A23 road

This article is about a road in England. For other countries, seeList of A23 roads.

A23
The A23 near Patcham, East Sussex.
Route information
Length	51.2 mi(82.4 km)
Major junctions
South end	A259inBrighton50.830°N 0.138°W/50.830; -0.138
Major intersections	A27inBrighton A272inBolney M23/A264inCrawley M23inMerstham A22inPurley, London A232nearCroydon A214inStreatham A205near Streatham A203inBrixton A202inKennington
North end	A3inLondon(Waterloo)51.498°N 0.112°W/51.498; -0.112
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Counties	East Sussex,West Sussex,Surrey,Greater London
Primary destinations	Croydon Redhill Reigate Gatwick Airport Crawley
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A22 →A24

TheA23 roadis a major road in theUnited KingdombetweenLondonandBrighton,East Sussex,England. It is managed byTransport for Londonfor the section inside theGreater Londonboundary,Surrey County CouncilandWest Sussex County Councilfor the section shadowed by theM23 motorway,National Highways(as atrunk road) between the M23 andPatcham,and byBrighton and Hove Councilfrom theA27to the centre of Brighton.

The road has been a major route for centuries, and seen numerous upgrades, bypasses and diversions.

Route

The A23 begins nearLambeth North tube station.Formerly, it started asWestminster Bridge RoadnearWaterloo station,but this is now part of the A302. Almost immediately it turns south; the straightness of much of the heading south shows its Roman origins.

The road becomes:

• Kennington Road:1 mile (1.6 km) long; near Kennington Park it joins theA3(Kennington Park Road), but soon bears south again, becoming in turn over the next 5 miles (8.0 km):
• Brixton Road
• Brixton Hill
• Streatham Hill
• Streatham High Road
• atNorburythe road becomesLondon Road;after 1.25 miles (2 km), at
• Thornton HeaththeCroydonbypass,Thornton Roadand thenPurley Way(known for its superstores, particularlyIKEA,and for the site ofCroydon Airport) takes the place of the original road through Croydon, now the A235, rejoining the A23 atPurleynear the Purley War Memorial Hospital, now named Brighton Road.
• continuing south throughCoulsdonon the Farthing Way (the relief road for Coulsdon town centre, opened in 2006), over theNorth DownstoHooley,the start of the M23 motorway.
  • here is nowSurrey
• through the built-up areas ofMerstham,RedhillandSalfords,skirtingHorley
  • here is nowWest Sussex
• making an end-on connection with the M23 spur toGatwick Airportthe A23 becomes adual carriagewayas it is diverted round the airport; it rejoins the original route atLowfield Heathand continues south into Crawley asLondon Road
• Crawleybypass:the original road was through the town
• Pease Pottage,southern junction with the M23
• through the relatively rural countryside ofWest Sussex,before following along valleys to cross theSouth Downsand entering Brighton
  • here is nowEast Sussex
• becomes the London Road, Brighton, passing under theLondon Road railway viaduct
• the road ends at Old Steine, Brighton, at a roundabout intersecting with the coastalA259road, and opposite the entrance to thePalace Pier.

Major roads intersected by the A23

• A3and A202 at Kennington
• A205 South Circular Roadat Streatham Hill
• A214 at Streatham
• A232at Waddon
• M23close to Junction 7 (no southbound access)
• A25at Redhill
• A264atCrawley
• M23atPease Pottage
• A272at Bolney
• A27 Brighton Bypassat Mill Road Roundabout

History

What is now the A23 became an arterial route following the construction ofWestminster Bridgein 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by theturnpike trusts.The increase in population of Brighton in the late eighteenth century, which transformed it from asmall fishing villageto a large seaside resort, enhanced the importance of this road, as did the residence there ofGeorge IV,as Prince of Wales, who made Brighton a place of fashion.

When roads were originally classified, the A23 started at Purley Cross.The road north of this section, includingPurley Way,which opened to traffic in April 1925,was part of theA22.The current route north to Westminster Bridge dates from April 1935.

