The scheme has been designed primarily by County Council officers working with Enterprise Mouchel who themselves are the agents for the Highways Agency for this part of the trunk and motorway network. It’s a low cost scheme and is trying to squeeze the very last bit of capacity out of a junction that I agree is and always was, inadequate. The scheme is £<0.5m. A proper solution would involve taking one of A34 southbound or M3-A34 northbound off the roundabout and onto a flyover. This would be several £100m.

Modelling indicates that the A34 and M3 flow will not be materially affected. Moreover, if things get congested, the trunk and motorway network will always be given priority. The main effect will be on Easton Lane Mon-Thurs 3:30-6:00pm and Spitfire Link most of the day.

Easton Lane will have a proper "go" most weekdays and therefore queueing at the junction should decrease significantly. There will be a slight increase in queue lengths on A34 southbound and M3-A34 northbound, but that should be marginal.

The main improvement to Spitfire Link is the provision of three lanes on the southern overbridge. This will reduce the number of occasions when there is a gap to "scuttle out" of Spitfire Link, but nowhere to go to as the queue space on the southern overbridge is full. The "new" lanes on the southern overbridge will be signed Winnall/A34 north/A34 north and M3 north. At the moment, most traffic for A34 north uses the left hand lane along with the Winnall traffic. This means that the left hand lane fills up and causes missed opportunities to get out of Spitfire Link. I have had the problem when coming down the M3 and turning into Winnall to find that the left hand lane is full and there's nowhere for me to go. That's a real problem when it happens 'cos it's not at all obvious what to do.

On Friday evenings when the motorway is full, then the effect of the changes might be less as the trunk/motorway network has to have priority.

But, as I say, it's probably best to talk this through – face to face or on the phone.

I will refer to the existing lights as
A. Southbound A34
B. Southbound M3 exit sliproad
C. Northbound M3 exit sliproad
and the new light as
D. Easton Lane exit.
My concern is that there is very little space on the roundabout for traffic waiting at lights A and D. (B and C space on the bridges is adequate). Light D will increase numbers of vehicles waiting at A, and may block entry to the A34 North. Likewise, tailbacks from light D may well block entry to Easton Lane.

I am sure you are aware of the jibe that when the Newbury Bypass and the Chieveley M4 Interchange were completed, Winchester regained the title of biggest hold-up between Southampton and the Midlands, previously held by the Hockley lights.

This scheme is wrong for trunk road traffic. The A34 deserved a full motorway junction with the M3 (NOT a roundabout), and local traffic should have had a separate junction. Unless an M34 is planned, much more money will need to be spent on Junction 9.

I had hoped the planners would help both A34 AND Winchester traffic.