A31 road

This article is about the road in England. For other uses, seeA31 (disambiguation).

A31
A31 Road at St. Leonards, Dorset, England
Route information
Length	72.6 mi (116.8 km)
Northeast segment
Length	36.6 mi(58.9 km)
Northeast end	A322inGuildford
Major intersections	A3near Guildford A331nearTongham A33in Winchester
Southwest end	M3inWinchester
Southwest
Length	36.0 mi(57.9 km)
Northeast end	A36nearNetley Marsh
Major intersections	M27inCadnam A338inRingwood A348inWest Moors A350nearSturminster Marshall
Southwest end	A35inBere Regis
Location
Country	United Kingdom
Counties	Surrey,Hampshire,Dorset
Primary destinations	Winchester Farnham Ringwood
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones
←A30 →A32

TheA31is a majortrunk roadin southernEnglandthat runs fromGuildfordinSurreytoBere RegisinDorset. Its most well known section is theHog's Back,a hilly ridge forming part of the North Downs, in the Surrey stretch between Guildford and Farnham.

Route description

The road begins in Guildford at the start of Farnham Road near Guildford Station, coming out of the town and passing over theA3where shortly after it becomes adual carriagewayrunning in a westerly direction along theHog's Backescarpment of theNorth DownsThis dual carriageway section has a speed limit of 60 mph. AtTonghamit leaves the older Hogs Back route to join with the A331 and follow a modern bypass roundFarnham,rejoining the older route at the roundabout junction with the A325 where it follows Alton Road towardAltonwhich it bypasses, rejoining the older route near Jane Austen's house, then continuing toAlresfordbeforejoining the route oftheM3 motorwayat its junction on the eastern boundary ofWinchester.

The old route to Winchester's centre thenRomseyand theNew Forestforms two roads: theB3404andA3090 roadsand is marked forcyclists.The west branch of theM27 motorway– M3 interchange has a flyover junction with the winding westbound A3090 on the western boundary ofCadnam,having passed through theconservation areavillage centre, from where the resumed A31 continues as a dualled trunk road through the rest of theNew Forest,pastRingwoodand entersDorsetjust before it passesFerndownwhere it resumes single carriageway width. It passesWimborne Minsterand by-passesCharborough Parkbefore terminating at aroundaboutjunction with theA35 roadatBere Regis.The A35 is not a trunk road east of Bere Regis, but is a continuation of the A31 trunk road to the west, thus theHighways Agencymaintain it.

The A31 is part of the ancient route from London to Winchester.

The A31 between Wimborne Minster and Bere Regis: most of its Dorset stretch is primarily a single-carriageway road, used by heavy goods vehicles, and as such is relatively slow for a trunk road during busy times of the day. However theRiver Stouris one of the most flood-prone rivers alongside in the region and a widened road would accelerate drainage and disrupt views of the valley fromAreas of Outstanding Beautyon theescarpmentsto the north.

A31 New Forest dual carriageway

Many sections of the A31 were upgraded to dual carriageway in the 1960s, except for the section of road running through theNew Forest.

The upgrade of the A31 through the New Forest started in the early 1960s, following two decades of debate. The Government's intention was to create at least one high-speed route to the south coast, while the guardians of the forest, theVerderers,resisted any further development.

The first section of the A31 to be dualled was the section that the M27 feeds into at Jct1; the westbound carriageway is the original two-way A-road while the eastbound side was laid down nearby. Further developments occurred from Ringwood toPicket Postnear the turn-off forBurley.From 1966 to 1972, the remaining sections were completed rapidly due to the construction of the M27 motorway up to Jct 1.

