South East

Construction of a new dual two-lane road between the A413 Wendover Road and B4443 Lower Road to the south of Aylesbury, forming the first link of a wider southern and eastern bypass of Aylesbury for through traffic. A western bypass is also proposed for the town, which would also connect to this link road, but is not yet formally being planned.

Widening of the existing A322 Downshire Way in Bracknell, between the Twin Bridges Roundabout and Horse and Groom Roundabout, to provide dual two-lane carriageways. At present this short length of road is the only remaining single carriageway section between the M3 and M4, and is a considerable bottleneck.

Work is taking place largely within existing highway boundaries and will retain existing junctions in their present form, with the exception of the closure of a bus gate on the northern side of the road. The subway at Crowthorne Road will be widened.

Improvement of the existing A2500 between the A249 Sheppey Way and Barton Hill Drive. This section of road is at present a narrow single carriageway, but carries substantial volumes of traffic, serving most of the eastern side of the Isle of Sheppey. Planned housing developments around Barton Hill Drive will increase pressure on this route.

The improvement will be delivered in two phases:

Construction of a new sliproad exiting the coastbound carriageway of the A2 to provide access to the A28 at Wincheap, west of Canterbury.

Upgrade of the M23 between junction 8 (the M25 at Merstham) and junction 10 (the A264 at Crawley) to Smart Motorway standard. This is the busiest section of the M23 and heavy volumes of traffic, with associated slow-downs and phantom traffic jams, can occur even at off-peak times. It is also the principal road link between London and the city's second largest airport.

Upgrade of the M3 between junction 9 (the A34 at Winchester) and junction 14 (the A33 and M27 north of Southamnpton) to Smart Motorway standard. This part of the M3 suffers particularly high levels of traffic, being a single link connecting the major conurbation and port at Southampton to the wider UK.

Upgrade of the M20 between junction 3 (M26) and junction 5 (the A20 west of Maidstone) to Smart Motorway standard. This section of the M20 has three lanes in each direction and is particularly busy, running between the M26 and Maidstone. West of this section, traffic disperses between the M20 and M26; east of this section the motorway was widened in the 1990s and already operates with variable speed limits.

Improvements to Redbridge Roundabout, the junction at the southern terminus of the M271. At present this is a grade-separated roundabout, with an east-west flyover serving through traffic between the A33 and A35.

Improvements to M27 junction 8, the nearby Windhover Roundabout and 31 junctions on the A3024 between that point and the Six Dials junction in central Southampton, in addition to widening of the A3024 across two railway bridges. The scheme is highly unusual as it is being carried out by Highways England, who operate trunk roads, and at their expense, but the work will almost all take place on non-trunk local authority roads operated by Southampton City Council.

Upgrade works to alleviate the severe congestion experienced at this junction on a regular basis.

Upgrade of the existing M27 between junction 4 (the M3) and junction 11 (Fareham) to Smart Motorway. New technology and Emergency Areas will be installed to enable variable speed limits to operate, and the hard shoulder will be converted into a permanent running lane to provide four continuous lanes throughout this section. Smart Motorway upgrade works are also planned on the M3 between Winchester and Southampton, and the two schemes will connect at M27 junction 4.

Construction of a bypass to carry the A27 past Arundel. There is already a bypass for the A27, but it is now quite old and runs very close to the town centre. The A27 presently reduces from dual to single carriageway approaching the town from both the east and west, and negotiates several junctions that regularly suffer congestion. The objective of this scheme is to allow the A27 to flow past Arundel as an uninterrupted dual two-lane expressway.

Improvements to M2 junction 5 (Stockbury) which is a major interchange with the A249. At present the junction suffers regular congestion, particularly on the A249 southbound and the exit from the M2 westbound, and has an extremely poor safety record. It forms a break in the otherwise free-flowing A249 between Maidstone and Sheppey. Planned developments in the area will put further pressure on the junction.

Widening of the A28 Chart Road in Ashford to provide a dual two-lane road between the Tank Roundabout at Carlton Road and the Matalan Roundabout at the B2229 Brookfield Road. The A28 north from the Tank Roundabout to the M20 already has two lanes in each direction and this section, connecting that dual carriageway to the Great Chart Bypass, is now a bottleneck.

The scheme will see a second bridge across the railway to carry southbound traffic, some turns in and out of side roads prohibited, and improvements to the roundabouts at each end and to the junction of Loudon Way.

Upgrade of the existing M3 between junctions 2 and 4a to allow dynamic hard shoulder running (use of the hard shoulder as an extra lane at peak times). Where necessary, junction capacity will be increased to prevent traffic queues building up on the slip roads and encroaching on the main carriageway.

This scheme was introduced as part of the National Infrastructure Plan in autumn 2011.