A23 road
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- For other uses, see A23.
The A23 road, in its original form, was a major road running between London to Brighton, United Kingdom, originally starting in Fulham on the road now known as A3220. Much of the route follows that of the Roman road laid between Londinium and Chichester; from 1717, when the Turnpike Trust was set up, this was one of the major routes out of London for the stagecoaches. Today the original A23 has been bypassed round Croydon; and by the M23 motorway for the section of its route between Coulsdon and Crawley.
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[edit] The route
Main roads running from the centre of London are always deemed to start from Charing Cross, although the A23 itself begins as Westminster Bridge Road near Waterloo station. Almost immediately it turns south; the straightness of much of the heading south belies its Roman origins.
The road becomes
- Kennington Road: 1 mile (1.6km) in length; near Kennington Park it joins the A3 (Kennington Park Road), but soon bears south again, becoming in turn over the next five miles (8km):
- Brixton Road
- Brixton Hill
- Streatham Hill
- Streatham High Road
- at Norbury the continuing road becomes London Road; after 1.25 miles (2km), at
- Thornton Heath the Croydon Bypass, Thornton Road and then Purley Way (known for its superstores, particularly IKEA, and for the site of the original Croydon Airport) takes the place of the original road through Croydon, which is now the A235, rejoining the "new" A23 at Purley (near the Purley War Memorial Hospital[1]), now named Brighton Road.
- continuing south through Coulsdon [1], over the North Downs to Hooley. the start of the M23 motorway
- here is now Surrey
- through the built-up areas of Merstham; Redhill, Salfords and skirting Horley
- here is now West Sussex
- making an end-on connection with the M23 spur for Gatwick Airport the A23 becomes dual carriageway as it is diverted round the Airport; it rejoins the original route at Lowfield Heath and continues south into Crawley as London Road
- Crawley Ring Road: the original road was through the town
- Pease Pottage, the southern junction with the M23
- through relatively rural countryside of West Sussex the road runs into Brighton over the South Downs
- [1] The Coulsdon relief road, planned for completion in 2006, will bypass the town centre of Coulsdon.
[edit] Major roads intersected by the route
- A3 and A202 at Kennington
- A205 South Circular Road at Streatham Hill
- A214 at Streatham
- A232 at Waddon
- M23 close to Junction 7 (no southbound access)
- A25 at Redhill
- A264 at Crawley
- A272 at Bolney
- A27 Brighton Bypass at Mill Road Roundabout
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| Image:UK road A2.PNG | A roads in Zone 2 of the Great Britain road numbering system | |
|---|---|---|
| A2 | A20 - A21 - A22 - A23 - A24 - A25 - A26 - A27 - A28 - A29 | |
| A201 - A202 - A203 - A205 - A210 - A212 - A214 - A217 - A219 - A228 - A229 | ||
| A232 - A234 - A240 - A249 - A259 - A264 - A272 - A281 - A282 - A299 | ||
| A2030 - A2216 - A2217 | ||
| List of A roads in Zone 2 | ||