The A23 in London has frequently been one of the city's most congested roads.TheM23 motorwaywas originally proposed to run as far north asStreatham,relieving congestion on the route, but the section north of Hooley was never built. At junction 7 of theM23 motorway,signs for the northbound M23 (which terminates a few miles to the north) simply read "Croydon" with no other London destinations marked.

In July 2000, control of the section of road inside theGreater Londonboundary was transferred from theHighways AgencytoTransport for London.This caused delays to a planned relief road ofCoulsdon,which had been announced in 1998. The then mayor,Ken Livingstoneapologised in 2002 that TfL was unable to construct the relief road due to a lack of funds.The road was eventually completed in 2007, and which under TfL's ownership had acquired a bus lane that suffered ridicule for not having any buses actually running on it.

On 18 March 2010, plans to widen the section between Handcross and Warninglid in West Sussex to three lanes, removing an accident prone bend, were given the go ahead. Work started in autumn 2011and the scheme was completed and opened in October 2014, with a better-than-expected improvement to safety.

London to Brighton Veteran Run

The 53-mile (85 km) road from London to Brighton forms the basis of the route of the annualLondon to Brighton Veteran Car Run.This is featured in the filmGenevieve':, although most of the rural motoring scenes were shot inBuckinghamshire.The A23 is also used for various otherLondon to Brighton events,although in many cases part of the route diverges to parallel roads to reduce congestion or add variety.

