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A27 road
Major junctions
West end:	Whiteparish (near Salisbury, Wiltshire)
	M3 motorway A3(M) motorway M27 motorway M275 motorway A22 road A23 road A24 road A26 road A29 road A259 road A270 road A275 road A280 road A283 road A284 road A286 road A2025 road A2030 road A2031 road A2038 road A2270 road A3 road A32 road A33 road A36 road A334 road A335 road A3023 road A3024 road A3051 road A3090 road
East end:	Pevensey (near Bexhill, East Sussex)
Location
Primary destinations:	Southampton Fareham Portsmouth Chichester Littlehampton Worthing Brighton and Hove Lewes Eastbourne
Road network
Roads in the United Kingdom Motorways • A and B road zones

The A27 is a major road in England. It runs from its junction with the A36 at Whiteparish (near Salisbury) in the county of Wiltshire. It closely parallels the south coast, where it passes through West Sussex and terminates at Pevensey (near Eastbourne and Bexhill) in East Sussex.

Between Portsmouth and Lewes, it is one of the busiest trunk roads in the UK.

History[link]

Historically, for longer distance movement along the south coast, the M25 in combination with the M2, M20, M23 / A23, A3 / A3(M) and M3 has provided an attractive alternative to the actual south coast route of A259, A27 and M27. In 2002 an offpeak journey between Margate and Southampton via the M25 was 2 hours 30 minutes, and via the coastal route using the A259, A27 and M27 was 3 hours 50 minutes.^[1] The reason why the coastal route is so much slower than the M25 alternative, is largley due to a series of bottlenecks on the A27. These include Chichester, Arundel, Worthing and East of Lewes.^[2]

Proposals to improve the Chichester by-pass are on hold.^[3]

A proposed scheme to bypass Arundel was dropped in 2003 although the junction at the end of the dual carriageway has been partly made into an underpass.^[4]

At Worthing, where the possibility of a bypass has often been discussed since 1967, even getting as far as passing the inspector's report at a public inquiry, the plan was dropped in 1996 following rising costs. These are both areas of known traffic congestion during times of peak usage.

A bridge over the level crossing at Beddingham was completed on 22 August 2008.^[5] The original proposal called for a dual carriageway standard link with a bridge over the crossing.^[6] However, the actual project involved improving the original single carriageway road by providing two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound between the Southerham and Beddingham roundabouts.^[5]

Despite the limited improvements to the A27, it is still substantially quicker to travel from Southampton to Margate via the M25 route (2hr 43m) compared to the coast route of A259, A27 and M27 (3hr 48m).^[7][8]

Because of all the delays along its route, according to West Sussex County Council, the A27 is the most unreliable all purpose trunk road in England.^[9] Further it is widely considered, by businesses on the coast, to cost money and inhibit economic performance due to its unreliability and frequent congestion.^[10] However proposals by central government to allow private sector financing to improve major roads may be a possible solution to the A27s demise.^[11]

Actor Desmond Llewelyn, who portrayed Q in a large portion of the James Bond film series, was fatally injured in a car accident on the A27 in 1999.

Description[link]

The road starts at its junction with the A36 at Whiteparish. It runs through Romsey, Swaythling, West End and Bursledon. It then closely parallels the south coast and travels on via Fareham, Cosham, Havant, Chichester, Arundel, Worthing, Shoreham-by-Sea, Brighton, Hove, Falmer, Lewes and Polegate where it then terminates at Pevensey in East Sussex.

