Drivers warned of disruption on M3 motorway at Winchester due to flooding

Motorists driving in and out of Winchester have seen disruption to their journeys in the last 24 hours, after Hampshire County Council installed temporary traffic lights on a major route due to flooding.

Hockley Link, which connects the city to the M3 at junction 11, partially flooded on Thursday 3 November due to heavy rain.

Hampshire Highways set up two-way traffic lights to ensure the safety of road users yesterday, but it has led to major traffic disruption in the city.

ROMANSE, which is operated by the County Council, reported delays of up to 45 minutes on routes around Winchester on Thursday evening due to the emergency works.

Routes such as Saint Cross Road and Badger Farm Road became heavily congested during rush hour, whilst traffic also backed up onto the M3 Northbound.

Disruption continued into Friday morning, with delays of 15 minutes reported on the M3 Northbound once again.

Motorists leaving the city were also hit with delays on several routes, with many taking to social media to share their experiences.

One wrote: "Travelled from Winchester to get to M3 about 4pm [on Thursday] and it was horrendous. It was more of a hinderance as when I came from the M3 to Winchester at 8:15am it was very flooded and everyone just managed to get through in a civilised way."

Another said: "I went past this morning [Thursday] to go to Eastleigh and everyone was just driving round and southbound cars were just sticking to 1 lane to help them go round the water.

"No traffic lights, just people being sensible."

On Friday evening Hampshire County Council told ITV Meridian that is has been dealing with multiple flooding incidents across the county.

A spokesperson said: “As a consequence of heavy rainfall our Highways teams have been dealing with multiple surface water flooding incidents across Hampshire over the past few days, exacerbated by seasonal leaf-fall blocking highway drains.

"The Hockley Link in #Winchester was partially flooded yesterday and temporary traffic signals were set up to enable traffic to pass the flooded area safely until blocked drains could be cleared with specialist equipment. The area is now clear and the traffic lights have been removed.”

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