A little over a year ago, I was suffering pretty badly from depression. John's greeting every Sunday, despite being said every time, was something that really helped me get through the week.
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.
When I was a student in the midlands people used to tell me I lived close to somebody called Duncan who lived in Plymouth - because I come from Sussex!
@@paulcooper3410 Not the smart motorways that fail, its the dumb drivers that are allowed to use them! If they put the phone down once in a while and looked out the window a bit more they might see whats going on in front of them.
@@HughzieTube Bit of both really. I have seen many sections of smart motorway where the hard shoulder is open for running but virtually unused, so that is entirely down to poor driving. I have also seen sections where the HS is open for running but blocked by a broken down vehicle, which causes more disruption than if it had never been open for running in the first place. This is typically just before the road switches to a full 4 lane & HS formation. So smart motorways do seem to be cheap & nasty upgrade, providing poor value for money.
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 🛣️
@@paulrobinson6562 years ago when returning from Portsmouth, my attitude used to be staying line 1 if needing A3M, line 4 if going to Havant, never use lines 2&3, due to the numbers of late line changes
@@ap9970 god yeah I know the feeling. Equally coming from Havant or joining from the a3m west bound can be scary as all of a sudden you got a lane that is doing 70mph joining the a27 where the next lane people are doing 60mph or want to across for the lane for eastern road.
Yeah same for me. I can't think of another A road in the country that's so complex, especially going from eastern Portsmouth to Havant. Watching the motorway being built when I was in my teens my career choice went from possibly joining the Navy to taking up civil engineering!
Its Nickname was jumpers bridge a few years back , I hope I don't have to explain why, but they did consider building a box over the motorway at that point.
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 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.
I don't think Nelson would have had a clue if you'd mentioned the A3! At the London end it's called the Portsmouth road, and the Pompey end it's London Road.
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.
I have been to this pub. It has signs in the middle of the pub, hanging from the ceiling, telling you that you're "now entering/leaving Sussex/Hampshire". maps.app.goo.gl/JVyk38zw2NZyNM4q9
@@paulvale2985 Would this be the case historically? I presume the hours are the same nationally, now. If you go back far enough, different towns have different time zones, too.
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.
Going back to pre-hysterical times, the B2177 actually started as the A333 from Hockley traffic lights on the Winchester Bypass (A33, 1933) and was my route from (north of) Winchester cross-country to Wickham, then south down the A32 to M27J10 (Fareham) where the A32 S/B from Wickham merged onto M27 E/bound and exited from M27W/B onto A32 N/B. Happy days, 1981, commuting in the last of the Mini Clubman saloons...
If you're interested in the history you might want to check out iks and vacant haven channel. You may know that here are networks of tunnels all over that area along James Callaghan drive. (I live in Drayton on the lower hill slopes near where the old A3 is). There's some really interesting videos of the massive underground fuel storage bunkers just west of fort southwick. You can see the entrances on Google maps. One is as I said, just west of fort southwick and the other is at the end of hillesley road. Those bunkers, 7 if them I believe, are 800 feet long and must be nearly 100 feet high. Look for the videos where they actually go into them. Theres a pipeline (some say a tunnel) that runs to Gosport where they refuelled the ships during the war.
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
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 😁
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.
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.
That would be interesting. The motorways in NI connect Belfast with small Unionist towns while large Republican cities like Derry still have no motorway connection to Belfast. When you get to the junction for Dublin on the M1 the road signs say South. But if you follow them you end up back in the north as they mean the south of Northern Ireland. The M1 itself in Belfast was built purely to separate the Republican Falls Road from Belfast City centre to reduce the amount of undesirable Catholics in the city. However most of the motorways in NI are about 300 meters long and contain a roundabout as the politicians there are too busy hating each other to manage to actually build any infrastructure. But at least you would have fun pronouncing the place names.
@@JD-wn3cc both names are in regular use. BBC news official policy is for the first reference to be "Londonderry", then for all subsequent references in the same story to be "Derry". Often known unofficially as "stroke city".
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.
