingstoke.
It’s not all about motor traffic. Highways England also propose to improve pedestrian and cycle routes through the junction.
This video gives an idea of how the traffic would flow when the work is complete.
More details of the scheme can be found on the Highways England website from where you can download a consultation brochure and give your views in an online survey. Note that the consultation period ends on 19 February.
There have also been a number of public consultation events. There are two more: next Friday and Saturday, 16th and 17th February at Kings Worthy Community Centre. 2.00pm to 8.00pm on Friday and 10.30am to 4.00pm on Saturday.
Bassett Avenue Resurfacing – February and March 2018
This also might be a good moment to remind readers that Southampton’s Bassett Avenue will be completely closed for four weeks from 12 February. This is a popular route to Southampton from Chandler’s Ford and Eastleigh, so seek an alternative route.
From That’s Salisbury:
Bassett Avenue – a reminder that southbound closure will be in place for your commutes on Monday, please plan journeys & consider alternative routes. More info at https://t.co/D0jUEdIMBT
— Southampton Travel (@scchighways) February 11, 2018
Chippy, thank you for your reminder about Bassett Avenue. I’m considering travelling by train for the next few weeks and get to the office much earlier than before. It’s going to be an interesting few weeks to test everybody’s patience. What’s your tips to de-stress under these circumstances?
Don’t get stressed in the first place! Just accept that your journey is going to take a little longer than normal, and plan to do something constructive with that time. Maybe find some audio books to listen to. Remember, everyone else is in the same boat, and is just as frustrated as you are!
Once they start the work at Junction 9 (my normal commute) I’ll let you know how effective these tips are!
It may be a blessing in disguise. You may find that travelling by train is so much easier and quicker than by road that you will convert to train travel for ever.
The problem is that it is more expensive to travel by train though it is convenient. It costs me £17 for my weekly bus ticket to Southampton and I could use the bus pass for all blue buses in Southampton. I need to find out the train fare soon.
Speaking as a (pretend) economist, I would say that you may be confusing “financial cost” with “true cost”, and “potential benefit” with “actual benefit”.
What about the value of a quicker and/or more comfortable and/or more convenient journey time?
A bus pass for all blue buses sounds great, but how often do you actually use it? I know that when I have had a season ticket to London, although I could have used it for train travel between any stations between Eastleigh and London at weekends, I very rarely did.
If you travel by Bluestar 1 to Southampton, here is some information for you:
I have purchased my ferry ticket to France and will spend as much time as possible there until better times
I visited one of the exhibitions at the weekend. The sad news for those of us who were hoping for early respite from the traffic delays is that the improvements won’t be finished until 2023.
Is there a map online of the works that will be taking place,?