1.
M25 motorway
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The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a 117-mile motorway that encircles almost all of Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. An ambitious concept to build four concentric ring roads around London was first mooted in the 1960s, further widening is in progress of minor sections with plans for managed motorways in many others. To the east of London the two ends of the M25 are joined to complete a loop by the non-motorway A282 Dartford Crossing of the River Thames between Thurrock and Dartford and this crossing, which consists of twin two-lane tunnels and the four-lane QE2 bridge, is named Canterbury Way. Passage across the bridge or through the tunnels is subject to a toll, in the opposite direction, to the east of the point where the M25 diverges from the main east–west carriageway, that carriageway become the M26 motorway. The radial distance from London varies from 12.5 miles in Potters Bar to 19.5 miles in Byfleet.8 miles, major towns listed as destinations, in various counties, adjoin the M25. North Ockendon is the settlement of Greater London situated outside the M25. In 2004, following a poll, the London Assembly mooted for consultation alignment of the Greater London boundary with the M25. Inside the M25 and outside/beyond the M25 are colloquial, looser alternatives to Greater London sometimes used in haulage, the Communications Act 2003 explicitly uses the M25 as the boundary in requiring a proportion of television programmes to be made outside the London area. Two motorway service areas are on the M25, and two others are accessible from it. Those on the M25 are Clacket Lane between junctions 5 and 6 and Cobham between junctions 9 and 10 and those directly accessible from it are South Mimms off junction 23 and Thurrock off junction 31. Cobham services opened on 13 September 2012, originally, the M25 was unlit except for sections around Heathrow, major interchanges and Junctions 23–30. By 2014 only one significant stretch was still SOX-lit and the units were removed the same year, the motorway passes through five counties. Junctions 1A–5 are in Kent, 6–14 are in Surrey, 15–16 are in Buckinghamshire, 17–25 are in Hertfordshire, policing of the road is carried out by an integrated policing group made up of the Metropolitan, Thames Valley, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire and Surrey forces. The M25 is one of Europes busiest motorways, in 2003, a maximum of 196,000 vehicles a day were recorded on the motorway just south of London Heathrow Airport between junctions 13 and 14. A precursor of the M25 was the North Orbital Road, the idea of an orbital road around London was first proposed early in the 20th century and then re-examined in Sir Charles Bresseys and Sir Edwin Lutyens The Highway Development Survey,1937. Sir Patrick Abercrombies County of London Plan,1943 and Greater London Plan,1944 proposed a series of five roads encircling the capital, the northern sections of the M25 follow a similar route to the World War II Outer London Defence Ring. Little was done to progress these plans until the 1960s when the Greater London Council developed its London Ringways plan consisting of four rings around the capital. Sections of the two outer rings – Ringway 3 and Ringway 4 – were constructed in the early 1970s and were integrated into the single M25 orbital motorway, but the Ringways plan was hugely controversial owing to the destruction required for the inner two ring roads
2.