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.👍
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Fwicked sweet awesomeness once again Jon. And right on my doorstep again! I can honestly see my house from from there! I’m convinced there is a tunnel by the Asda side of the A3.
Love the Airwolf theme 😎 Reminds me of lovely drives down to Portsmouth to visit my now sadly deceased friend who lived in Southsea. Further up the A3 of course is the Devils Punchbowl, which we visited a couple of years ago. I remember the snarl up as the road went from dual carriageway to a single winding carriageway, so it was amazing to experience instead going through a tunnel instead and then work out the old roadway that has now very much gone back to nature! ☺️ I am guessing the attitude with the A3 was like we had here with the A13: just make a road that is a motorway in all but name and no one will give a monkeys 🤷🏻♂️ it is telling that whereas in times gone by the people of Southend would automatically use the A127, they tend to use the M…I mean, A13 instead 🤔 Cheers John 👍🍀🍻
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!
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.
True. It was supposed to run from Exeter along the old A35 (before it was redirected to Honiton) all the way to Folkstone. Why they only built the section around Southampton is beyond me. The traffic along the entire South Coast is horrific. Its like the A303 was supposed to be a motorway all the way through to Exeter. I guess they enjoyed having meetings about building motorways instead of building them.
No, thats an urban myth. It stems from government documentation referring to the "Exeter - Folkstone motorway" or something similar but there was never any plan to build such a road. It was meant to refer to upgrades to the existing roads alongwith the building of the M27.
Thanks John for the piece on the Horndean stadium . I always look forward to your videos . Informative and amusing . Sunday tradition in my house ! 👍🇨🇦
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.
I've made a separate comment on it, but I've got a theory that the reason for the duplicate A3's is because the A3(M) was intended to be renumbered as a spur of the M27 similar to the M271 and M275 had the M27 reached Chichester and therefore connected up with the A3(M).
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
Fascinating video as always and one of special interest as I do venture onto the A3(M). "Havant" is pronounced like "haven't", so the sentence "I haven't been to Havant recently" could be confusing out of context :-)
AIR WOLF 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼 Got it this week 🎶🎶😂 Fffwicked episode yet again Jon, I’ve used that road many a time on my travels (work) down there, the concrete bridge always makes me think of the M62 😂. I work closer to home now, the furthest we go is Birmingham (thank fook)
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!😆
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
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.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
I believe that technique of tunnel building is called "Cut and can't be arsed to cover"... :P
Or "Scottish Cut and Cover"
Cut and fuck it!
@@RichardWattan Irish tunnel?
This is the last place I expected to encounter such racist comments! 😮
"Cut and can't be arsed to cover" - I like that!
John asking every Sunday if ive had a good week is the nearest thing I get to a hug all week.
Thanks John.
Yeah I was thinking the same this morning. I appreciate this!
Same. I like the sincerity in his voice when he asks that question.
A little over a year ago, I was suffering pretty badly from depression. John's greeting every Sunday, despite being said every time, was something that really helped me get through the week.
Damn bro, dont act so pathetic
The fact you just ended that with the Airwolf theme just made the episode 1000 times more awesome 😃
Agree. Every episode should end with this from now on
@@adzaaahhh Oh yeahh!! 😁
I want the Blue Thunder theme tune
This really should be the official theme of every drone shot.
Just what I was thinking!
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.
I don't think it's a problem, luckily there is very little local rivalry between the two cities. 🤔
It's even been pointed out in a TH-cam that people mispronounce Frome as Portsmouth
@@bumtickleronbroadway5682 Map men, map men, men.
When I was a student in the midlands people used to tell me I lived close to somebody called Duncan who lived in Plymouth - because I come from Sussex!
@@BrightonandHoveActually Could be worse, when I was a student in Newcastle they told me I was French because I came from Surrey.
Your reasoning for the A3(M) is 100% correct!
Ironically the A27 has a hard shoulder but the M27 is now a smart motorway...
They should definitely ban all "smart" motorways
As far as I can tell, they're a bigger failure than New Coke
@@paulcooper3410 Not the smart motorways that fail, its the dumb drivers that are allowed to use them!
