M23 motorway

M23 motorway
Route information
Length:	15.9 mi (25.6 km)
Existed:	1974 – present
History:	Constructed 1974–75
Major junctions
From:	Marling Glen, Surrey
	J8 → M25 motorway
To:	Crawley, West Sussex
Location
Primary destinations:	Croydon, Reigate, Gatwick Airport, Crawley
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways A and B road zones

The M23 is a motorway in the United Kingdom. The motorway runs from south of Hooley in Surrey, where it splits from the A23, to Pease Pottage, south of Crawley in West Sussex where it rejoins the A23. The northern end of the motorway starts at junction 7 on what is effectively a 2-mile (3.2 km) spur north from junction 7 of the M25 motorway (junction 8 on the M23). From Hooley it runs for 17 miles (27 km) past Redhill, Gatwick Airport and Crawley. A spur runs from junction 9 to Gatwick Airport.

History

The motorway was constructed between 1972 and 1975, at the same time as the southern section of the M25 from Godstone to Reigate (M25 junctions 6 to 8).^[1] The current northern terminus at junction 7 uses the original sliproads to meet the A23 and a flyover above the junction built for the onward northern continuation remains unused.^[2]

Junction 9, looking north

The cancellation of the unbuilt northern section from the M25 in towards Central London has resulted in the A23 carrying the majority of traffic through South London to the motorway. This is largely a single carriageway route, with many level junctions, traffic lights and awkward interchanges. It travels largely through residential areas and is inadequte for the level of traffic it carries.

A new junction (J10A) was opened in 1997, between J10 and J11, for access to the new Crawley neighbourhood of Maidenbower.^[3] It was financed as part of the development of Maidenbower by the construction consortium. It gives only off-access southbound and on-access northbound.

Unbuilt sections

Unfinished junction 7 at Hooley

multi-level junction 8 with the M25 at Merstham

The M23 was planned to relieve congestion on the A23 through Streatham, Thornton Heath, Purley and Coulsdon in south London and was originally intended to terminate in Streatham Vale at a junction with the controversial London Ringways Plan's Ringway 2 (the intended replacement of the South Circular Road (A205)).^[4]

In an earlier version of the Ringways Plan it would have continued into central London where it would have met the Balham Loop spur from Ringway 1 (the London Motorway Box) at Tooting. This was dropped in 1967 when the northern terminus was changed to Ringway 2. While a definite route had not been chosen at that time for the northern section, approval was met for the route south of the Greater London boundary at Hooley.^[5]

By 1972 the southern section of Ringway 2 had been dropped from the plan,^[6] with an alternative proposal that the M23 continue further into London to end on Ringway 1. This was immediately countered in the same year by the GLC, who announced they would not be building that Ringway,^[5] which meant that had the M23 continued north into inner London it would not have had the motorway required at its northern end to distribute traffic to the east and west. The M23 plan was gradually scaled back further to omit the section across Mitcham Common and end the motorway at an unsuitable location on Croydon Road (A232)^[5] before the plan was postponed indefinitely. By the late 1970s, the area along the proposed line of the motorway had become affected by blight,^[7] and while the proposals were finally dropped in the mid-1980s, much of the land reserved for the route was not released by the Department for Transport until the mid-1990s.

The missing section of motorway and the missing six junctions north of Hooley were not constructed due to the refusal of the GLC to finance the project, having encountered large scale opposition to the construction of Ringways elsewhere in London.^[5] However, the scale of the four-tier junction between the M23 and the M25, one of only three stack interchanges in the UK, is indicative of the importance attached to the M23 at that time.

Junctions

Data from driver location signs are used to provide distance and carriageway identifier information.^[8] Where a junction spans several hundred metres and start and end points are available, both are cited.

See also

• List of motorways in the United Kingdom

References

External links

Route map: Bing / Google

• www.cbrd.co.uk
  • Motorway Database – M23
  • History of the aborted M23 plan
• The Motorway Archive – M23

Motorways in the United Kingdom
Great Britain	M1 M2 M3 M4 M5 M6 M6 Toll M8 M9 M11 M18 M20 M23 M25 M26 M27 M32 M40 M42 M45 M48 M49 M50 M53 M54 M55 M56 M57 M58 M60 M61 M62 M65 M66 M67 M69 M73 M74 M77 M80 M90 M180 M181 M271 M275 M602 M606 M621 M876 M898 A1(M) A3(M) A38(M) A48(M) A57(M) A58(M) A64(M) A66(M) A74(M) A167(M) A194(M) A308(M) A329(M) A404(M) A601(M) A627(M) A823(M)
Northern Ireland	M1 M2 M3 M5 M12 M22 A8(M)
Former	M10 M41 M63 A18(M) A40(M) A41(M) A102(M) A6144(M)
Unbuilt	M12 M15 M16 M31 M64
Proposed	M4 relief road
Related articles	Highways England Smart motorway
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