WORK has started on a £90,000 Hampshire County Council safety improvement scheme at Eastleigh's Wide Lane - a busy stretch of road on the approach to Southampton International Airport.

The work is expected to take eight weeks but county chiefs say great efforts have been made to minimise disruption.

Contractors will be removing short lengths of the existing metal railings on the southern approach to the rail bridge and replacing them with double-rail safety fencing fixed to new reinforced concrete ground beams.

The safety fencing will have timber cladding attached to improve the appearance and deter access to the Network Rail-owned land behind.

Working hours are being restricted to 7.30am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday and there will be no work at weekends or public holidays.

A county council spokesman said lane closures would be in place only for the installation and removal of barrier protection for the workforce at the beginning and end of the works period, and for a short time on some days for material deliveries.

In any event, lane closures would only be permitted between 9.30am and 3pm.

Stop/go boards would be used to give greater flexibility in responding to sudden changes in traffic flows.

Hampshire County Council's executive councillor for environment, Keith Estlin, said: "Because the county council is keen to keep the traffic situation very much in check, we've done our level best to come up with a way of working that inconveniences drivers far less than would otherwise have been the case."