Secrets of The Motorway - A3M 

I believe that technique of tunnel building is called "Cut and can't be arsed to cover"... :P

The fact you just ended that with the Airwolf theme just made the episode 1000 times more awesome 😃

John asking every Sunday if ive had a good week is the nearest thing I get to a hug all week. Thanks John.

Your reasoning for the A3(M) is 100% correct! Ironically the A27 has a hard shoulder but the M27 is now a smart motorway...

Airwolf theme music to the departing drone shot! Nice.

Don't worry about mixing up the end point of portsmouth and southampton. I used to work for a bloke who always got plymouth and portsmouth mixed up. The main problem with that was it was his job to book the hotel when we were working away.

Remember walking across the A3(M) after the hill was cut away, but before the footbridges connecting the footpath along the old Roman road. It also made me laugh I wasn't allowed on the two lane motorway when learning to drive, but was allowed to drive on the four lane A27 at the end of it 🛣️

The episode I've been waiting for. Horndean raceway was closed due to noise complaints from the new build houses nearby 😢

Anyone else think Jon looked like a small child when stood on the bridge next to the extra tall railing? Nice use of the Airwolf theme too! :)

My local motorway AND the Airwolf theme! It doesn't get much better than that! 🥳

loving the Airwolf theme tune at the end! might have to go rewatch that! love your videos, keep up the good work!

Havant is "Haven't", rather than "hay-vant".

The A3 was always a road from London to Portsmouth Dockyard, ask Nelson. Indeed in `Coaching Days and Coaching Ways` published in 1888, author W. Outram Tristram, who refers to it as The Royal Road, referencoing the number of Kings and Queens who had travelled it. The Royal Mail leaving The Strand at 7.30 PM and arring at The George in Postsmouth at 6.30 AM the following morning.

Top choice of end theme this week.

Airwolf!

A shame this was not Secrets of the B-Roads as the B2177 is far better than just its bridge. It runs along the top of the cliff and has multiple viewpoints where you can get fantastic views across Portsmouth (and to the Isle of Wight). Absolutely one of my favourite roads. Though when it turns off at the Southwick Road Roundabout to head north you need to keep heading west on James Callaghan Drive, with its forts and military history, which has many laybys to enjoy the view. There are certain places where it is more fun to leave the motorway, slow down, and enjoy the road. Portsdown Hill Road to the B2177 between M27 J11 and A3(M) J5 (also for the A27) is one of them.

At last, my local motorway! Unfortunately I can hear it from my house, my best memory was driving between Waterlooville and Horndean before it was opened (but finished) on my Dad's lap when I was 8 (in a Mini)! Props to John for finding the old Hulbert Road!

The A3 itself could do with a massive upgrade including at Ham Barn roundabout near Liss where the roundabout would have been removed and a new segregated junction to be built to keep the traffic flowing. Since the A3 Hindhead Tunnel was built to pass underneath Devils Punch Bowl and the former A3 which used to twist and turn along Devils Punch Bowl is now completely gone. And people can walk on what was the A3 before the new twin bore tunnel was built.

1:30Probably like where the A31 becomes the M27 at Cadnam, so non-motorway traffic can exit ⬅️

Beautiful part of the country! Chasing the sun, homebound, in the Summer or Autumn on a Friday after work. Magical South Downs. Thanks.

Just when you think the channel can’t get any better….you pull the Airwolf theme tune out the bag!!! Excellent work John💪

Gotta love the Airwolf theme tune...

I’m sure I saw you standing on the bridge! I wondered why there was a bloke standing still 😂. Welcome to the neighbourhood. If I knew you’d be coming I’d have invited you round for coffee! 😂. For the record it’s Havant, pronounced like haven’t 😁

Ending on the Airwolf theme, I approve

Nice to see content from my neck of the woods, its always been a bit of a strange road for me with M designation being given to it! When the A27 between havant and Chichester was being constructed, I walked part of it with my older brothers and dog, seeing the chalk used from blasting the southdowns for the foundation of the road before the concrete was laid. My Dad was a bus conductor/driver in the 70s and has said how dusty Leigh Park, the housing estate where we live was when the blast of the hills were being done to create the A3(M).

