Secrets of The Motorway - M3

#motorways #infrastructure #m3

The M3 motorway is around 61 miles in length and runs from London to Southampton. In this episode we'll be taking a trip down south and on our journey we'll discover 300 year old structures, abandoned theme park rides, secret junctions and abandoned slip roads. What a delight.

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Thanks to;

[dawhandle]

Yes, I liked the old Spitfire Bridge as well. However, I'm the one that designed the 'monstrosity' that replaced it! I spent a lot of time going through various options to try and save the old bridge, but it just wasn't possible to get the N/B carriageway alignment through it.

I also wanted to build a larger arch bridge to replace it, but the geometry of the existing road and earthworks made it very difficult to do. That's why I came up with something that would span across the motorway and adjacent link road in one go.

As a bridge engineer (retired) I'm used to the general antipathy towards modern concrete structures, but it does hurt somewhat when my work is described as a monstrosity. How about about a bit on the dull side instead...

[zaphod]

Another thing you missed, between J3 and 4 the carriageways part with a mound in between them. This is actually because of the Bisley Rifle ranges which face towards the motorway, theres a big danger area between the ranges and the motorway, and the motorway is safe, but just in case a stray shot flies beyond the danger area, there is a mound to shield the southbound carriageway to the south west, but this wouldn't cover the northbound side without it being much taller, so there is a second mound between the two carriageways to protect it.

[LesW]

The reason there are two options for Southampton at J14 is because J13 is too close and it was deemed necessary to separate the traffic before J13 for safety so people weren't jumping across lanes at the last minute. As a result, traffic joining from Eastleigh at J13 going south, could only go westbound on the M27 (It was decided if they wanted to go east they could join the M27 at the other side of Eastleigh). Putting in a slip road up to the A33 allowed them to go into Southampton as well, and as a result there is a Southampton option on both slip roads (eastbound and westbound)

[BMWMike]

The wasp incident is the best piece of action ever captured on video.

[SortOfPurple]

I don’t know why I watch these, I don’t even drive a car. Says something about how entertaining this series is. I smiled when the ridge racer 4 intro music started.

[ChrisGuarraia]

I don’t live in England and haven’t even visited (yet), but I am completely fascinated by Secrets of the Motorway. I’m experiencing English motorways (and the landscape and hidden gems) vicariously through these videos.

[Pixel_Runner]

When you reach the end of the motorway, you actually go left for Bournemouth and right for Portsmouth (which is a bit counter-intuitive). After the split, they then cross each other and go in the opposing direction.

[grahamclifton]

In 1975, during the M3 Sunbury construction, I nearly drove off the unfinished flyover one night, losing my way in the temporary road alignments…
Love this channel…

[petetrundell]

I worked for and on the design of two of the M3 construction contracts. The two lane section north of Winchester was regarded as inadequate for the volume of traffic when constructed, let alone now. When the then Department of Transport put the scheme out to tender the requirement was for three lanes but every contractor said it was impossible within the projected cost so the Department, rather than spend the extra, ordered 2 lanes.
The divided slip roads at Hockley are because of the topography. The hillside and adjacent river Itchen prevent a single conventional intersection.
That contract is etched in history as the Twyford Down road scheme which attracted a great deal of anti-road protestors and press coverage. What is rarely told is that the road that preceeded it was an environmental disaster that had to be rectified. It was removed and covered with local earth and indigenous seedlings (rather than generic specimens) that had been cultivated at Sparsholt College to perfectly disguise the route. This had never been done before.

[priscillaroberts]

My son was working at fleet services and once when left to cope on his own it got a bit busy so he turned up the extractor over the burger grill to get rid of the smoke and the accumulation of fat up there caught fire. The whole place burnt down. He was about 17 . They tried to get him to say the filters were regularly cleaned and changed but he wouldn't. He was" let go" as they say.

[jamessawyer]

I grew up in Lightwater in the 80s, so I knew all the woods around the M3 J3 Bagshot.

The machine used to lay the tarmac (through Bagshot section, at least) was imported specially from the Soviet Union.

I was told numerous times that during construction, a Scammell Tipper broke down under the J3 Bagshot bridge just before the tarmac laying machine came through. Once moving, the Tarmac machine could not be stopped economically. There was no time to get the tipper going again so they buried it in the ground under the carriageway.

At the Longcross site near J3 there is also a tunnel linking the two sides as well as the bridge. This is because they were testing vehicles which were too heavy for a bridge. Rumour has it the tunnel is very tall inside because they were testing mobile icbm vehicles there in the 60s and 70s.

Many thanks for a cool and fascinating vid.

Wasps. Classic!!!

[gareth]

Chertsey resident here, who lives on St Ann’s Hill. The Armour you mention is Chobham, not Cobham. Chobham is the village next to Lyne and Longcross where the tank factory once stood intersected by the M3. Cobham is a village about 13 miles to the East next to the A3/M25 junction. Many mix them up, but they are two very separate Surrey villages.

[grahamclifton]

In the 1980s, when we all had CB radios, there was a nice guy with a base station near the Spitfire Bridge, all the drivers would call him up and he would relay road traffic information…
Loving your work!

[NigelJones]

Oh, memories of hockey traffic lights. I remember before that section was opened (lived in Chandler's Ford for years, though moved away in 2020)

[AurumUsagi]

Trivia: Fleet Services was once one of only two motorway service stations in the UK where two rival burger chains and KFC co-existed. This was because of Welcome Break's then-parent company Trusthouse Forte wanting to counter Pavilion's introduction of Burger King by introducing McDonald's. When Forte was taken over by Granada (nowadays Moto), after taking over Pavilion before, they switched to Burger King for expansion, but kept the McDonald's in Fleet and added Burger King. When Welcome Break was sold off following an investigation into Granada's stranglehold on motorway services, KFC was added. Sadly, both McDonald's and Burger King shut down 2 years ago, with the only locations left being Winchester (Moto) and (where it transitions into the M27) at Rownhams (RoadChef), which are Burger King and McDonald's locations, respectively.

[mtickner]

Geographically yes, left to Portsmouth and Right to Bournemouth, but you need to be in the left lanes to go right and the right lanes to go left. 🤷🏻‍♂️

[jimmycburfield]

Fascinating, there’s something evocative about an abandoned theme park.

[machinist]

I share your non love for wasps.
I spent 22 wonderful months in East Anglia with the USAF at RAF Bentwaters. I absolutely loved all the narrow back roads and lanes.
I was not so thrilled with the motorways though. You just missed too much.
Perhaps some day I can return and explore some more.
Until
Cheers
Terry from South Carolina USA

[buckerooney]

Crazy what mixed stuff we find on YouTube. I actually enjoyed this, considering I've driven the m3 daily for the last god knows how many years.

[darreng]

The reason for the double slip road at Junction 14 is that traffic from Eastleigh at Junction 13 cannot access the main body of the carriageway heading up the hill towards M27 East which is the exit slip road for Southampton for the main carriageway, so you head for M27 West and take the slip road off to rejoin that sliproad before the roundabout at the start on Basset Avenue.