If they put the phone down once in a while and looked out the window a bit more they might see whats going on in front of them.
@@HughzieTube Bit of both really. I have seen many sections of smart motorway where the hard shoulder is open for running but virtually unused, so that is entirely down to poor driving. I have also seen sections where the HS is open for running but blocked by a broken down vehicle, which causes more disruption than if it had never been open for running in the first place. This is typically just before the road switches to a full 4 lane & HS formation.
So smart motorways do seem to be cheap & nasty upgrade, providing poor value for money.
Similar to how the A329(M) has such a big junction with the M4: it was supposed to account for the M31, which ended up never being built.
Its like the M23 and M25 which has a huge junction designed for when the northern section of M23 would reach London...which it never has
Airwolf theme music to the departing drone shot! Nice.
Ah memories. Loved that show
Yeah, nice. Should have topped it off by sporting a black motorcycle helmet, and that would have really made me laugh.
Airwolf, from a great era of TV, long before Ru Paul drag contests became family entertainment..
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 a27 is treated more like a motorway than the a3m. I find the a27 more vicious
@@paulrobinson6562 years ago when returning from Portsmouth, my attitude used to be staying line 1 if needing A3M, line 4 if going to Havant, never use lines 2&3, due to the numbers of late line changes
@@ap9970 god yeah I know the feeling. Equally coming from Havant or joining from the a3m west bound can be scary as all of a sudden you got a lane that is doing 70mph joining the a27 where the next lane people are doing 60mph or want to across for the lane for eastern road.
Yeah same for me. I can't think of another A road in the country that's so complex, especially going from eastern Portsmouth to Havant.
Watching the motorway being built when I was in my teens my career choice went from possibly joining the Navy to taking up civil engineering!
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! :)
Its Nickname was jumpers bridge a few years back , I hope I don't have to explain why, but they did consider building a box over the motorway at that point.
@@paulknight5018 I think I know. It's so cold at that altitude, you have to wear two jumpers.
@@David_Crayford yeah something like that
I thought he was having a joke with us , but it was just a tall fence on the bridge.
The episode I've been waiting for. Horndean raceway was closed due to noise complaints from the new build houses nearby 😢
My local motorway AND the Airwolf theme! It doesn't get much better than that! 🥳
Top choice of end theme this week.
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!
loving the Airwolf theme tune at the end! might have to go rewatch that! love your videos, keep up the good work!
Hope you are going to include Season 4?
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.
I don't think Nelson would have had a clue if you'd mentioned the A3!
At the London end it's called the Portsmouth road, and the Pompey end it's London Road.
@@rogink didn't Nelson live in Morden near the a3, Morden hall park?
Just when you think the channel can’t get any better….you pull the Airwolf theme tune out the bag!!! Excellent work John💪
Beautiful part of the country!
Chasing the sun, homebound, in the Summer or Autumn on a Friday after work.
Magical South Downs.
Thanks.
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.
That’s a fantastic story 👍🏼😂
It's an amusing story right enough but the Pub as a whole would be licensed to one county only so, unfortunately, not true.
I have been to this pub. It has signs in the middle of the pub, hanging from the ceiling, telling you that you're "now entering/leaving Sussex/Hampshire".
maps.app.goo.gl/JVyk38zw2NZyNM4q9
@@paulvale2985 Would this be the case historically? I presume the hours are the same nationally, now. If you go back far enough, different towns have different time zones, too.
There is a pub in Edinburgh that straddles the old boundary between the city and the Burgh of Leith which had 2 bars with different licensing hours
Nice touch with the "Airwolf" theme music at the end. (Sounds like a cover, but still good!)
Brilliant choice for an outtro tune.
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.
Looking forward to that series, but we have the A-Roads to get through first. 🙂
@@David_Crayford In the mean time we'll have to make do with the late Robbie Coltrane's B-Road Britain!
