New Forest Roadworks This Week: B3347 Sopley and Hythe Road

The B3347 Salisbury Road at Sopley closes from Tuesday 6 October for up to four days, round the clock. It is the valley road between Christchurch and Ringwood, and the signed diversion is long.

On the Waterside, Hythe Road is still shut round the clock for SGN’s gas main work. Its order expected up to ten weeks from 7 September, which runs to the middle of November.

The two emergency closures that have dominated the past three weeks reach their ceiling this week. Totton Western Bypass and Romsey Road at Lyndhurst were both shut under 21-day orders that end on Tuesday 6 October at the latest.

Then Lyndhurst gets a planned one. Pikes Hill closes from Monday 19 October for up to 26 days, for a gas main replacement.

Updated 5 October: the 3 and 4 October rail closure and the September closures that have ended are removed. Every live and upcoming closure below was rechecked against Hampshire’s notices and National Highways’ closure report today.

What is closed, and when

Sopley: the B3347 shuts for four days from Tuesday

The B3347 Salisbury Road at Sopley closes between its junction with Mill Lane and its junction with the B3347 Ringwood Road. It is expected to need up to four days, round the clock, so to Friday 9 October.

The work is Wessex Water on a flood prevention project. The signed diversion runs via:

• Derritt Lane, Ringwood Road and Burley Road
• the A35 and the B3073
• the A338 and the A31

Sopley has more to come. Anna Lane shuts for up to five days from Monday 12 October, for 640 metres east of the B3347 Ringwood Road, so that SGN can fix a fence. The same day, West Road in Bransgore closes between Derritt Lane and Chapel Lane for up to 16 days, round the clock, for trench excavation by Connect It Utility Services. Its diversion is Derritt Lane, Ringwood Road, Burley Road and Chapel Lane.

Totton and Lyndhurst: the emergency orders run out, and a planned closure follows

Section 14(2) notices come into force without warning and run to a maximum of 21 days. The notice never says what the danger was. Two are reaching their limit:

• Totton Western Bypass, between the A326 and the A35, from 16 September. Ceiling 6 October. Diversion: the A326 northbound, the A326 southbound and the A35.
• Romsey Road, Lyndhurst, between Pikes Hill and the A31, from 15 September. Ceiling 6 October. Alternative route: “N/A”.

The 21 days is a ceiling, not a schedule. Hampshire does not announce a reopening, and a road can reopen early or be closed again under a fresh order. Both notices were still on its list this morning.

A third emergency order closed Roger Penny Way at Bramshaw from Thursday 1 October, between Brook Hill and Bramshaw Road, for a maximum of five days, which takes it to 5 October. No alternative route is published.

The two emergency closures that sat beside them in September, School Lane at Minstead and Gorley Road at Ellingham, have dropped off Hampshire’s list.

Pikes Hill in Lyndhurst closes from Monday 19 October, between Blackwater Road and Broughton Road, for up to 26 days, round the clock. JB Utility Services is replacing a gas main. The diversion is Blackwater, the A337 and Pikes Hill. Romsey Road, the other way in from the A31, starts at the Pikes Hill junction, so check both before you drive into the village from the north.

The A31 and the M27: slip roads at night this week

National Highways’ closure report for Friday 2 to Thursday 8 October, last updated on 2 October, books these on our stretch, each 9pm to 6am:

• Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 October: the A31 westbound Picket Post entry slip, for resurfacing between Picket Post and Ringwood.
• Thursday 8 October: the A31 westbound Poulner exit slip, for maintenance.
• Thursday 8 October: the M27 westbound junction 2 entry slip at Ower, part of the structure maintenance scheme between junctions 1 and 2.

No full carriageway closure of the A31 or the M27 in the district is booked this week. The A31 closures between Bere Regis and the Roundhouse, every night from Monday to Thursday, are in Dorset, west of Wimborne, outside the district.

New Forest District Council’s A31 wildfire updates page, which carried the fire-era diversions and speed limits, still returns “page not found”. Nobody has published anything saying those restrictions have been lifted. Follow the signs on the road.

Totton market day shuts Library Road

Library Road in Totton closes from 7am to 6pm on Saturday 10 October, between the Commercial Road roundabout and Testwood Lane, for the town council’s monthly market. It happens on one Saturday every month, and the next two are 14 November and 12 December. The diversion is Commercial Road, Beaumont Road, Testwood Lane and Salisbury Road.

