DRIVERS face months of roadworks misery at a busy South Hampshire motorway junction.

A £2.65m programme of improvements is set to take place next month at junction five of the M27 – which serves Southampton Airport and Eastleigh.

The six-month scheme, comes just months after large-scale road widening took place on two busy sections of the M27.

Transport chiefs say the latest work is essential to free up traffic flow and reduce congestion in the area.

The Hampshire County Council scheme will see a segregated left turn lane between the westbound off-slip and the A335 Stoneham Way southbound carriageway.

Meanwhile, extra left turn lanes will be provided and the remaining roundabout approaches are to be widened. The roundabout will also be widened to three lanes and the junction will be fully controlled with traffic lights.

The county council’s Cabinet member for environment Mel Kendal said: “Peak hour delays are a daily occurrence at this junction and this has a negative impact on people’s ability to access the station, airport and Eastleigh town centre.

“There are safety risks for vehicle queuing on the slip roads, particularly westbound which regularly has peak hour queues backing up to the motorway.

“It is important for us to take steps to improve the junction’s capacity now, especially when you consider the planned growth for the area over the next 20 years or so.”

Mildren Construction has won the contract to carry out the scheme.

It comes after motorists faced months of disruption during Highways Agency work to widen the M27 near Nursling and Rownhams and at a second stretch between Fareham and Portsmouth.

Andrew Howard, head of road safety at Hampshire-based motoring organisation, The AA, said the works would cause “havoc” – but that they were necessary.

He added: “It is clearly going to cause difficulties, but only time will tell how much it will disrupt travel.

“However there are some pretty good minds trying to work out how to minimise the impact.

“It could be a case of having some pain to have some future gain.”