A section of the A27 running from the eastern end of the M27 to the end of the road at Pevensey forms part of the long-distance South Coast Trunk Road. Much of the road has been improved to dual carriageway standard, with the westernmost section of the trunk portion even having as much as four lanes plus a hard shoulder in each direction, and on a motorway alignment with grade-separated junctions. This is perhaps a reflection that the M27 was once proposed to run as far as Chichester.^[12]

The road runs east from Portsmouth to Havant. Beyond Havant the dual carriageway east has no junctions in it until it reaches Chichester, where the by-pass, has five roundabouts that disrupt the mainline flow of the road.^[3][13] The Chichester by-pass is regularly subject to congestion and although a public inquiry has proposed improvements, those improvements are currently on hold.^[3]

East of Chichester the road largely retains a two-lane dual-carriageway standard. There are, however a couple of sections of single-carriageway; at Arundel, where a proposed bypass scheme was dropped in 2003, and at Worthing, where the possibility of a bypass has often been discussed since 1967, even getting as far as passing the inspector's report at a public inquiry, but was dropped in 1996 following rising costs.^[1] These are both areas of known traffic congestion during times of peak usage.^[14]

At the junction of the A27 and the A24, the A27 has a brief gap where the road is designated 'A24' before continuing from the 'Grove Lodge' roundabout where the road is named "Upper Brighton Road".

After Worthing, the A27 passes through Lancing and crosses the River Adur near Shoreham. It then runs through the Southwick Hill Tunnel, crossing into East Sussex where it passes into a narrow cutting.

Later, it passes Brighton — where it has in the past been known as the Brighton Bypass^[15][16] — and around the South Downs. This stretch of road often is slow in the morning rush hour.

It then passes around Falmer with this section of road having three lanes in each direction but loses the third lane later. When Brighton and Hove Albion play at home this section can become congested due to its proximity to The American Express Community Stadium.

Afterwards, it passes south of Lewes where it meets the A26 road to Newhaven.

Here, the road becomes a single carriageway standard and, until 2008, crossed a level crossing until it was bypassed.

The south coast multi model study recommended a dual carriageway, but the Highways Agency built it to a cheaper single-carriageway standard. Plans are still proposed for upgrading this later.^[1][17]

The road afterwards reverts to a dual carriageway with access to the A22, which provides links to Eastbourne and Hailsham.

The road then. once again. turns into a single carriageway near Pevensey, where the road ends, and the South Coast Trunk Road transfers over to the A259; this coast road starts in Emsworth and shadows the route of the A27.

Landmarks on the route[link]

• Spinnaker Tower
• Chichester Cathedral
• Arundel Castle
• The South Downs
• River Adur
• Lancing College
• University of Sussex (Falmer)
• Lewes Castle
• Mount Caburn
• Firle Beacon
• Long Man of Wilmington
• American Express Community Stadium

Proposed developments[link]

Bexhill to Hastings link road[link]

The contentious Bexhill to Hastings link road would provide a more direct link from the A27 to the A28 road via the A259 road.

Other proposals[link]

• There is a recommendation to build a new road from Wilmington to Polegate.^[1]
• There is also a recommendation to make the road a dual carriageway between Beddingham and Polegate.^[1]

Gallery[link]

• 

  A27 near Beddingham, East Sussex

• 

  A27 near Pevensey, East Sussex

• 

  A27 near Brighton and Hove, East Sussex

• 

  A27 crossing the Adur flyover, near Shoreham, West Sussex

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: A27 road

External links[link]

• Society for All British Road Enthusiasts Route Description - A27
• TAB-MSAS: Roads Photos: A27
• BBC News article on new subway at Falmer
• BBC News article on speed trap at Falmer

References[link]

v t e A roads in Zone 2 of the Great Britain road numbering scheme A2 A20 A21 A22 A23 A24 A25 A26 A27 A28 A29 A200 A201 A202 A203 A205 A206 A209 A210 A212 A213 A214 A215 A217 A219 A222 A225 A226 A227 A228 A229 A230 A232 A234 A235 A236 A237 A240 A249 A250 A253 A254 A256 A258 A259 A264 A271 A272 A274 A278 A281 A282 A299 A2022 A2030 A2100 A2199 A2204 A2212 A2216 A2217 List of A roads in Zone 2 List of B roads in Zone 2

Coordinates: 50°51′26″N 0°36′00″W / 50.85716°N 0.60004°W / 50.85716; -0.60004