HAMPSHIRE residents and businesses are set to benefit from a £19.5m road investment that aims to eliminate a bottleneck at junction nine of the M27 and Parkway South Roundabout, Whiteley.

Hampshire County Council’s (HCC) executive member for environment and transport Rob Humby said: “This is really exciting news for the people who live and work in Whiteley. Congestion at peak times in this area has been notoriously heavy for years, and with a further 3,500 homes in the planning it’s essential improvements are made to increase capacity on the roads.

“The county council has worked hard to design a scheme to alleviate congestion at junction nine on the M27 and the first roundabout approach to Whiteley so that people can access the shopping centre, cinema, restaurants and business park without delay.

“Whiteley is an extremely important business hub for the south, and this project will give existing businesses the confidence to invest, as well as unlock new economic development potential in the area. It will also complement the investment being made by the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership to widen Whiteley Way, and the Highways England M27 Smart Motorway project.”

With funding confirmed from Highways England, announced on Monda, HCC can go ahead with its plan to provide an additional traffic lane on the westbound on-slip road and on the Whiteley Way approach.

The existing short left-turn lane at Whiteley Way will be lengthened and additional lanes will be provided on the northern and southern sections of the roundabout.

At Parkway South roundabout, a new larger, fully signal-

controlled roundabout will be built, with additional lanes on all approaches, on the Parkway exit road and on the roundabout itself.

The scheme is critical to the success of a £14m Solent Local Enterprise Partnership investment to widen Whiteley Way and the £150m being invested by Highways England in the M27 Smart Motorway Scheme, both of which aim to improve traffic flow in this area.

The £19.6m of funding comprises: £9.9m from Highways England’s Growth and Housing Fund, £6.6m from Hampshire County Council and £3m from Highways England’s Congestion Relief Fund.