Love the Airwolf music. I loved that program. Now about this motorway, like you said, a bit pointless. I love the ASDA junction, I’m surprised ASDA haven’t paid for an improvement if there is the space. Great research to find that old photo of the construction. Many thanks John for your dedication and great presentation as always

Hi John! I’ve had a great week, thanks! I’ve spent most of it on holiday in sunny Crete, and today is my birthday. So it’s been a bit of a winner, frankly

An oddity about the A3(M) is that the A3 through Waterlooville also exists, making the A3(M) a 5 mile long spur of the A3. It's possible therefore that the A3(M) number was intended to be temporary, with yhe intention being to renumber it to the M276 or similar to match the M271 and M275, had the M27 itself reached Chichester as planned.

The section of the A3 between Guildford and the A3(M) is not up to motorway standards, most of the junctions are substandard for the road it is, let alone a motorway. And that is without the Liss roundabout. There are probably also parts where local access roads will need to be built for the displaced traffic as the A3 is used by cyclists and for farm access. There are also spots for pedestrians to cross that will need bridges. That all applies to north of Guildford where it is very motorway like. I was once heading south on that bit and hit (thankfully not literally) traffic suddenly stopping in lane 1. They were queueing to enter a car boot sale in an adjacent field. For me the M27 should be extended to meet the A3(M) though, My first experience of it was joining at the Portsbridge roundabout heading east on a 125cc motorcycle. A four lane road, and to stay on it and avoid the motorway you have to make your way across to lane 3, contending on a bike that often fails to reach 60 mph! Stupidly dangerous, there is no reason for non-motorway traffic to use it when the A397, Havant Road, and the A2030 is perfect for other road users. But until you use it the first time, not being a motorway it looks the best route on a map.

Brilliant choice for an outtro tune.

Nice touch with the "Airwolf" theme music at the end. (Sounds like a cover, but still good!)

I remember in the late eighties out in me dad's "lazy cossie" (a special model of Ford Sierra's that had prototype Cosworth running gear but with a carb) was giving it some rizz when like a rocket this ancient Metro went past me at an astonishing rate of knots and I wasn't going slow and it just left me behind, found out later this could have been a "special" knocked up by the mechanics at Larkhill camp prob a twin cam Rover engine shoehorned in there and man this thing was quick. Put quite a crimp in the day hehe I was motoring swiftly down to Portsmouth from south London and had a worthy excuse for speeding that day too, my niece had been rushed to hospital and was looking grim for the poor girl but she did survive the day thankfully. A bloke made his name in the 90's and 2000's building Metro "Kestrel's" 160bhp Rover big engines shoved into an innocent Metro's front orifice, should look up the Kestrel's lethality on four wheels even more so when turbo's and much bigger engines started to get added hehe

I've a vague memory that the M27 was meant to run from Folkestone to Honiton (and maybe join up with M5 just outside Exeter). This is one of those bits of road that you come across that you think "this was meant to be something else" and now its left as part of nothing. Maybe waiting for a future where "Something must be done". Mind you, give the long running saga of the A27 around Worthing and Arundle (The former often having gazillions of signage saying "By-Pass now" and the latter with signage asking to "Save our ancient Woodland" ) I'm sometimes surprised anything got built at all.

Ah the Airwolf theme tune 😎 That pesky A3(M) causes me such a headache when running the tractor between Petersfield depot & Portsmouth depot! It's just pointless

Woo.. Airwolf ending! 🎵

Seriously look forward to this every Sunday might start paying lol

I remember doing a job in the depths of Surrey for some Lord or other, where the electrician on site who was local (and sounded just like Ted from The Fast Show) told me a tale about a pub on the old A3 called The Flying Bull. Apparently the county border had moved over the years, and at one point, different counties had slightly different licensing hours. The border ran through the middle of the pub, so if you were having a pint on a Sunday, at a certain time of night, you'd have to move from one bar to another (inside the same pub) if you wanted to continue drinking. No idea if it's true or just a story, but the pub was definitely there - it was en route to my grandparents place so I'd seen it - I just hadn't known that it was on the old alignment of the A3 at Rake. I think the pub is still there.

babe wake up auto shenanigans uploaded a new secrets of the motorway video

Any video that ends with the theme tune to ‘Airwolf’ is always going to be amazing :-D

Airwolf!!!!!!!! Still remember that on constant loop for the C64 game.

