M27 motorway (Great Britain)
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| Route information | |
| Length: | 25.0 mi (40.2 km) |
| Existed: | 1972 – present |
| History: | Constructed 1972–83 |
| Major junctions | |
| From: |
Cadnam 50°55′06″N 1°35′35″W / 50.9182°N 1.5930°W |
  J3 → M271 motorway   J4 → M3 motorway   J12 → M275 motorway |
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| To: |
Portsmouth 50°50′12″N 1°03′54″W / 50.8366°N 1.0650°W |
| Location | |
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Primary destinations: |
Southampton, Fareham, Portsmouth, (Ringwood), (Bournemouth), (Salisbury), (Winchester), (Chichester), (Brighton) |
| Road network | |
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 opened in stages between 1975 and 1983. It is unfinished, as an extension to the east was planned. A number of smaller motorways were proposed, connecting the city centres of Southampton and Portsmouth to the motorway; of these only the M271 and M275 were built. Three sections of the M27 have since been widened to four lanes each way, the first between Junctions 7 and 8, the second between Junctions 3 and 4, and the third begins at the slip road where Junction 11 joins until mid-way to junction 12.
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 becomes a dual four lane motorway and passes Rownhams services, it then meets the M3, (two lanes going off, two lanes continuing to the other side of the junction) reverting to a dual three lane motorway as it passes to the north of Southampton, passes Southampton Airport, meeting Junction 7 and becoming dual four lanes again, then becoming dual three lanes after Junction 8, it 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. Very shortly after this point the motorway ends, becoming the A27, a four lane dual carriageway almost to motorway standards until the junction with the A3 (M) Motorway. The official reason for this section of road not being a continuation of the motorway is the hard shoulders being too narrow. Although the M275 which the M27 junctions with, has no official hard shoulders throughout its entire length.
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