Commuting on the M27

almoststew1990 · 26 Mar 2014 at 19:59

Do any of you lot commute on the M27? I'll be driving (hopefully) against the flow, Joining at Jct 1 Cadnem and getting off at Jct 9 Segensworth in the morning. I will be leaving at 7.30am.

Will I be avoiding the worst on the traffic at this time / direction?

DRZ · 26 Mar 2014 at 20:04

Where are you coming from to get on at J1? That area is HORRENDOUS of a morning, but I guess at that time you'll miss most of it.

scratch · 26 Mar 2014 at 20:07

It will be absolutely fine matey. You're travelling in the best direction in the morning and that early there shouldn't be much traffic either.

sigma · 26 Mar 2014 at 20:41

I used to drive from Portsmouth to Southampton for a while. Absolutely horrible stretch of motorway in the morning, never seen so many cars driving so close to each other. As already said, you'll probably miss the worst of it.

Mr Gimp · 26 Mar 2014 at 20:48

Travelling the way you're coming from it shouldn't be too bad, but coming from Portsmouth or further out at rush hour is a complete nightmare. The road is fantastic, but the utter amount of reckless lunatics on the road is staggering.

scratch · 26 Mar 2014 at 20:58

sigma said:
I used to drive from Portsmouth to Southampton for a while. Absolutely horrible stretch of motorway in the morning, never seen so many cars driving so close to each other. As already said, you'll probably miss the worst of it.

Westbound is always a nightmare, especially between J8 and J5 at anything from 7am to 9am. Eastbound on the other hand is completely the opposite, especially after they widened the run up to J4 to 4 lanes. I used to commute from J2 to Pompey and only ever had issues if there was an accident.

Django x2 · 26 Mar 2014 at 21:10

J1 M27 is a breeze at that time in the morning, in fact, most times. It's worst heading west. Will take you no time at all to traverse those 9 junctions, the heaviest being around the M3 junction.

almoststew1990 · 26 Mar 2014 at 22:04

I'm comingfrom Christchurch so I'll be going on the A35 through lyndhurst. So I'll actually be at Jct 1 at prolly 7.50. Does it start to get bad at around this time? Good to know that I'll be going against the flow though!

Rackerz · 26 Mar 2014 at 22:06

You'll be fine at that time.

M27 sucks at normal rush hour times :/.

Burnsy2023 · 26 Mar 2014 at 22:06

It shouldn't be too bad most of the time, but when there's an accident, get comfortable and have an understanding manager.

Django x2 · 28 Mar 2014 at 21:18

From Christchurch, anything west of Somerford, its far quicker going up the A338 than the A35

HangTime · 29 Mar 2014 at 00:01

Until recently there were a lot of roadworks around J9 but seems to be over now so you've probably missed the worst of it. Gets busy at peak times but a 5min delay isn't much in the grand scheme of things.

almoststew1990 · 29 Mar 2014 at 00:14

Django x2 said:
From Christchurch, anything west of Somerford, its far quicker going up the A338 than the A35

I'm technically in Highcliffe, about a minute from the Somerford Sainsburys so I'm assuming the A35 is the way to go?

AS_Platinum · 29 Mar 2014 at 12:38

Junction 2-5 can get pretty hectic at that time of morning.

Tackle_Berry · 31 Mar 2014 at 08:55

almoststew1990 said:
I'm technically in Highcliffe, about a minute from the Somerford Sainsburys so I'm assuming the A35 is the way to go?

That's the way I always go unless I'm already near Burton or Christchurch then I would go up to Ringwood.

FuriousGeorge · 31 Mar 2014 at 11:13

I use the M96. I never get anywhere.

kevpuk · 31 Mar 2014 at 12:57

I used to commute between Parkstone and Southampton for around 4 months, and the M27 was generally better than the road across the forest!
That said, got stuck for nearly 7hrs coming home one evening, when horses were on the carriageway early this year :mad:

BenhB · 31 Mar 2014 at 16:36

I quite often go the opposite way from Portsmouth end.
JCT 7 is always a sticking point. Nip into the inside lane with the trucks is always quicker.
I like to go through Burley to avoid Lyndhurst on the way back from Christchurch and off the A31 at Stoney Cross through Emery Down on the way. Couldn't say what it's like for traffic for you at your time of day though.

Phemo · 31 Mar 2014 at 17:40

Yes it's a horrendous motorway particularly heading Westbound from Portsmouth way, luckily for me I mainly head northbound so I can use the A3 and cut up through Alton to avoid having to use the M27, except for when I get jobs in places like Plymouth which has happened a lot lately. When that happens I tend to leave ridiculously early because as others have said, around J7 for Hedge End area it's a mess. Incidentally I still find it bizarre that there's no J6 on the M27

(though I am aware that it's because J6 was planned to be for an extra motorway spur into Southampton that was never built).

Anyway as others have said, eastbound fares better than westbound for the most part and at that time, it shouldn't be too bad.

almoststew1990 · 6 May 2014 at 18:38

Had my first day of being 'part of the problem' today, was a bit worse than expected, stopping at every junction from the M271 onwards. I'm definitely going to get a more comfortable car though that was pretty awful after 9h in the office!