Rockbourne Road, Sandleheath: full closures this week

The current order keeps a 40mph limit on Rockbourne Road through October and adds full closures on 6 to 9 October and 28 to 31 October, between Court Hill and Rockbourne Lane. National Grid is refurbishing overhead electrical cables. Diversion: Rockbourne Road, Rockbourne Lane, West Park Lane and Court Hill.

The same scheme has closed Rockbourne Footpath 12 until 31 December 2026.

The one-day closures, mostly telegraph poles

Most of the rest are single days on lanes with no real alternative:

• Ashford Road, Fordingbridge, 100 metres north of The Old Vineries, today, 5 October, 8am to 8pm. Wessex Water, sewer rehabilitation.
• Cottagers Lane, Hordle, from Monday 5 October for up to three days. Kier, a new water connection.
• Arters Lawn, Denny Lodge, between Staplewood Lane and Barrows Lane, Wednesday 7 October, 8am to 6pm. Its signed diversion goes via the Totton Western Bypass.
• Canterton Lane, Bramshaw, 70 metres south of the B3079, from Monday 12 October for up to three days, 8.30am to 4.30pm. New fibre duct. No alternative route published.
• Vicarage Lane, Hordle, between Sky End Lane and Pegasus Avenue, from Monday 12 October for up to five days. A sewer connection.
• Beaulieu Road, Denny Lodge, 300 metres south of Yew Tree Heath Road, Friday 16 October, 9.30am to 3pm. Pole renewal.
• Kings Lane, Sway, Tuesday 20 October; Norleywood Road, Boldre, Wednesday 21 October; Lymore Lane, Milford on Sea, Friday 23 October. Each 9.30am to 3pm, each a pole replacement.
• Twiggs Lane, Marchwood, between Arters Lawn and the A326, Thursday 22 October, 8am to 6pm. Pole replacement.
• B3347 Christchurch Road, Ringwood, between Eynon Mews and Woodstock Lane, Saturday 24 October, 9.30am to 1pm. Pole replacement, with a long diversion via the A31, A338, B3073 and A35.
• Rhinefield Ornamental Drive, between Albridge Hill and the A35, Sunday 25 October, 10am to 11.30am, for the New Forest 10 Mile Road Race.

Seven of those name one contractor, Circet. If a forest lane is shut for a day with nothing on the barrier to say why, the odds are heavily that somebody is changing a pole.

The B3054 Bridge Road in Lymington order, for up to two nights between 11pm and 4am for an Environment Agency training exercise, is still listed. Hampshire gives no nights for it.

The long ones: what is shut until Christmas

• Hythe Road, Hythe and Dibden, between Garden City and the property known as South Lodge. Since 7 September, up to 10 weeks, round the clock. SGN is replacing a gas main. Diversion: Main Road, the A326 and Twiggs Lane.
• Eling Hill, Totton and Eling, between Downs Park Crescent and the Eling Cemetery car park entrance. Since 14 September, up to 12 weeks, for bridge refurbishment by Owlsworth Conservation Ltd.
• Long Copse, Fawley, between the B3053 Fawley Road and Newlands Road. Since 14 September, up to 13 weeks, for The Clancy Group on behalf of Southern Water to replace a water main. Diversion: Newlands Road, Blackfield Road and the B3053.
• Hill Street, Netley Marsh, between the A36 Salisbury Road and Oakwood Place. Since 24 August, up to 10 weeks, 9am to 4pm only, resurfacing by Gracelands Ltd.

The A326 Marchwood Bypass southbound closure, which met the Totton bypass closure at the same junction, had an expected three weeks from 7 September and should now be over.

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Footpaths closed into next year

• New Milton Footpath 718, to 21 February 2027, because a bridge needs further repair.
• Godshill Footpath 758, extended to 9 March 2027 for bridge repairs.
• Rockbourne Footpath 12, to 31 December 2026.
• Boldre Footpath 33, because of a collapsed path, extended to 13 September 2027.