Going back to pre-hysterical times, the B2177 actually started as the A333 from Hockley traffic lights on the Winchester Bypass (A33, 1933) and was my route from (north of) Winchester cross-country to Wickham, then south down the A32 to M27J10 (Fareham) where the A32 S/B from Wickham merged onto M27 E/bound and exited from M27W/B onto A32 N/B. Happy days, 1981, commuting in the last of the Mini Clubman saloons...
Any good dogging spots along there?
If you're interested in the history you might want to check out iks and vacant haven channel. You may know that here are networks of tunnels all over that area along James Callaghan drive. (I live in Drayton on the lower hill slopes near where the old A3 is). There's some really interesting videos of the massive underground fuel storage bunkers just west of fort southwick. You can see the entrances on Google maps. One is as I said, just west of fort southwick and the other is at the end of hillesley road. Those bunkers, 7 if them I believe, are 800 feet long and must be nearly 100 feet high. Look for the videos where they actually go into them. Theres a pipeline (some say a tunnel) that runs to Gosport where they refuelled the ships during the war.
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).
Ha ha, another local, small world!
Me too. Never knew about the tunnel plan. I currently commute the lower end of this for work.
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
Ending on the Airwolf theme, I approve
Always loved the Airwolf theme tune ❤
Gotta love the Airwolf theme tune...
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
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 😁
Havant is "Haven't", rather than "hay-vant".
@@derekjames6254 that's Leigh Park :)
Seriously look forward to this every Sunday might start paying lol
Airwolf!!!!!!!!
Still remember that on constant loop for the C64 game.
Woo.. Airwolf ending! 🎵
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.
We watch, we learn, we remember. Thanks Rev
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.
"All the motorways end up in or around Belfast and a traffic jam"
As in the (opposing) paramilitaries carved up their cuts from it section by section?
That would be interesting. The motorways in NI connect Belfast with small Unionist towns while large Republican cities like Derry still have no motorway connection to Belfast. When you get to the junction for Dublin on the M1 the road signs say South. But if you follow them you end up back in the north as they mean the south of Northern Ireland. The M1 itself in Belfast was built purely to separate the Republican Falls Road from Belfast City centre to reduce the amount of undesirable Catholics in the city. However most of the motorways in NI are about 300 meters long and contain a roundabout as the politicians there are too busy hating each other to manage to actually build any infrastructure. But at least you would have fun pronouncing the place names.
@sepocon you mean 'londonderry'
@@JD-wn3cc both names are in regular use. BBC news official policy is for the first reference to be "Londonderry", then for all subsequent references in the same story to be "Derry". Often known unofficially as "stroke city".
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.
Just had a look on google... that's quite a significant bridge they had to build over the river too. Can't have been cheap?
@@Gordanovich02 What's worse is that only 1900-3500 vehicles per day on the entire route.
How to get people to watch til the end of the video, play the Airwolf themetune. Loved that outro!
babe wake up auto shenanigans uploaded a new secrets of the motorway video
Using the Airwolf theme tune ... I want to give 10 thumbs up :)
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.👍
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
We have had a horse a few weeks ago as well.
Bus next week. Light plane the week after
Helicopter would have been appropriate to go with the outro...
Nice. Airwolf theme takes me back to the 80s. The carefree days of adolescence... Anyone invented a time machine yet?
Not heard that theme since the 1980s! Very appropriate with drone footage.
Another great video Jon and - wait, what - Airwolf?! Best theme choon ever. Good choice.👍
The Airwolf theme brings back some memories!
I highly appreciated the addition of the airwolf theme at the end
Wicked sweet awesome Airwolf. Roll on next week.
Loving Airwolf at the end ❤️
Any video that ends with the theme tune to ‘Airwolf’ is always going to be amazing :-D
You make even a 5 mile stretch of motorway interesting - great work John
Another fantastic and informative video Jon as always and ending with the Airwolf theme just epic!
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.
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.
Love a bit of Airwolf
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.
Of course it was a housing development, how could it be anything else?
This is the best video I've ever seen about anything
Lovely thank you.
Nice one, thanks for watching!
JON: Your witty, word-crafted presentation always fascinates; making the mundane absolutely attention-grabbing!!🛣️
Best ending music yet!