Airwolf calssic tv show from my youth. The interesting thing about these videos is how cobbled together our road networks seems to be. There was a plan then they chanegd it, then they scrapped it and then they just stich it together somehow and make do.

More story time: Interstate 180 in Illinois (near Hennepin) is a motorway that leads from nowhere to nowhere. Only reason it got built was because the re wanted a motorway to the steel plant, which only stayed open for a couple months after the motorway was opened. So that’s why a town of less than 800 has its own motorway connection.

An interesting tidbit: Ax(M) roads are technically just the corresponding A-road under motorway regulations, so there are two parallel "A3"s at Waterlooville: the A3(M) and the old A3 through the town. Really, the old A3 should have been renumbered when the A3(M) opened, but for some reason, it retained it.

for many years, the forward route at the southern terminus was actually signposted as M27 despite the motorway not making it that far also, A3(M) only acquired junction numbers in the last 15-20 years, before then it was one of those odd little motorways, like A627(M) at the time, where the junctions were unnumbered; this was the norm before about 1966, but some overlooked regional motorways survived without numbered junctions as long as the late 2000s, and there are still a few local-authority motorways (Mancunian Way, Leeds IRR, Newcastle Central Motorway) that still don't have junction numbers

"A mental health wellbeing centre and a gift shop" - every reservoir should have one.

Not heard that theme since the 1980s! Very appropriate with drone footage.

As a kid I used to cycle down the A3(M) on my way to Portsmouth when it was almost complete! Lots of woodland was destroyed to make room for the motorway and also to create farmland for some reason.

Haha haven't heard the Airwolf tune since about 1987 😃

Nice. Airwolf theme takes me back to the 80s. The carefree days of adolescence... Anyone invented a time machine yet?

The car race track "died" long before the reservoir was proposed. The land it is now designated as part of a housing development called "Land East of Horndean" 700 houses plus shops, light industry and a school are planned. Nice of you to pass so close to us - I'd have offered tea/coffee and biscuits if you'd let us know.

Using the Airwolf theme tune ... I want to give 10 thumbs up :)

Which they resolved by building it anyway and calling it an A Road ;DDD Absolute Class

The Airwolf theme brings back some memories!

“Whicked” sweet awesome…

Always loved the Airwolf theme tune ❤

It's numbered A3(M) because it's meant to be a motorway standard bypass of the A3. Much like the M2 is of the A2 (except they numbered it incorrectly). It's definitely not built as intended - it was meant to freeflow into the M27 which was planned to be extended west towards Chichester. You'll note the A27 as is, is dual 4-lane, where the M27 to the east is dual 3-lane. Legend has it that it didn't gain blue signs because the hard shoulder was too narrow! Not something that would have bothered them nowadays!

Loves me a bit of Airwolf.

Oh, the wonderful 70s, I remember hours of fun watching banger car racing on the old Grassmoor pit site. Now, the so-called country park . Which I would class as the cheapest looking regenerated pit site in this area. Thanks for bringing back some great memories, John duck.👍

Back in my early driving days I often travelled along the old part of the A3, Hindhead and the section that curved around the devils punch bowl was often a bit of a bottle neck, but it did make for a more interesting drive. The opening of the new section certainly gave a faster and more consistent journey time down to Portsmouth though, which was handy if you had to catch a ferry.

Imagine if the A3(M) went all the way to London. Well I don’t think it would but since the Hindhead Tunnel was built to allow traffic on the A3 to pass underneath Hindhead Common and Devils Punch Bowl. It has made the journey lot more easier to to Portsmouth without all the twists and turns on the A3.

The A3(M) was built many years before most of the A3 was upgraded to dual carriageway. I remember going to Portsmouth with my family as a child and beyond Guildford, it was a mixture of mostly single carriageway and what my mum called "silly little bits of dual carriageway" in between villages (Milford and Hindhead, Hindhead and Liphook, then another bit between Liphook and Petersfield). In the early 90s a big bypass was opened up that ran west of Liphook and Petersfield and ran on a very different alignment to the old A3; it followed an old B-road (the B2131) west of Liphook then the A325 down to Petersfield, though it bypassed the villages en route. In the north, the Esher by-pass was of motorway quality, complete with hard shoulder, and then there was about 20 miles of shoulderless dual carriageway until you reached Milford at the bottom of the Guildford bypass, then the mostly single carriageway until you got past Petersfield, then a bit of dual carriageway, then the A3(M) while the A3 ran through Waterlooville etc. The final approach to Portsmouth was along the A27 and M275.

