WORK on a multimillion-pound jam-busting scheme to improve one of Hampshire’s busiest motorway junctions is about to begin – giving drivers months of traffic headaches.

Junction three of the M27 will receive extra carriageways and traffic lights as the second phase of the makeover to reduce bottlenecks on the motorway begins on Monday.

The £2.3m scheme follows a similar project which started in August to transform junction five at Eastleigh, at a cost of £8m.

But the 96,000 motorists who use junction three every day will face traffic misery until next spring.

As previously reported by the Daily Echo, work was due to start on junction three in July but it was delayed so that it did not cause additional traffic during the August bank holiday weekend and the PSP Southampton Boat Show last month.

The project is part of the Government's £300m motorway “pinch point” programme which aims to remove bottlenecks on the nation's roads.

Workers will create a third lane on the slip road off the westbound carriageway of the M27, as well as the northbound and southbound approaches to junction on the M271, along with additional traffic lights.

They will also replace the hard shoulder on the eastern side of the roundabout with a third lane to ease traffic on the roundabout heading into Southampton from Romsey or the eastbound M27.

Diversions will be put in place while the junction is closed over night and some lanes on both the M27 and M271 will be closed during the day.

Philip Sheppard, Highways Agency asset manager, previously told the Daily Echo about the impact the work is expected to have on motorists – and the local economy.

He said: “The improvements we're planning for junction three of the M27 will help to reduce congestion for each journey that is made on it every day.

“They will also help support growth in the Solent economy, underpinning the creation of jobs at the Adanac Park development as well as trade growth at Southampton Docks.

“We'll be working both during the day and overnight, with the work carefully planned to keep disruption to an absolute minimum.”

The project comes ahead of the planned development of Adanac Park, which sits alongside the M271.

Earlier this year landowners Barker-Mill Estates announced plans to create 47,000sq m of business space spread over four plots in Adanac Park. The project will include redevelopment of Yew Tree Farm, plus the creation of 49 homes and an 80-bedroom care home. The estate claims this will bring 3,600 new jobs to the area.