M3 Traffic and M3 Motorway Traffic News
M3 Traffic is a free, independent website covering M3 motorway traffic — M3 travel news, roadworks, accidents and delays on the M3 between Sunbury-on-Thames and Southampton. Whether you are heading south-west for Winchester, Southampton and the M27, or north-east for the M25 and London, check the M3 before you set off.
Where to go next: latest M3 traffic news for what is happening right now · M3 roadworks · M3 accidents & incidents · M3 closures tonight · map of the M3 junctions · M3 services · M3 traffic statistics
M3 Traffic is part of UK Traffic News, and specifically part of our Traffic News England network. Traffic News England carries traffic news for all the major roads throughout England — so if you are looking for news about another road, you will find it there.
M3 traffic news — the headlines
A snapshot. For everything currently reported, see the latest M3 traffic news.
Search all the latest M3 traffic news →
Latest accident or incident on the M3
The most recent accident or incident on the M3 that we are aware of.
Latest active roadworks on the M3
Roadworks live on the M3 right now.
Latest planned roadworks on the M3
The next planned roadworks scheduled on the M3.
M3 northbound hard shouder closure (62/4 to 60/0)
15:1115 Sept 2026reported 31 min ago
- Location
- M3 eastbound between J5 and J4A
- Direction
- Northbound
- Lanes closed
- Restriction
- Reason
- Maintenance work
- Schedule
- 09:00 Tue 15 Sept 2026 → 16:00 Tue 15 Sept 2026
Forecast - not confirmed
Search all the latest M3 traffic news →
Updated 15:42 Tue 15 Sept 2026
Powered by National Highways’ Transport Data Feeds.
The M3 in numbers — busiest at the wrong end
Most people assume a London motorway is busiest near London. The Department for Transport’s own M3 traffic counts say the opposite — the M3 carries more traffic where it meets the M27 than it does at the M25.
140,750
M3 vehicles a day
on the busiest stretch of the M3 motorway, between junction 13 and the M27 at Eastleigh. That is 98 every minute, around the clock, every day of the year.
2.5×
quiet in the middle
The M3 carries 140,750 a day at the M27 end but only 56,135 across the eleven miles past Winchester between junctions 8 and 9 — then the A34 joins at junction 9 and it doubles.
11,545
M3 lorries a day
between junction 10 and junction 11 near Winchester — 9.1% of everything on that stretch, and the heaviest lorry share anywhere on the M3.
1 in 6
is a van at the M27
23,683 light goods vehicles a day where the M3 meets the M27. Add the lorries and close to a quarter of that M3 traffic is somebody working.
That is why M3 traffic news is worth checking before you set off rather than after. An M3 accident at the Sunbury end holds up London commuters; the same crash past Winchester holds up everything bound for Southampton, the docks and the M27 — and both take a long time to clear on a motorway this busy. The latest M3 traffic news on this website is refreshed every few minutes, all day.
Figures are Average Annual Daily Flow for 2025, from the Department for Transport’s own M3 count points; every stretch quoted above is a counted link rather than an estimated one. Road length is 58.6 miles from DfT road length statistics.
About the M3 motorway
The M3 runs 58.6 miles (94.3 km) from Sunbury-on-Thames in Surrey, where it leaves the M25 at junction 2, south-west to the M27 near Southampton. It has 14 numbered junctions — 15 in all, because J4A sits between J4 and J5 — and carries a mix that changes completely along its length — London commuter traffic at the northern end, and by the M27 a route feeding Southampton, the docks and the south coast. It meets the A303 at junction 8 and the A34 at junction 9, both of which pour traffic onto it. It always pays to check the latest M3 traffic news before you set off.
How busy is the M3?
The Department for Transport counts traffic on the M3 at 24 separate points. On its busiest stretch, between junction 13 and the M27 near Eastleigh, it carries 140,750 vehicles a day — more than it carries at the M25 end.
Freight is heaviest further north: between junction 10 and junction 11 at Winchester, 11,545 lorries use the M3 every day, about one vehicle in eleven. And the quietest measured stretch of the M3 — the eleven miles between junctions 8 and 9 — carries just 56,135 a day, less than half the M27 end. That is why an incident in one place on the M3 behaves nothing like an incident in another.
See the full M3 traffic statistics » · The M3 junction by junction »