Southbourne - Winchester Commute??????
Discussion
My brother used to commute from Ringwood to London. In the end, he moved towards Andover such that he could avoid the A31 / M27 / M3 stretch.
The A31 was his particular bugbear - too many people sitting in the outside lane at 50mph; too many lorries elephant racing; driving into the sun in both directions; the fact that a minor bump (of which there seem to be plenty) could result in 5 mile tailbacks - I could go on, but I'm sure you get the message.
And everything was so much worse in the summer when the world, his wife and their caravan clogged the route on their weekend jaunts to Dorset / Devon / Cornwall.
The A31 was his particular bugbear - too many people sitting in the outside lane at 50mph; too many lorries elephant racing; driving into the sun in both directions; the fact that a minor bump (of which there seem to be plenty) could result in 5 mile tailbacks - I could go on, but I'm sure you get the message.
And everything was so much worse in the summer when the world, his wife and their caravan clogged the route on their weekend jaunts to Dorset / Devon / Cornwall.
The worst bit will be the M3 between Eastleigh and Winchester.
I do this bit daily, and try to get to Eastliegh before 6.45am, if you can manage that you'll cruise through at 60-70mph. Quarter of an hour later and it can be 30-40mph.
On the return journey, you want to be clear of Eastleigh by 4.15pm at the latest, earlier on Fridays.
I do this bit daily, and try to get to Eastliegh before 6.45am, if you can manage that you'll cruise through at 60-70mph. Quarter of an hour later and it can be 30-40mph.
On the return journey, you want to be clear of Eastleigh by 4.15pm at the latest, earlier on Fridays.
smiles1 said:
Hi all, rather than start a new thread I thought I'd bump this one as my question is the same. Is it still as bad to do the above commute?
I imagine it’s got worse. The M27/M3 junction going east is now a 50mph for the next few years I imagine that probably slows things down a bit coming from the west trying to join the M3. Certainly the times I’ve passed rownhams all the traffic is trying to join the M3. Regarding the M3 portion of your proposed commute it’s going to start getting upgraded to smart motorway all the way to Winchester lasting a few years. That will be hell for a few years as it’s already a slow stretch of motorway. https://highwaysengland.co.uk/projects/m3-junction...
If it was me and I was not willing to move then the wage would need to be nice enough to afford a helicopter for commuting!
Pretty much, yes. The M27 is in the process of being "smarted", but this starts from the M3 junction if you're heading East, although there's a 50mph limit either side of Rownhams Services that nobody takes any notice of, then once you're on the M3 it's pot luck - sometimes you get lucky, and don't grind to a complete halt, but most mornings you'll come to a stop for no apparent reason.
I'm convinced that, much like Jury service, people receive a letter instructing them to do something stupid and cause a minor accident which results in a major tail-back on the M3 between the M27 junction 14, and Eastleigh North at M3 Junction 11, between 6am - 8am on Monday (pick any Monday). There seems to be an accident at the Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford end of the M3 every Monday morning.
Romsey - Hursley - Winchester is my preferred alternative, and usually free-flowing. The only problem is that if there's something ahead which is slow-moving (there is a lot of arable farming between Romsey and Winchester, and we're coming up to harvest) the overtaking opportunities are few and far between.
I'm convinced that, much like Jury service, people receive a letter instructing them to do something stupid and cause a minor accident which results in a major tail-back on the M3 between the M27 junction 14, and Eastleigh North at M3 Junction 11, between 6am - 8am on Monday (pick any Monday). There seems to be an accident at the Eastleigh/Chandlers Ford end of the M3 every Monday morning.
Romsey - Hursley - Winchester is my preferred alternative, and usually free-flowing. The only problem is that if there's something ahead which is slow-moving (there is a lot of arable farming between Romsey and Winchester, and we're coming up to harvest) the overtaking opportunities are few and far between.
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