A23 Road - Route

Route

The A23 begins as Westminster Bridge Road near Waterloo station. Almost immediately it turns south; the straightness of much of the heading south shows its Roman origins.

The road becomes:

• Kennington Road: 1 mile (1.6 km) long; near Kennington Park it joins the A3 (Kennington Park Road), but soon bears south again, becoming in turn over the next 5 miles (8.0 km):
• Brixton Road
• Brixton Hill
• Streatham Hill
• Streatham High Road
• at Norbury the road becomes London Road; after 1.25 miles (2 km), at
• Thornton Heath the Croydon bypass, Thornton Road and then Purley Way (known for its superstores, particularly Ikea, and for the site of Croydon Airport) takes the place of the original road through Croydon, now the A235, rejoining the A23 at Purley near the Purley War Memorial Hospital, now named Brighton Road.
• continuing south through Coulsdon on the newly-opened Farthing Way (the relief road for Coulsdon town centre), over the North Downs to Hooley, the start of the M23 motorway.
  • here is now Surrey
• through the built-up areas of Merstham, Redhill and Salfords, skirting Horley
  • here is now West Sussex
• making an end-on connection with the M23 spur to Gatwick Airport the A23 becomes a dual carriageway as it is diverted round the airport; it rejoins the original route at Lowfield Heath and continues south into Crawley as London Road
• Crawley Ring Road: the original road was through the town
• Pease Pottage, southern junction with the M23
• through the relatively rural countryside of West Sussex, the road runs into Brighton over the South Downs
• the road ends at Old Steine, Brighton, at a roundabout intersecting with the coastal A259 road, and opposite the entrance to the Palace Pier.