A232 road


The A232 is a road running east–west in two modern counties: across far south London and 3 miles into Surrey. It connects the A24 in Ewell with the A224 Orpington bypass.
Between Croydon and Ewell the road runs close to a northern part of the Sutton & Mole Valley Lines, impliedly from London. Part of the long-distance, express London Buses route X26 runs along the road between Waddon and Cheam. The most common road type of the route is that of a single carriageway, the remainder a neither large nor small minority of its route is a dual carriageway.

History

In the 1970s the plans for the construction of the M23 motorway north of Hooley had the motorway crossing the A232 Croydon Road in Wallington between Hilliers Lane and Demense Road. It is probable that a junction would have been provided here if the motorway had been built. In the late 1970s, when the M23 plan was scaled back to omit the section across Mitcham Common, the road may have ended on the A232 at this point.

Route

Epsom and Ewell

The A232 starts at a crossroads with the A240 and B2200 on Cheam Road in the Borough of Epsom and Ewell, Surrey. It runs near Nonsuch Park through East Ewell towards Cheam. After passing Ewell East railway station, it runs by a junction with Banstead Road. It then climbs over Howell Hill by the Nonsuch Court Estate before exiting Epsom and Ewell and Surrey.

London Borough of Sutton

The A232 enters the London Borough of Sutton just before Herefield Bridge. It becomes Ewell Road and passes the Cheam entrance to Nonsuch Park before passing by Cheam Park. After the crossroads with the A2043 and the B283, it becomes Cheam High Street before crossing the A217 at St Dunstans. It again becomes Cheam Road and it heads into Sutton Town Centre. It goes on the one-way system and becomes Carshalton Road, before becoming Pound Street, then High Street Carshalton. It becomes Acre Lane before coming to a crossroads with the A237. It then runs as Croydon Road.

London Borough of Croydon

The road enters the London Borough of Croydon shortly before turning right onto Purley Way. It soon arrives at Fiveways Corner by Waddon railway station and takes a sharp left onto Stafford Road. It briefly is called Epsom Road before becoming Duppas Hill Road. It goes on the Croydon Flyover which goes over the centre of Croydon. Immediately after the flyover, it comes to a large roundabout with the A212. The road heads towards West Wickham as Barclay Road, Fairfield Road, Chepstow Road and Addiscombe Road. It comes to a roundabout with the A215. It briefly becoming a dual-carriageway before coming to another roundabout by Upper Shirley Road. It becomes Wickham Road and continues for 1.5 miles before exiting the borough.

London Borough of Bromley

Just before the roundabout, the road enters the London Borough of Bromley. After the roundabout, it becomes High Street. It comes to a crossroads with the A214 and Wickham Court Road. It carries on as Glebe Way and at a roundabout, it meets the eastern end of the A2022. Shortly afterwards, it becomes Croydon Road and runs through 2 crossroads, the first with the B265 and the second with the A233. It comes to a junction with the A21 at Locksbottom and becomes a non-primary A-road. The road then heads north-east into Orpington, firstly as Crofton Road, and secondly, as Station Road under a bridge by Orpington railway station. It passes the A223 at a roundabout and becomes Spur Road. The A232 terminates at a T-junction with the A224.
The road closely follows the ridge of chalk to the south, over London clay to the north, especially between Ewell and Addiscombe. As a result, there are many springs near the route, and many of the suburbs it passes through developed out of prehistoric spring line villages.