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
Good ole Airwolf! Nice outro theme. I did have a good week as well. Hope you did too.
Another great video Jon. Reggy on the road has a shout out for you on his channel.
Have a good week👍
Loves me a bit of Airwolf.
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.
Finished watching the video. Pressed the like button. Goes looking for Airwolf episodes.
Love your retro tunes on the end. Especially this one. Airwolf.
Only recently discoveres your channel but love this series on motorways.
Another excellent choice of "outro" music and jolly decent of you to let that car go past before you finish... 😂
You do rattle on John, but always entertaining. Love it. 😁
Great choice, a video on Portsmouth motorway the day after Trafalgar Day.
Lovely bit of AirWolf theme to finish off the video 💜
You get a like just for the choice of the Airwolf theme tune at the end.
Great episode
Thank you
Worth watching to the end just for airwolf. Years since I've heard that
Fwicked sweet awesomeness once again Jon. And right on my doorstep again! I can honestly see my house from from there!
I’m convinced there is a tunnel by the Asda side of the A3.
Love the Airwolf theme 😎 Reminds me of lovely drives down to Portsmouth to visit my now sadly deceased friend who lived in Southsea. Further up the A3 of course is the Devils Punchbowl, which we visited a couple of years ago. I remember the snarl up as the road went from dual carriageway to a single winding carriageway, so it was amazing to experience instead going through a tunnel instead and then work out the old roadway that has now very much gone back to nature! ☺️
I am guessing the attitude with the A3 was like we had here with the A13: just make a road that is a motorway in all but name and no one will give a monkeys 🤷🏻♂️ it is telling that whereas in times gone by the people of Southend would automatically use the A127, they tend to use the M…I mean, A13 instead 🤔
Cheers John 👍🍀🍻
Best end theme yet ❤
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!
Airwolf yaàaaas great video John
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.
True. It was supposed to run from Exeter along the old A35 (before it was redirected to Honiton) all the way to Folkstone. Why they only built the section around Southampton is beyond me. The traffic along the entire South Coast is horrific. Its like the A303 was supposed to be a motorway all the way through to Exeter. I guess they enjoyed having meetings about building motorways instead of building them.
No, thats an urban myth. It stems from government documentation referring to the "Exeter - Folkstone motorway" or something similar but there was never any plan to build such a road. It was meant to refer to upgrades to the existing roads alongwith the building of the M27.
Really interesting! Ive travelled up and down that road loads of times and have often wondered why the motorway is only for a short section
Lovin' Airwolf!
Thanks John for the piece on the Horndean stadium . I always look forward to your videos .
Informative and amusing . Sunday tradition in my house !
👍🇨🇦
nice one jon
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.
I've made a separate comment on it, but I've got a theory that the reason for the duplicate A3's is because the A3(M) was intended to be renumbered as a spur of the M27 similar to the M271 and M275 had the M27 reached Chichester and therefore connected up with the A3(M).
1:30Probably like where the A31 becomes the M27 at Cadnam, so non-motorway traffic can exit ⬅️
Airwolf theme music for outro, good choice!
Which they resolved by building it anyway and calling it an A Road ;DDD Absolute Class
Great stuff. Really enjoy this series. 👍.
Cracking video as always.
ahrem Airwolf theme is so good .)
Some motorways stuff interesting too but mainly the theme .)
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
Airwolf to finish. Lovely stuff. As per.
Fascinating video as always and one of special interest as I do venture onto the A3(M). "Havant" is pronounced like "haven't", so the sentence "I haven't been to Havant recently" could be confusing out of context :-)
AIR WOLF 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
Got it this week 🎶🎶😂
Fffwicked episode yet again Jon, I’ve used that road many a time on my travels (work) down there, the concrete bridge always makes me think of the M62 😂. I work closer to home now, the furthest we go is Birmingham (thank fook)
"A mental health wellbeing centre and a gift shop" - every reservoir should have one.
Great vid! Only left an overall video of the A3, maybe focusing on the messy roundabout by Liss.
Nice one Jon! 👏🏻
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!😆
A wicket, sweet, awesome video
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
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.