Work, which is costing £139 million, for a smart motorway between Winchester and Southampton is moving forward with preparations almost complete.

The work will create a smart motorway between junction nine at Winchester with the A34 interchange and junction 14 at Southampton on the M3.

A smart motorway is a section of motorway which helps to control traffic flow and reduce congestion in busy areas. This is done by using the hard shoulder as a running lane and with variable speed limits.

The preparatory work for the start of the upgrade has already begun, with a contractors compound currently being constructed.

The entrance to this is directly off Badgers Farm Road with the exit onto Otterbourne Road as pictured above. This will link straight onto the motorway network via the Hockley Link road.

At the end of August, work started to install CCTV cameras along the route which are due to be completed next month.

The cameras will monitor traffic flow, for example a broken down vehicle, along the route.

A spokesperson from National Highways said: “We’re planning on moving to the next phase of preparations work to upgrade the central reservation later this year, before aiming to start on the main all-lane running associated works next spring.

“We’ll provide an update as we move closer to the next phase of preparation work.”

The work currently has an estimated finish of 2023-24.