What it means for you

• If you drive between Christchurch and Ringwood, the B3347 at Sopley is shut from Tuesday for up to four days. Use the A338.
• If you use the Totton Western Bypass or Romsey Road into Lyndhurst, both emergency orders end by 6 October at the latest. Allow extra time until you see them open.
• If you come into Lyndhurst from the north after 19 October, Pikes Hill is shut for up to 26 days.
• If you join the A31 westbound at Picket Post late on Tuesday or Wednesday, the slip is shut from 9pm.
• If you take the train on 17 and 18 October, the Salisbury line is bus-only from Southampton Central, and on Sunday 18 October Bournemouth to Poole is too. The New Forest line itself runs.
• If you travel on 24 and 25 October or 31 October and 1 November, there are no trains through Southampton Central or west of Brockenhurst respectively. See the trains section below.
• If a forest lane is shut for a day with no notice on it, check the Hampshire public notices list filtered to the New Forest before you assume it is a longer closure.

The four roads that matter

The A31 is the trunk road, dual carriageway, and it is a National Highways road rather than a county one. It runs from the M27 at Cadnam straight across the open forest to Ringwood and on towards Bournemouth. It is the only route across the middle of the district built for the traffic it carries.

The A35 leaves the A31 at Cadnam and runs south west through Lyndhurst towards Christchurch. Lyndhurst is where it hurts. The village high street takes A35 traffic and A337 traffic through the same junction, and when the A31 closes, displaced traffic finds its way through as well.

The A337 runs south from Lyndhurst through Brockenhurst to Lymington. It is single carriageway across open forest for much of its length, which is where the 40mph limit and the animals matter most.

The A326 heads south from Totton down the Waterside to Hythe, Holbury and Fawley. It carries the industrial traffic for the Fawley complex as well as commuters, and this autumn it is both a closure and a diversion route.

One piece of National Highways advice is worth carrying whenever anything shuts here: follow the signed diversion, not your satnav. It will try to send you down forest lanes that were never built for diverted traffic, and several of those are shut too.

Car park charges: the change most people have not caught up with

Forestry England introduced charges at 129 New Forest car parks on Monday 20 April 2026. Sites that had been free for decades, including the ones at Bolderwood, Rhinefield and the ornamental drives, now cost money.

Payment is by the RingGo app or website at all 129 car parks. Only about 16 of the busier ones have a machine that takes a card, so if you drive to a quiet forest car park without a phone signal, plan for it. Forestry England national membership costs £8 a month, or £96 a year, and includes free parking at all of them, which pays for itself at roughly one four-hour visit a month.

The New Forest National Park Authority does not own or operate any of these car parks and had no power to approve or refuse the scheme, because it counts as permitted development. It asked Forestry England for robust measures against displacement parking, a local discount and minimal signage. Displacement is the thing to watch: verge parking damages the open forest and is the predictable consequence of charging.

Our parking in the New Forest page has the district council’s own tariffs, which are separate and work differently.

The 40mph limit and the animals

There is a standard 40mph limit on forest roads and 30mph in the towns and villages, according to Go New Forest, the district’s official visitor service. It exists for one reason. Around 5,000 ponies, plus cattle, donkeys and pigs, belong to commoners who hold the right to graze them on the open forest all year, and none of it is fenced off from the road.

The New Forest National Park Authority’s figures for 2025, published on 21 January 2026, were the worst since 2020:

• 108 reported accidents involving commoners’ animals, up from 97 in 2024.
• 47 animals killed, up from 37.
• 18 hit and runs, broadly level with the 19 in 2024.

Night is still when most accidents happen, but the Authority called the increase in daylight and twilight collisions the most worrying part of the 2025 figures. Its advice is plain: drive to the conditions, allow extra time, pass animals wide and slow, and expect an animal to step out from a shaded verge without warning.

That advice matters more as the clocks go back on 25 October. The evening commute moves into darkness, and slip road closures on the A31 at night push traffic on to unlit forest roads, which is when most animal collisions happen.

If you hit an animal, you must report it to the police within 24 hours. That is not a formality. An injured pony that wanders off unreported can take days to die.

Station parking

Brockenhurst is the district’s rail interchange and National Rail lists 236 parking spaces there, six of them accessible, plus cycle storage and cycle hire. For a station that serves commuters from Lymington, Sway, Boldre and the forest villages, that is not a lot, and it fills on weekday mornings.

The alternative is the branch line. Lymington Town to Brockenhurst is a nine-minute shuttle that connects into the London services, which is exactly why it exists. Our New Forest trains to London page has the times and the season ticket prices from every station.

