M275 Tipner Junction
Encyclopedia : M : M2 : M27 : M275 Tipner Junction
It was intended to serve a new development on the Tipner area of Portsmouth, known as the Gateway Project, which was shelved at the time. However, the junction's construction was abandoned primarily because planners realised that it would breach regulations that there must be a minimum of two kilometres between motorway junctions. Before construction was halted, significant work had been carried out, including four incomplete slip roads with no road surfacing, two bridges above the site for the main roundabout, and realignment of Tipner Lane so that it served the roundabout. Up to 2005, the project remained on hold, apart from a few minor works such as the Sails of the South and the refurbishment of the bridge over the planned roundabout.
During 2005, the Tipner Gateway Project was resurrected along with plans for the junction. As previously, preparatory works have been carried out for the junction. Due to the regulations regarding junction spacing, the speed limit on the main carriageway of the M275 has been reduced to 60 mph, and 50 mph on the slip roads and from the southern end of Mile End Road to the Kingston Crescent Junction. The latter junction is likely to be renamed Junction 3, with the new Tipner Junction becoming Junction 2, and the junction with the M27 being Junction 1/12 (M275 Jct 1, M27 Jct 12). Most of the road signs have been replaced and the M27/M275 interchange has been remodelled to make it easier for drivers, including splitting one lane into two, although this has meant that some of the overhead gantry signs are now redundant. Portsmouth City Council, the body responsible for the M275, intends completion of the junction by 2007.
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