THREE stretches of Hampshire roads are set to benefit from just over £3m awarded by the Department for Transport for safety improvements.

Rob Humby, Hampshire County Council’s executive member for environment and transport, said: “We’ve identified specific improvements where evidence shows that engineering measures will make a difference.

“So I’m very pleased to hear these schemes can now go ahead as our bids for Government funding have been successful.”

Sections of three roads on the A32, A27 and A36 have been identified by the Government as among 50 in the country which will get extra money to improve safety.

Mr Humby said: “Safety comes first, and we prioritise our resources on schemes we know will have an impact on reducing casualties.

“We have taken a route-based approach, aiming to reduce risks of collisions, and developed proposals for specific measures which we submitted to the DoT which has resulted in £3million set to be invested in identified improvements on the A36 (Southampton-Salisbury), A27 (Southampton-Portsmouth) and A32 (Alton-Fareham).”

Hampshire County Council plans to start work on safety improvements within the next few months, aiming to have them completed by April 2021.

The improvements on the A27 will improve pedestrian and pedal cyclist crossing facilities through Portchester; and on the A32 between Fareham and Gosport.

The total amount awarded is £3,159,000 which is £748,000 for improvement works on the A36, £681,000 for improvement works on the A27, and £1,730,000 for improvement work on the A32.