Trains: no closures on the New Forest line until 24 October

The 3 and 4 October closure between Southampton Central and Bournemouth is over. National Rail’s planned works list, checked on 5 October, has nothing more on the New Forest line until the last week of the month. The nearby closures:

• Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October: all lines closed between Warminster and Romsey. Buses replace trains between Salisbury and Southampton Central, and between Romsey and Southampton Central. New Forest stations are not affected.
• Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 October: the same closure again, with the same buses.
• Sunday 18 October: all lines closed between Bournemouth and Wareham. Buses replace trains between Bournemouth and Poole, so through journeys from New Milton or Brockenhurst towards Poole and Weymouth change at Bournemouth.
• Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October: all lines closed in the Southampton Central area. No trains run between Romsey, Eastleigh or Fareham and Southampton Central or Bournemouth all weekend. Buses run between Eastleigh, Southampton Airport Parkway, Southampton Central and Bournemouth, and between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier.
• Saturday 31 October and Sunday 1 November: work between Hinton Admiral and Southampton. No trains between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth. Buses run between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth, between Eastleigh or Southampton Central and New Milton, and between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier.

Ferries: one running, one not

Lymington Pier to Yarmouth is the working link to the Isle of Wight, operated by Wightlink, with the train from Brockenhurst running right on to the pier.

Hythe to Southampton is not running. The ferry was suspended in 2024 after damage to the pontoon, and the Hythe and Southampton Ferry Company was placed into liquidation earlier this year. The Hythe Pier Company has since bought the assets out of liquidation and wants to bring the route back, but its own site, checked on 5 October, still says plainly that “there is currently no scheduled passenger ferry service”. Do not plan a journey around it. Note that Hythe Road itself is shut round the clock, and has been since 7 September.

The New Forest Tour has finished for the year

The New Forest Tour open-top bus ran three routes, Red, Green and Blue, and Morebus gives the 2026 season as Saturday 4 July through Sunday 13 September. It has therefore stopped. There is no open-top service again until next summer, so a forest walk now means driving to a car park and paying Forestry England for it, or the train to Brockenhurst.

Frequently asked questions

What roadworks are on in the New Forest right now?

The B3347 at Sopley closes from Tuesday 6 October for up to four days. Hythe Road, Eling Hill at Totton and Long Copse at Fawley are closed round the clock for weeks, and Hill Street at Netley Marsh is closed on weekdays until roughly the start of November. The emergency closures of Totton Western Bypass and Romsey Road at Lyndhurst reach their 21-day ceiling on 6 October.

Is Totton Western Bypass still closed?

It was still on Hampshire’s list on 5 October. The closure was made on 16 September under section 14(2) of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984, which lets the council shut a road “without delay due to the likelihood of danger to the public”. The order runs for a maximum of 21 days, so to 6 October, between the A326 and the A35. The published diversion is the A326 northbound, the A326 southbound and the A35.

Is Romsey Road at Lyndhurst open?

It was still listed as closed on 5 October, between Pikes Hill and the A31, under an emergency order from 15 September that ends on 6 October at the latest. Hampshire gives its alternative route as “N/A”.

When is Pikes Hill in Lyndhurst closed?

From Monday 19 October, for up to 26 days, round the clock, between Blackwater Road and Broughton Road. JB Utility Services is replacing a gas main. The diversion is Blackwater, the A337 and Pikes Hill.

When is the B3347 at Sopley closed?

From Tuesday 6 October, for up to four days, round the clock, between Mill Lane and the B3347 Ringwood Road. Wessex Water is working on a flood prevention project.

Is the A31 closed at night this week?

Only the slip roads. National Highways’ report for 2 to 8 October books the westbound Picket Post entry slip on Tuesday 6 and Wednesday 7 October and the westbound Poulner exit slip on Thursday 8 October, each 9pm to 6am. No full closure of the A31 in the district is booked.

Are there trains from Brockenhurst this month?

Yes, until Saturday 24 and Sunday 25 October, when all lines close in the Southampton Central area. On 31 October and 1 November no trains run between Brockenhurst and Bournemouth. Replacement buses run on both weekends, including between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier.

Which roads are closed for months?

Four. Long Copse at Fawley is the longest, up to 13 weeks from 14 September. Eling Hill at Totton is up to 12 weeks from the same date. Hythe Road is up to 10 weeks from 7 September, and Hill Street at Netley Marsh up to 10 weeks from 24 August.

