Its initial London section Chiswick Lane (to the Hogarth Roundabout) heads south – following this it is a mostly straight dual carriageway aligned WSW.

Near the geographical centre of Chiswick it crosses the A4 at the Hogarth Roundabout, the connection for central London, the west of England, and South Wales.

After Chiswick Bridge, the A316 is Clifford Avenue until its next crossroads, the South Circular Road (A205) and the A3003 to Mortlake and Barnes at Chalker's Corner.

The road enters the borough near Kempton Park Racecourse, before joining the motorway end-on at Sunbury Cross (Junction 1 of the M3) also in Sunbury-on-Thames.

[6][7] Nicola Regan, who died after being run over in front of a group of friends on 22 March 1991,[8][9] is commemorated by a nearby memorial bench in Old Deer Park.

On 6 October 1997, the A316 in Hanworth was the scene of one of the earliest recorded road rage incidents in Britain when Toby Exley, a chef from Teddington, and his partner Karen Martin, from Twickenham, both died when their car, a Ford Fiesta, collided with the central reserve after being hit by a speeding Vauxhall Senator which drove away.

[10] The driver of the Vauxhall Senator, Jason Humble, from Cove in Hampshire, was eventually arrested, found guilty at the Old Bailey on 2 April 1998 of manslaughter and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.