The only UK motorway I’ve driven on. All I can remember is that the drive seemed very rural.

Did you do the Northern Ireland motorways? If not that could be another suggestion. There isn't much but the history behind them is certainly interesting.

The confusion of road names cost me £100. My sister had been impressed with the early Satnav I had bought and wanted one too. I duly bought one and provided her with it. A short while later she decided she didn't like it because that particular motorway number seemed to change while she was driving and wanted her money back. That left me with two identical satnavs and rather less money in the bank. Can't say I was terribly impressed.

Can't go wrong with some Airwolf.

We watch, we learn, we remember. Thanks Rev

Another excellent choice of "outro" music and jolly decent of you to let that car go past before you finish... 😂

Drove up and down there this evening, to go mountain biking at QECP in the mud and rain! 🙂Fun times! It is a nice curve round that slip road from the end to the A27 on the way home. Sometimes it's been closed at night for works, so you get the magical mystery detour along the top of portsdown hill, or have to go through Drayton, then get the big 270 degree loop slip round down to the M27 which is kinda fun. Being usually on the way home from mountain biking when I go round it, I definitely feel it should be banked like a big berm going round that loop! Wheeeee! Could do more than 50 round it then!😆

Traffic police always active on the A3 looking for speeders

How to get people to watch til the end of the video, play the Airwolf themetune. Loved that outro!

Good ole Airwolf! Nice outro theme. I did have a good week as well. Hope you did too.

I am quite thankful for that bridge, it's my route back home from Micks Monster Burgers 😂

Great choice, a video on Portsmouth motorway the day after Trafalgar Day.

I have a feeling that if I went and rewatched Airwolf then the theme music would be the best part

Love a bit of Airwolf

Please tell me I’m not the only one that waves at John at the beginning 😂😂

A little “slip” to see if he can wind up everyone from Portsmouth 😂 genius

Worth watching to the end just for airwolf. Years since I've heard that

Shot at 4 mins 30 makes it look like a tiny John against a very high guard rail.

The fabled walk past was done by a car this week, Jon is getting very creative, people,cars, what’s in store for us next week? whatever it will be it will be freaking,amazing, awesome , great post Jon

Lovely bit of AirWolf theme to finish off the video 💜

I've been to Bedhampton and stayed in the Premier Inn twice. How lucky can you be? 😂😂😂

It all depends on how you define motorway. The A27 between the M27 to just east of the A3(M) was built as a motorway, so in one sense it is a motorway. Just not officially. There are a number of theories as to why it wasn't numbered as such, but its pretty certain that had the rest of the south coast motorway been completed it would have gained motorway status. The route to Chichester was eventually built on the same alignment, but as a dual carriageway in post-swampy 90s fashion.

04:10 Fecking hell you look small stood there John!

The stretch of the A27 between the M27 and the A3(M) has hard shoulders and overpasses at each junction. If emergency phones were put in and the A27 rerouted through Havant the motorways woud link up.

Loving Airwolf at the end ❤️

Finished watching the video. Pressed the like button. Goes looking for Airwolf episodes.

Another quality dose of British humour.....

You make even a 5 mile stretch of motorway interesting - great work John

Best ending music yet!

Great stuff. Really enjoy this series. 👍.

Wicked sweet awesome Airwolf. Roll on next week.

ahrem Airwolf theme is so good .) Some motorways stuff interesting too but mainly the theme .)

Another great video Jon and - wait, what - Airwolf?! Best theme choon ever. Good choice.👍

Nice bit of Sylvester Levay at the end!

Airwolf theme music for outro, good choice!

Nice one Jon! 👏🏻

5:36 at least it’s a DS5 so deserved the pause

Another brilliant video, please continue to make more. love em,

Living in Emsworth you've finally made it to my local motorway! I know you corrected yourself with text about saying Southampton accidentally instead of Portsmouth but you've gone down in my estimations after that lol. Havant is pronounced haven't. I know alot of people that raced at Horndean raceway and the reason it shut down is because the locals complained about the noise and there's meant to be a new housing estate being built nearby, apparently.