Why are so many New Forest lanes shut for a single day?

Telegraph poles. Seven of the one-day closures booked between 7 and 24 October name one contractor, Circet, and almost all are pole replacements.

How do I find out if a road has reopened?

For an emergency closure, you often cannot. Hampshire never formally withdraws a section 14(2) notice and publishes no live feed of what has reopened, so absence from the public notices list is the best evidence available rather than a confirmation.

Do you have to pay to park in the New Forest now?

Yes. Forestry England started charging at 129 New Forest car parks on 20 April 2026. It is £1.50 for an hour, £3 for two, £5 for four and £8 for longer, paid through RingGo. Only about 16 car parks have card machines.

What is the speed limit in the New Forest?

40mph on the forest roads and 30mph in the towns and villages. It applies because commoners’ ponies, cattle, donkeys and pigs roam loose across the unfenced open forest and cross the road.

What do I do if I hit a New Forest pony?

Report it to the police within 24 hours. It is a legal requirement and it is how an injured animal gets found. In 2025 there were 18 hit and runs out of 108 reported animal accidents.

Is the Hythe ferry to Southampton running?

No. It has been suspended since 2024. The Hythe Pier Company bought the ferry assets out of liquidation in June 2026 and wants to restart the route, but its own site said on 5 October that there is currently no scheduled passenger ferry service.

Which road is worst for traffic in the New Forest?

The A35 through Lyndhurst. The village takes A35 and A337 traffic through the same junction, and it is also where displaced traffic goes whenever the A31 or the M27 closes at Cadnam. Romsey Road, the other approach from the A31, has been shut under an emergency order since 15 September, and Pikes Hill closes from 19 October.

Sources

• Hampshire County Council temporary traffic notices, New Forest area, the full live list (170 notices) checked on 5 October 2026 at hants.gov.uk/community/publicnotices. Every duration quoted here comes from the DURATION OF ORDER or DURATION OF THIS NOTICE paragraph in the notice body, not from the start and end dates in the notice header, which are the advertising window.
• The section 14(2) emergency orders: Totton Western Bypass, Romsey Road, Lyndhurst and Roger Penny Way, Bramshaw.
• The long closures: Hill Street, Netley Marsh, Hythe Road, Hythe and Dibden, A326 Marchwood Bypass, Eling Hill, Totton and Eling, Long Copse, Fawley, Rockbourne Road, Sandleheath and Pikes Hill, Lyndhurst.
• The closures in the next three weeks: Ashford Road, Fordingbridge, Cottagers Lane, Hordle, B3347 Salisbury Road, Sopley, Arters Lawn, Denny Lodge, Library Road, Totton, Anna Lane, Sopley, West Road, Bransgore, Canterton Lane, Bramshaw, Vicarage Lane, Hordle, Beaulieu Road, Denny Lodge, Kings Lane, Sway, Norleywood Road, Boldre, Twiggs Lane, Marchwood, Lymore Lane, Milford on Sea, B3347 Christchurch Road, Ringwood, Rhinefield Ornamental Drive and B3054 Bridge Road, Lymington.
• Rights of way orders: New Milton Footpath 718, Godshill Footpath 758, Rockbourne Footpath 12 and Boldre Footpath 33.
• National Highways 7-day closure report, Friday 2 to Thursday 8 October 2026, last updated 2 October 2026, filtered to the A31 and the M27 junctions 1 and 2.
• National Rail engineering works: Warminster and Southampton Central, 10 and 11 October, 17 and 18 October, Bournemouth and Poole, 18 October, Southampton Central, 24 and 25 October and Hinton Admiral to Southampton, 31 October and 1 November, from the planned works list checked on 5 October 2026.
• Hythe Ferry service status, checked 5 October 2026.
• Forestry England, parking in the New Forest for the car park tariff and membership.
• New Forest National Park Authority on car park charges for the 20 April 2026 start date, the 129 car parks and the Authority’s position.
• New Forest National Park Authority, 21 January 2026 for the 2025 animal accident figures.
• Morebus, the New Forest Tour for the 2026 season running from 4 July to 13 September.
• Go New Forest FAQs for the 40mph and 30mph speed limits and the pony population.

Roadworks change weekly. This page was last checked on 5 October 2026. Check National Highways and Hampshire County Council before you travel.