South Circular Road, London
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Together with the North Circular Road and Woolwich Ferry, it makes a complete ring-road around Central London. The South Circular is largely a sequence of urban streets joined together, requiring several at-grade turns, originally planned as a new-build route across South London, construction of the first section of the South Circular near Eltham began in 1921 to a high-quality specification. The remainder of the road was supposed to be of a standard but it was repeatedly delayed. The South Circular has received sustained criticism for congestion and pollution and is one of the least popular roads in Britain, the South Circular is 20.5 miles long. The majority of the road is single carriageway, one each way. It is a road for its entire length. The South Circular Road starts just south of the terminal where the A2204 Ferry Approach meets the main east-west road through Woolwich. The route continues south to the A2 at a grade separated junction—one of only two on the route—and continues southwesterly as a carriageway, crossing Eltham Road and Sidcup Road. At the junction with Burnt Ash Hill the road becomes single carriageway again. Beyond the common, the South Circular merges with the A3 London to Portsmouth road for two miles, travelling along Wandsworth High Street and passing the old Ram Brewery. The road then crosses the A316 Great Chertsey Road, passing the National Archives, Kew Green and it ends at the Chiswick Roundabout, which is the junction for the M4 and the A406 North Circular Road. The South Circular Road was planned by the Ministry of Transport in the early 20th century as part of a programme of traffic improvements across London. In 1903, a proposal for new approach roads was submitted to the Royal Commission on London Traffic, the Road Board was formed in 1910 to address traffic issues, which led to the London Arterial Road Conferences in 1913–14 that revived the earlier plans. Progress was halted because of the war, but resumed in 1920, in 1925, The Times announced a replacement bridge for the Woolwich Ferry was planned as part of the South Circular project to tie in with the East Ham and Barking Bypass. In 1927, the Governors of Dulwich College formally objected to the road as it would put the Memorial Library right next to a main road and remove part of the college green. Sir Patrick Abercrombie was frustrated by the lack of progress, Plans for an improved South Circular were revisited as part of Abercrombies County of London Plan of 1943, as the southern half of one of several ring roads around the capital. The current recognised route of the South Circular was created by local motoring organisations putting up strategically placed signposts to direct traffic. Sir Richard Sharples, then MP for Sutton and Cheam, felt this was inadequate, the existing South Circular route was recognised as being unsuitable for upgrading and a new motorway, Ringway 2, was planned for construction further south
3.
A3 road
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The A3, known as the Portsmouth Road or London Road in sections, is a major road connecting London and Portsmouth passing close to Kingston upon Thames, Guildford, Haslemere and Petersfield. For much of its 67-mile length, it is classified as a trunk road, almost all of the road has been built to dual carriageway standards or wider. Apart from bypass sections in London the road travels in a southwest direction and, after Liss, the other section of such restriction is through Battersea, Clapham and Stockwell towards the northern end reflecting its urban setting and also accommodating bus lanes and parking meter bays. The construction of the Kingston and Guildford bypasses in the 1920s and 1930s made use of narrow gauge railways to move the construction materials. The Esher bypass, between Hook from the first mentioned bypass to the M25, is three lanes with a hard shoulder, from here to Guildford the road has three lanes. Lord Montagu of Beaulieu stressed the urgency of building a Kingston By-pass in 1911 however before the onset of World War I public funds were not secured and were not available in the aftermath. It was opened by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Stanley Baldwin MP and it ran for 8.5 miles from the Robin Hood Gate of Richmond Park to the near outskirts of Esher. The opening ceremony concluded with refreshments for 800 guests in marquees near to the northern start/end and its construction immediately attracted developments of housing where access was easiest. The road was once the haunt of highwaymen such as Jerry Abershawe who terrorised the area around Kingston, another particularly dangerous location was in the vicinity of the wooded crest skirting the Devils Punch Bowl, Hindhead, about 8 miles south-west of Guildford. In 2011 the Hindhead Tunnel became the centre of the Hindhead Bypass around the road of the small town. Until 2011 the road through Hindhead was the last single carriageway section of the route, outside London and it continues along Newington Butts, and bounds then enters the London Borough of Lambeth on Kennington Park Road which becomes Clapham Road and Clapham High Street. The A3 then turns west as Clapham Common North Side, along this road it enters the London Borough of Wandsworth after which it runs concurrently with the A205 South Circular and goes through Wandsworth, then the A205 carries on west towards Richmond. The A3 then continues south-west between Richmond Park and Wimbledon Common before beginning to bypass Kingston upon Thames while going through Roehampton Vale. The A3 enters The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames just before Kingston Vale where there is a junction with the A308 for Kingston upon Thames, the speed limit then increases to 50 mph before going under the Coombe Flyover. The A3 then goes on a flyover by Shannon Corner in Raynes Park, before having junctions for New Malden, Tolworth, brief features of a section of road contribute to a traffic pinch-point during peak hours around the Hook underpass. The road reduces from three lanes to two in the underpass, the speed limit at this point reduces from 70 miles per hour to 50 miles per hour, with the first of a handful of GATSO speed enforcement cameras. If returning to London traffic from the A309 also joins just before the underpass, after passing Claygate the motorway-standard section has junctions with the A244 between Esher and Oxshott, then the A245 between Cobham and Hersham. The roads Wisley Interchange with the M25 enables a flyover still with a 70 mph speed limit and it bypasses Wisley, Ockham, Ripley before cutting through the major town itself as a dual carriageway and changing to a 50 mph speed limit
4.
