This posting relates only indirectly to cycle.travel, but will affect anyone who tries to use it for any route that attempts to follow NCN Route 23 at Easton Lane on the edge of Winchester, so I am offering an early warning.
Yesterday (24 March 2025) I rode from Winchester to Alresford, and was dismayed to find signs declaring that from 31 March 2025 until 31 December 2026 the cycle path that crosses the motorway will be closed, with no apparent alternative. This is part of NCN Route 23.
This is due to the vast construction site for the new M3-A34 interchange, estimated to cost £322 million. Workmen had already jumped the gun by putting barriers across the path.
Comments
Just to add a few things:
Cycle.Travel is still routing via the junction, presumably because the closed paths hadn't been marked as closed in OSM. I've just marked the paths as access=no for all modes of transport in OSM, so when that trickles through to CT it should change the routing.
There is an official diversion route via Alresford Road. You can see it here. It's not great as the Alresford Road is busy and part of it has a 60mph speed limit. We (the advisory Walking, Cycling and Horse Riding Consultative Group for the project) are still pushing for a reduced speed limit .
An alternative route preferred by many local cyclists would be to go out of town on Worthy Road (either on the road or on the substandard cyclepath alongside it). This is still fairly busy but better than the official route. Note however that the B3047 east of Kings Worthy is part of an overnight diversion route for motor traffic, so it's best avoided at night when there are M3 /A34 closures in operation.
For what it's worth, when the construction work is finished we should have a much-improved cycle route across the junction, plus a new route from the junction north to Kings Worthy.
Excellent: cycle.travel now routes using the designated diversion.