A217 road

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A217 road shield

A217 road
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Major junctions
North end: Fulham
  A308 A308 road
A3205 A3205 road
x19px A214 road
A3 A3 road
A24 A24 road
A216 A216 road
A236 A236 road
A239 A239 road
A297 A297 road
A232 A232 road
A2022 A2022 road
A240 A240 road
[ M 25  ] M25 motorway
A25 A25 road
A2044 A2044 road
A23 A23 road
South end: Gatwick
Location
Primary
destinations:		 Sutton, Reigate
Road network

The A217 is a road in Greater London and Surrey in the United Kingdom. It runs south, from Kings Road in Fulham, London, crosses the Thames at Wandsworth Bridge, then passes through Wandsworth, Tooting, Mitcham, a northern neighbourhood of Sutton (Rosehill), then Cheam and, as a dual carriageway accordingly at times beset by illegal racing, the Belmont southern slope of Sutton. The road enters the North Downs part of Surrey in skirting past Banstead and through its late 19th century offspring villages particularly Burgh Heath and Kingswood, Surrey, crosses the M25 motorway at Junction 8, then after returning to single carriageways, passes through the castle town of Reigate and the substantial buffer zones of two rural villages and terminates at the main roads network forming Gatwick Airport's northern perimeter.

Route

Fulham to Tooting

The A217 starts as a primary class A-road named Wandsworth Bridge Road, Fulham in the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and runs for 0.8 miles (1.3 km) before crossing over the River Thames at Wandsworth Bridge. The road enters the town and London borough of Wandsworth. The road turns right at a roundabout on to Swandon Way before passing Wandsworth Town railway station. It is briefly called Fairfield St before meeting the A3 (Wandsworth High St.).

The road becomes a non-primary A-road before it changes name to Garratt Lane and passes Southside shopping centre before it heads out of Wandsworth and into Earlsfield. It passes the B234 shortly before reaching Earlsfield railway station. It continues through Earlsfield as Garratt Lane and the road passes the B229 (Burntwood Lane) before it reaches Streatham Cemetrery.

In Upper Tooting, it meets a Tooting Broadway; a busy junction with the A24 and tube station before becoming Mitcham Road and passing the B241 (Rectory Lane). It passes Tooting railway station and this is where the road exits the London Borough of Wandsworth.

Mitcham to Belmont

It becomes London road as it enters the London Borough of Merton. It continues into through the Mitcham, travelling through the one-way system. It passes Mitcham tram station and becomes Bishopsford Road. The road reaches Rose Hill, which contains a busy 6-way roundabout before becoming a primary class A-road as it becomes Reigate Avenue (effectively the Sutton by-pass.) As the Sutton by-pass, the road passes the B279 (Sutton Common Road) and changes name to Oldfields Road and passes a Tesco superstore in a small area named 'Cheam Park Farm'. It passes a crossroads with Gander Green Lane and becomes St Dunstans Hill before reaching a junction in Cheam with the A232 (High St and Ewell Road). It becomes Belmont Rise and goes past a crossroads with Northey Avenue and the road leaves the suburban area of Belmont, as well as Greater London.

Banstead to Lower Kingswood

At the road enters Surrey, it meets the B2230 again at a roundabout to the south of Belmont before entering the notorious 'Mad Mile' section (Brighton Road). The speed limit changes from 40 to 60 mph (96 km/h) and returns to 40 mph at the Banstead Crossroads junction with the A2022. In this area the road passes Banstead Downs, and its golf course. After passing the Banstead Crossroads, it acts as a boundary between Nork and Banstead as it heads towards Burgh Heath, passing the junctions with Garratts Lane (B2219) and Tattenham Way (B2221) before reaching the A240 (Reigate Road) at the centre of Burgh Heath. to It passes near the large suburban villages of Tadworth and Kingswood, passing several B-roads, including the B2032. It travells beside Banstead Heath (still as Brighton Road) before reaching the small settlement of Lower Kingswood. After passing a roundabout near Kingswood Manor, the road arrives at the Reigate Hill Interchange, which is also Junction 8 of the M25.

Reigate to Horley

At this point, the A217 becomes a non-primary A-road. It is now named Reigate Hill, in a very steep section of the North Downs. The area become more urban at the bottom of the hill, on the northern outskirts of the town of Reigate. It passes through a level crossing next to Reigate station. It runs concurrently with the A25 through the main one-way system of Reigate town centre. It carries on through the localities of Woodhatch and Doversgreen before going into a very rural area. It travels over the River Mole in the small hamlet of Sidlow. After a period of farms, the road passes the village of Hookwood, taking a left turn at a roundabout. Continuing past Povey Cross, The road reaches Longbridge Roundabout on the border with West Sussex.

Landmarks on the route

Major roads intersected by the route

Illegal racing at Banstead

The stretch of the A217 nicknamed The Mad Mile has been a focal point of illegal street racing — a straight length of dual carriageway in Banstead, Reigate and Banstead that runs downhill from the Banstead crossroads with the A2022 to the roundabout with the B2230 near Belmont.[1] This length of road has been known locally since widespread affordability of motor cars shortly after World War II, used by bikers during the early 1980s when "starting grids" were illegally on more than one occasion marked out to be scrubbed out by the local authority at either end — this activity restarted in the early 2000s until 2003 among wayward modified car enthusiasts whose races would take place often on Thursday nights. This information spread quite quickly with the use of the internet, as far north as Birmingham and as a result people came to participate and watch these races. Police presence gradually diffused this illegal activity, but it has not completely disappeared.[2] Measures to stop these races include barriers erected on the centre grass verge which runs the length of this stretch, where people used to park to watch illegal road use.

Fatal incidents

In August 2006 two men illegally racing along this stretch of a public highway thereby caused an accident that killed three people, a separate offence, and were sentenced to imprisonment for a term of years. Aggravating the offence committed, the conviction found from the evidence in the case that the two men were driving recklessly at a speed much faster than the 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) limit on the road at the point of the accident.

Route-specific localities

The route from north to south takes in the smaller localities of Rosehill, Sutton, Reigate Hill, Reigate, Woodhatch and Doversgreen, Reigate and the north of Hookwood, Charlwood another 'hamlet' or locality.

References

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  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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