Worthing
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Worthing is a large seaside town in England, with borough status in West Sussex. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs,10 miles west of Brighton, the area around Worthing has been populated for at least 6,000 years and contains Britains greatest concentration of Stone Age flint mines, which are some of the earliest mines in Europe. Lying within the borough, the Iron Age hill fort of Cissbury Ring is one of Britains largest, Worthing means Worth/Worōs people, from the Old English personal name Worth/Worō, and -ingas people of. In the 19th and 20th centuries the area was one of Britains chief market gardening centres, modern Worthing has a large service industry, particularly in financial services. It has three theatres and one of Britains oldest cinemas, writers Oscar Wilde and Harold Pinter lived and worked in the town. From around 4000BC, the South Downs above Worthing was Britains earliest and largest flint-mining area, with four of the UKs 14 known flint mines lying within 7 miles of the centre of Worthing. An excavation at Little High Street dates the earliest remains from Worthing town centre to the Bronze Age, there is also an important Bronze Age hill fort on the western fringes of the modern borough at Highdown Hill. During the Iron Age, one of Britains largest hill forts was built at Cissbury Ring, the area was part of the civitas of the Regni during the Romano-British period. Several of the roads date from this era and lie in a grid layout known as centuriation. A Romano-British farmstead once stood in the centre of the town, in the 5th and 6th centuries, the area became part of the kingdom of Sussex. The place names of the area, including the name Worthing itself, Worthing remained an agricultural and fishing hamlet for centuries until the arrival of wealthy visitors in the 1750s. Princess Amelia stayed in the town in 1798 and the fashionable and wealthy continued to stay in Worthing, the town expanded and elegant developments such as Park Crescent and Liverpool Terrace were begun. The area was a stronghold of smugglers in the 19th century and was the site of rioting by the Skeleton Army in the 1880s, Oscar Wilde holidayed in the town in 1893 and 1894, writing the Importance of Being Earnest during his second visit. The town was home to literary figures in the 20th century. During the Second World War, Worthing was home to several allied military divisions in preparation for the D-Day landings, Worthing became the worlds 229th Transition Town in October 2009. Transition Town Worthing, the exploring the towns transition to life after oil, was established by local residents as a way of planning the towns Energy Descent Action Plan. Worthing means Worth/Weorð/Worōs people, from the Old English personal name Worth, Weorð or Worō, worthen was used as late as 1720. The modern name was first documented in 1297, another village with a similar name near Emmen in Drenthe in the Northeastern part of the Netherlands is Weerdinge
5.
