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M27 motorway
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- The Soviet motorway M27 connects Sochi, Tbilisi, and Baku.
The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is 25 miles (40 km) long and runs west-east from Cadnam to Portsmouth. It was was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, and there were plans to extend the motorway as far as Penzance to the west and Ramsgate to the east, with a number of smaller motorways connecting the city centres of Southampton and Portsmouth to the motorway; of these only the M271 and M275 were built.
A section of the M27 near Southampton is currently being widened to four lanes each way.
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Encyclopedia
- The Soviet motorway M27 connects Sochi, Tbilisi, and Baku.
The M27 is a motorway in Hampshire, England. It is 25 miles (40 km) long and runs west-east from Cadnam to Portsmouth. It was was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983, and there were plans to extend the motorway as far as Penzance to the west and Ramsgate to the east, with a number of smaller motorways connecting the city centres of Southampton and Portsmouth to the motorway; of these only the M271 and M275 were built.
A section of the M27 near Southampton is currently being widened to four lanes each way. The motorway boasts the United Kingdom’s first solar motorway sound barrier and passes close to the Rufus Stone.
Route
Running approximately parallel both to the coast of the Solent and to the A27, the M27 starts as an eastwards continuation of the A31 from Bournemouth and Poole, meets the A36 from Salisbury, crosses the Wessex Main Line railway, and then meets the M271 to central Southampton. After the M271, the road meets the M3 as it passes to the north of Southampton, passes Southampton Airport, then runs alongside the West Coastway Line as it heads south-east towards Fareham. It then runs alongside the northern outskirts of Fareham, briefly with a fourth climbing lane in either direction, before its junction with the M275 to Portsmouth. At this point the motorway ends, becoming the A27.
History
Opening dates
In common with many UK motorways, the M27 was opened in stages between 1975 and 1983.
- Junction 1 to 2 opened in August 1975
- Junction 2 to 4 opened in December 1975
- Junction 4 to 7 opened in 1983
- Junction 7 to 8 opened in February 1978
- Junction 8 to 12 opened in March 1976
Unfulfilled plans
There have been plans to make the M27 part of a motorway connecting Penzance to Ramsgate.
The M272 was meant to go from Junction 5 through Portswood to the centre of Southampton, joining with an extended M271 (that would have run a similar route to the A33 today). The M272 was instead built (in much reduced form) as the A335 Thomas Lewis Way.
Junction 6 was never built - there were plans for a motorway spur (probably numbered M273) connecting it to the centre of the Townhill Park area of Southampton .
The question of what happened to the M274 is unanswered, although it has been suggested that it could have been part of a grander plan for the A32 from Junction 11 (Fareham and Gosport).
A planned service area just east of Junction 9 was never constructed. The lengthy westbound exit onto Junction 9 was originally to allow an entrance and exit into the service area.
The M27 was meant to be extended to Chichester, part of this is shown since between Junction 12 and the junction with the A3(M) is built with 3/4 lanes, a hard shoulder and grade-separated junctions. It is, however, not part of the M27 as its hard shoulders are not quite wide enough for Motorway regulations. Other suggestions have been that there is a below regulation height footbridge. Another suggestion is that there is not a suitable parallel main road to this short stretch of the A27 - to offer an alternative route for non-motorway traffic. However, the old A27 (Now a B road) does run to the north.
Future plans
- The motorway is currently being widened to dual 4 lanes between Junctions 3 & 4. Construction is due to be completed March 2009. .
- The extra fourth lanes are being opened 20 December 2008 for the first time, but speed restrictions and average speed cameras remain until the communications have been installed. .
Junctions
- NB. There is no junction 6
Nearby attractions
Junction 1 is about 1 mile from The Rufus Stone, where King William II, aka King Rufus, was killed in a hunting accident in the year 1100.
Solar Panels
The UK’s first solar motorway sound barrier was installed at Junction 9 in March 2004. The 50 m long solar panel was installed by Solar Century for the Highways Agency. It generates up to 11kW of electricity.
See also
External links
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