Junction list

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
East Sussex	Brighton	0.0	0.0	A259(Marine Parade / Grand Junction Road) / Maderia Drive –Rottingdean	Southern terminus
		0.7	1.1	Lewes Road (A270east) toA27–Lewes	Western terminus of A270
		0.8	1.3	A270west (Fleet Street) –Hove	Information signed northbound only; northern terminus of A270 concurrency
		1.1	1.8	A270west (Old Shoreham Road) –Hove
		3.8– 4.2	6.1– 6.8	A27–Worthing,Lewes
West Sussex	Pyecombe	5.5	8.9	Begin freeway
		5.5– 6.3	8.9– 10.1	A273north toA281–Hassocks,Pyecombe,Henfield,Newtimber	To A281, Henfield, and Newtimber signed southbound only; southern terminus of A273
		6.7	10.8	A281north-west –Henfield	No southbound exit; south-eastern terminus of A281
	Newtimber	7.1– 7.3	11.4– 11.7	Private access
		7.6	12.2	Private access	Southbound exit and entrance only
	Newtimber–Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Commonboundary	8.0– 8.2	12.9– 13.2	B2117 to B2118 –Hurstpierpoint,Albourne,Sayers Common,Hickstead	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
	Hurstpierpoint and Sayers Common	10.8	17.4	B2118 –Hurstpierpoint,Albourne,Henfield,Sayers Common	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	Twineham–Bolneyboundary	11.3– 12.3	18.2– 19.8	A2300east –Burgess Hill,Goddards Green,Twineham,Hickstead Village	Goddards Green signed northbound only; western terminus of A2300
	Bolney	12.7– 13.2	20.4– 21.2	A272toA2300–Petersfield,Haywards Heath,Cuckfield,Burgess Hill,Bolney,Ansty,Cowfold	To A2300, Cuckfield, Burgess Hill, and Bolney signed northbound only
		14.0	22.5	Bolney	Southbound exit only
		14.1– 14.8	22.7– 23.8	Services	Northbound exit and entrance
	Ansty and Staplefield	15.1– 15.4	24.3– 24.8	B2115 to B2114 –Warninglid,Slaugham,Cuckfield,Staplefield
	Slaugham	17.2– 17.5	27.7– 28.2	B2110 –Handcross,Lower Beeding	No southbound exit
		18.9	30.4	B2114 to B2110 –Handcross	Southbound exit only
	Crawley	19.7– 20.0	31.7– 32.2	M23north /A264/ B2114 toM25–Horsham,Broadfield,Pease Pottage,London	To M25, London, Gatwick, and East Grinstead signed southbound only; southern terminus of M23
		20.0	32.2	End freeway
		20.9	33.6	A2004north-east (Southgate Avenue) –Town centre,Southgate,Tilgate	South-western terminus of A2004
		21.5	34.6	A2220(Horsham Road) toA264–Town centre,Horsham,Southgate,West Green,Broadfield,Bewbush,Faygate
		23.4	37.7	A2011east /A2219south / Langley Drive toA264/M23–Town centre,East Grinstead,London,Langley Green,Northgate,Pound Hill,Three Bridges	Western terminus of A2011; northern terminus of A2219
		26.8	43.1	M23–East Grinstead	Southbound exit only
		26.9– 27.1	43.3– 43.6	Gatwick AirporttoM23	Northbound exit and entrance
Surrey	Charlwood	27.4	44.1	A217north / Povey Cross Road –London,Reigate,Charlwood	Southern terminus of A217
	Salfords and Sidlow	30.5	49.1	A2044north-west (Woodhatch Road) toA217–Woodhatch,Reigate	Information signed northbound only; south-eastern terminus of A2044
	Redhill	32.6– 33.0	52.5– 53.1	A25west –Reigate	Part of A25 concurrency
		32.8	52.8	A25east (Station Road) –Godstone	Part of A25 concurrency
		33.8	54.4	A242south-west (Gatton Park Road) toA25–Reigate,Dorking	North-eastern terminus of A242
	Reigate and Banstead	36.1	58.1	M23south toM25–Gatwick Airport,Brighton,Heathrow Airport,Dartford	Southbound exit and northbound entrance; northern terminus of M23
Greater London	Croydon	38.3	61.6	A237north (Brighton Road) to B2030 –Sutton,Coulsdon,Old Coulsdon,Caterham	Only A237 and Coulsdon signed southbound; southern terminus of A237
		38.9	62.6	Caterham,Old Coulsdon	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
		40.5	65.2	A22south (Godstone Road) /A235north (Brighton Road) /A2022east –East Grinstead,Kenley,Sanderstead,South Croydon	Direct access to A235 and South Croydon northbound only; southern terminus of A2022 concurrency; northern terminus of A22; southern terminus of A235
		40.6	65.3	A2022west (Foxley Lane) –Banstead,Woodcote	Northbound access only; northern terminus of A2022 concurrency
		42.5– 42.7	68.4– 68.7	A232east / B271 (Stafford Road) / B275 (Denning Avenue) –Croydon,Wallington,South Croydon	A232 and Croydon signed northbound only; southern terminus of A232 concurrency
		42.7	68.7	A232west (Croydon Road) –Sutton,Wallington	Information signed northbound only; northern terminus of A232 concurrency
		44.0	70.8	A236(Mitcham Road) / Canterbury Road –Croydon,Wimbledon,Mitcham
		44.7	71.9	A235south (London Road) to B266 –Croydon,Selhurst,Thornton Heath	Northern terminus of A235
	Lambeth	46.9	75.5	A214east (Streatham Common North) –Crystal Palace,Norwood	Southern terminus of A214 concurrency
		47.2	76.0	A214west / B242 south-west –Clapham Junction,Wimbledon,Tooting,Balham	Northern terminus of A214; information signed northbound only
		47.3	76.1	A216south-west toA214–Mitcham,Wimbledon,Sutton	Information signed southbound only; north-eastern terminus of A216
		48.5	78.1	A205(South Circular) /A24/A3/A21/A20/A2–Clapham Junction,Lewisham,Bromley,Tulse Hill
		49.5– 49.7	79.7– 80.0	A204south (Effra Road) –Herne Hill	No access from A23 north to A204 south; northern terminus of A204
		49.7	80.0	A2217(Acre Lane / Coldharbour Lane) –Camberwell Green	No access from A23 south to A2217
		49.9	80.3	A203north-west –West End of London,Vauxhall,Stockwell	No access from A23 south to A203; south-eastern terminus of A203
		51.1	82.2	A202west –West End of London A202east toA2/A20–Peckham,Camberwell Green	No access from A23 north to A202 east, or from A23 south to A202 west
		51.2	82.4	A3north –City of London	Northern terminus; no access from A23 north to A3 south
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrencyterminus

See also

• Great Britain road numbering scheme

External links

• SABRE page on the A23