Littlehampton
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It is 51.5 miles south south-west of London,19 miles west of Brighton and 10 miles east of the county town of Chichester. The parish covers an area of 11.35 km2, the suburban area of the town has a population of approx. The conurbation includes other settlements, Wick in the north west, Lyminster to the north, Wick and Toddington, which has a large business park, became part of the town in 1901. Nearby towns include Bognor Regis and Worthing to the east, the town is also the westernmost settlement of the 12th largest urban area in England and Wales, the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation, a region encompassing 474,485 people. The South Downs National Park commences 3 miles north of the town, Littlehampton links to Amberley and Arundel by footpaths and railway as well as by roads. A human settlement at Littlehampton can be traced back to prehistoric and Roman times, the settlement is believed to have been a fishing community around this time, appearing on a French map in around 1100 as Hanton. The settlement is believed to have been given to the Abbey of St Martin de Seez in Normandy. The area then passed back to the ownership of successive Earls of Arundel and Dukes of Norfolk, the expansion of port activities led to a new river mouth being cut in 1735, alongside the building of a wooden harbour. At this time it was known as Arundel Port. The towns status as both a port and a holiday resort led to success in the nineteenth century, with a railway line. The population of the town grew tenfold over the century, from 584 in 1801 to 5,954 in 1901, Littlehampton remained as a holiday resort in the twentieth century, becoming known as The Childrens Paradise in the 1920s. In 1967, the town attracted attention by becoming the base for the first ever Blue Peter lifeboat, the world headquarters of The Body Shop is situated towards the north of the town, and is a major employer in the area. A local company, Dando Drilling International Ltd, has been exporting drilling rigs from Littlehampton since 1867, van Heyningen Brothers salad growers was a major employer in the town from 1964 to 2003. Littlehampton lies within the constituency of Bognor Regis and Littlehampton. At a local government level, Littlehampton is part of Littlehampton Town Council, Arun District Council, Littlehampton currently has 10 seats on the district council, spread across five wards - Beach, Brookfield, Ham, River and Wick with Toddington. At the district held in May 2011, the Conservatives won 7 of these 10 seats, Labour 2. On West Sussex county council, the town is represented by two Conservatives and a Liberal Democrat, Littlehampton has one secondary school, The Littlehampton Academy, which opened in 2009, replacing the Littlehampton Community School. For younger children there are five primary schools — Lyminster, River Beach, St. Catherines, White Meadows and Georgian Gardens
6.
Roads in the United Kingdom
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Roads in the United Kingdom form a network of varied quality and capacity. Road distances are shown in miles or yards and UK speed limits are indicated in miles per hour or by the use of the speed limit symbol. Some vehicle categories have various lower maximum limits enforced by speed limiters, enforcement of UK road speed limits increasingly uses speed guns, automated in-vehicle systems and automated roadside traffic cameras. A unified numbering system is in place for Great Britain, whilst in Northern Ireland, the earliest specifically engineered roads were built during the British Iron Age. The road network was expanded during the Roman occupation, some of these survive and others were lost. New roads were added in the Middle Ages and from the 17th century onwards, certain aspects of the legal framework remain under the competence of the United Kingdom parliament. Although some roads have much older origins, the network was subject to development from the 1950s to the mid-1990s. From then, construction of roads has become controversial with direct action campaigns by environmentalists in opposition. In the UK, vehicles drive on the left and on multi-lane carriageways drivers are expected to keep to the left lane except when overtaking, in Great Britain, the Highway Code applies to drivers. In Northern Ireland, the Highway Code for Northern Ireland applies, UK speed limits are shown in mph. With a few exceptions, they are in multiples of 10, unless a lower speed limit is posted on a road, the national speed limit applies, which varies between class of vehicles and the type of road. In a built-up area, unless signs indicate otherwise, a limit of 30 miles per hour applies, other limits are shown in the table. For a road to be classed as a carriageway, the two directions of traffic flow must be physically separated by a central reservation. Roads in the UK are classified as M, A, or B roads, as well as categories of more minor roads, for internal purposes. These numbers follow a zonal system, there is no available explanation for the allocation of road numbers in Northern Ireland. The majority of the major routes are motorways, and are designed to carry long distance traffic. The next category is the A roads, which form the route network. A primary route is defined as, primary destinations are usually cities and large towns, to which, as a result of their size, a high volume of traffic is expected to go
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M25 motorway
A25 road
A27 road
A29 road
A205 road
A214 road
A217 road
A218 road
A219 road
A232 road
A238 road
A239 road
A240 road
A243 road
A245 road
A246 road
A259 road
A264 road
A272 road
A280 road
A281 road
A283 road
A2003 road
A2022 road
A2031 road
A2032 road
A2043 road
A3 road
