News that £11.6 million is being released to improve four motorway junctions in Hampshire has been welcomed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) South East England Region.
But the Institution has warned that similar investment is needed elsewhere in the county to maximise benefits for the economy.
Director of ICE South East England, John Laverty, said: “ICE South East England welcomes the announcement this week that four motorway junctions in Hampshire are to see improvements at a total cost of £11.6 million as we believe such investment in the county’s infrastructure is needed and will bring significant benefits.
“We are pleased that £2 million is being spent improving Junction 3 on the M27 at Southampton as the projections are that this work will support several development sites in the area by reducing congestion and making them more accessible. Widening the west bound slip road to four lanes will support schemes at Adanac Park Development, Solent Enterprise Zone, Daedalus Airfield and Southampton Port.
“The work on Junction 5 on the M27 at Eastleigh, which will cost £4.9 million, is projected to support the creation of 12,800 new jobs and 7,640 new homes by 2020 with benefits expected for Southampton Airport, Southampton City Centre, Eastleigh Riverside and the Solent Enterprise Zone.
“Those projections show that for a relatively small sum of money spent on infrastructure around 12,670 jobs will be created and more than 7,015 new homes can be built by 2020.
“The work on Junction 6 on the M3 at Basingstoke with related improvement work at Black Dam, which will cost £4.3 million, is projected to support the creation of 13,220 new jobs and 4,080 new homes by 2020.
He added: “Our only concern is that in these three cases this work is not anticipated to start until 2014 so the benefits won’t begin until 2015 at the earliest.
“The £0.4 million project to improve the Junction 9 on the M3 where it meets the A34 at Winchester brings more immediate benefits as it starts and finishes in 2013 and I projected to lead to 595 new jobs being created and allow the building of 2,185 homes by 2020. These projects reinforce ICE’s message that investing in infrastructure brings benefits now and in the future.
“We believe that similar benefits can be generated in a cost effective way by investing relatively small sums in infrastructure projects elsewhere in the county and we hope that we will soon see funds released to allow such projects to go ahead.”
ICE South East England has more than 11,000 members living and working in the region. More information can be found at www.ice.org.uk/see. You can follow ICE South East England on Twitter: @ICE_SEEngland