Motorways in UK: M3 (London-Southampton)

M3 is the main motorway from London to the south coast, linking Sunbury-on-Thames to Southampton. M3 passes through two counties from the South-East: Surrey and Hampshire. Primary destinations are Staines, Bracknell, Basingstoke and Winchester.

The M3 cover a distance of 59 miles (95 kilometers). It starts at Sunbury-on-Thames, in Surrey, on the edge of South West London, as a continuation of A316.  

Two miles after its start, the motorway turns more west-southwest and crosses the River Thames on the M3 Chertsey Bridge. So, it is one of the three motorways that cross the River Thames, going upstream, the other being the M25 (Runnymede Bridge between the Buckinghamshire and Surrey) and the M4 (Thames Bridge between Buckinghamshire and Berkshire).

You can find here a list of junctions and service areas on M3: http://www.12go.co.uk/motorways.cfm?motorway=M3 

The M3 was constructed between 1971 and 1995. Bellow, you can see when was built each of the main parts of the M3, in chronological order:

• Lightwater to Popham, Sections J3 to 8, in June 1971;

• Sunbury to Lightwater, Sections J1 to 3, in July 1974;

• Popham to Bar End, Sections J8 to 10, in August 1985;

• Pitmore to Chilworth, Sections J12 to 14, in December 1991;

• Bar End to Pitmore, Sections J10 to 12, in June 1995