The Highways Agency declares the New Forest A31 section as being 'an abnormal and heavy load route'.The westbound route, particularly, suffers from poor horizontal and vertical alignment due to its original function as an old single carriageway. The Highways Agency's route management strategy (RMS) for the A31 has identified that the westbound carriageway needs realigning atCadnamwhere it undulates rapidly before negotiating a sharp right turn and passes an at-grade U-turn box, though there is no timetable for this at present. There is also a pinch point at Ringwood where the A31 interplexes with the A338; the section of road was widened to four lanes each way for the duration of the A338 interplex (following the upgrade of the Ashley Heath Junction to Bournemouth in the early 1990s) but a short section where westbound A338 traffic joins westbound A31 was left with 2 lanes, and previously the lack of capacity at this section caused safety problems and queues at peak times. Dorset County Council cited relieving this junction as a high priority in the Bournemouth LTP 2006–2011.In December 2014 the Government announced a series of schemes as part of a £15bn investment in transport infrastructure that included widening the Westbound carriageway to 3 lanes.Work to widen the westbound section to 3 lanes began in January 2022 in conjunction with a wider scheme improving safety, and replacing two bridges over the River Avon and Bickerley Millstream. The widening scheme was completed in November 2022. A Highways Agency review in 2010 records that the collision rate between the A338 Ringwood junction and the Poulner Hill Interchange was 4.5 Personal Injury Collisions (PICs) per 100million vehicle kilometers, whilst the rate for the stretch between Poulner Hill and Picket Post is 11.7 PICs per 100million vehicle kilometers.

A31 between Bere Regis and Wimborne

This section of road is single carriageway for its entire length, a long section around Winterborne Zelston has a 40 mph speed limit, and occasionally has mobile speed cameras in place.

There are no good overtaking places on this stretch of road due to its narrow, twisty nature. There are three long straight sections of road alongCharborough Park,at the end of each straight there is blind bend. Due to the lack of alternative overtaking places traffic use this stretch of road to overtake, but due to the blind bends this sometimes results in head-on collisions between vehicles. The 6 ft wall that runs alongside the road has many holes, and repaired sections which have been hit by cars over the years.

The A31 crosses the A350 at a large roundabout. Due to the volume of traffic crossing this roundabout on both the A350 and A31, clear lane markings have been added to ease congestion.

Sections along the A31 have been widened or straightened and junctions enhanced, particularly as the population of the main towns inDorsethas expanded.

A3090 road

A3090
Location	Hampshire
Length	19 mi (31 km)

A section of the A31 between Winchester and Ower in Hampshire is now known as theA3090.

Prior to completion of the M3 past Winchester in 1995, the A3090 ran south west from theA33atKings Worthy(where the A33 diverted around the Winchester Bypass) to the centre of Winchester, before continuing along the historic route of the A31 from Winchester to Hursley. Here it ended at a junction with the A31, which at this time, having merged with the by-pass east of Winchester, re-emerged from the A33 atOtterbourneand ran to Hursley and on along the current route of the A3090.

A short dual carriageway section starts from the A36 roundabout nearOwerand terminates just before the A27 multiplex south west ofRomsey.

B3404 road

A short stretch of the original A31 immediately to the east of Winchester is now by-passed and renumbered as theB3404.The old route commences at a roundabout at Morn Hill, and continues straight across the top ofMagdalen Hill Downbefore crossing over theM3 motorwayandA272 roadon an overbridge and then descending the steep street of Magdalen Hill into the centre of Winchester.

Junction lists

North-east segment

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Surrey	Guildford	0.0	0.0	A322toA3/M25/A281–Bagshot,London,Horsham	North-eastern terminus
	Guildford–Comptonboundary	2.2	3.5	A3north-east toM25/A25–London,Esher,Dorking	Junction;north-east exit and south-west entrance
	Wanborough	3.6	5.8	B3000 toA3south-west –Portsmouth,Godalming,Normandy,Compton,Puttenham,Wanborough	Junction
	Tongham–Farnhamboundary	6.9– 7.5	11.1– 12.1	A331north toM3/A3011/A324/A323–Camberley,Farnborough,Woking,Aldershot	Junction; southern terminus of A331
	Farnham	8.8– 9.2	14.2– 14.8	A325north-east / Guildford Road toA3016–Odiham,Badshot Lea,Central Farnham	North-eastern terminus of A325 concurrency
		10.8	17.4	A325south-west / West Street –Petersfield,Wrecclesham,Central Farnham	South-western terminus of A325 concurrency
Hampshire	Alton–Chawtonboundary	19.8– 20.2	31.9– 32.5	A339north / B3006 to B3349 –Basingstoke,Alton,Liss,Selborne,Odiham	Junction;southern terminus of A339
	Chawton	20.8	33.5	A32south (Gosport Road) / Winchester Road / Northfield Lane toA272–Fareham,Petersfield,Droxford,West Meon,Farringdon,Chawton	Northern terminus of A32
	Chilcomb	34.4	55.4	A272east –Petersfield,Bramdean,Cheriton	No access from A31 north-east to A272 east; north-eastern terminus of A272 concurrency
	Winchester	35.7	57.5	A33north toM3/A34/A303/A30–Basingstoke,Newbury,Andover,Salisbury,Winnall,Kings Worthy,Stockbridge	Southern terminus of A33
		36.3– 36.6	58.4– 58.9	M3south toM27–Southampton,Portsmouth,Bournemouth,Eastleigh,Romsey Bar End Road / Bull Drove –Winchestercity centre	Western terminus of eastern segment; no access to M3 north or from M3 south to A31; south-western terminus of A272 concurrency
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Incomplete access

South-west segment

County	Location	mi	km	Destinations	Notes
Hampshire	Netley Marsh	0.0	0.0	A36(Salisbury Road) toA3090–Salisbury,Calmore, Totton,Romsey	North-eastern terminus
	Cadnam	2.5	4.0	A336east /A337south –Cadnam,Totton,Lyndhurst,Lymington,Bartley,Netley Marsh,Minstead	Western terminus of A336; northern terminus of A337
	Copythorne–Minsteadboundary	2.9	4.7	M27east / B3079 –London,Southampton,Winchester,Brook,Bramshaw,Fordingbridge,Fritham,Bolderwood,Linwood	Western terminus of A27; A27 junction 1
	Picket Post	10.6– 11.0	17.1– 17.7	Burley	Junction
	Ringwood	12.4– 12.8	20.0– 20.6	Hightown,Poulner,Crow	Junction; Crow signed north-east only
		13.4– 13.8	21.6– 22.2	A338north / B3347 –Salisbury,Fordingbridge,Ringwood	North-eastern terminus of A338 concurrency
Dorset	St Ives	14.2– 14.5	22.9– 23.3	B3081 –Verwood	Junction
		14.5– 15.1	23.3– 24.3	A338south to B3073 –Bournemouth,Christchurch,Ashley Heath,Three Legged Cross,Horton	To B3073 signed eastbound only; junction; south-western terminus of A338 concurrency
	Ferndown–West Moorsboundary	19.0	30.6	A348south-west toA347–Bournemouth,Ferndown,West Parley,Longham	North-eastern terminus of A348
		19.6– 19.9	31.5– 32.0	B3072 –West Moors,Verwood,Ferndown	Junction
	Broadstone	24.5	39.4	A349south / Merley House Lane to B3073 /A341–Poole,Bournemouth,Broadstone,Merley,Canford Magna	Northern terminus of A349
	Sturminster Marshall–Lytchett Matraversboundary	28.8	46.3	A350(Poole Road) –Poole,Bournemouth,Wareham,Blandford,Lytchett Matravers,Upton,Sturminster Marshall	Sturminster Marshall signed north-east only
	Bere Regis	36.0	57.9	A35/ North Street –Poole,Bournemouth,Dorchester,Wool,Bere Regis,Weymouth,Puddletown,Tolpuddle	South-western terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

External links

• SABRE – A31
• Highways Agency A31 Route Management Strategy