A BUSY roundabout which is being transformed as part of a multi-million pound project will fully close for three days next month.

The Black Dam Roundabout will shut to road users at 10pm on Friday, February 5, and reopen at 5am on Monday, February 8.

The closure will allow all surfacing work to be completed, along with signals, signs, safety barriers and road markings to be installed.

Signed diversion routes will be in place during the closure, and drivers are being encouraged to allow extra time for journeys.

Highways England said that the junction will fully re-open following the closure, after which landscaping and seeding work will take place off network until the end of March, which may require some off-peak daytime lane closures.

Work to develop the roundabout began in October, 2014, and was due to finish during the summer of 2015.

But, as previously reported in The Gazette, Highways England announced in May, 2015 that the £11million project was behind schedule and would not finish until October last year.

It then announced in November that there were further delays, and that work would continue for another four months until March, 2016.

The Government-backed scheme is set to transform the busy roundabout and improve traffic flow by directing four lanes of northbound traffic into the centre of the roundabout.

A two-lane arm being added to the roundabout will allow motorists on the A30 road to join the centre of the new roundabout, easing congestion for people going to the town centre on the A339.

The project will also involve realigning and widening all approaches.

The redevelopment of the roundabout was announced by the Government in 2012, as part of its national Pinch Point Programme, after the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership, involving representatives from private and public sector organisations from north Hampshire and Surrey, submitted a bid for cash.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has put £500,000 towards the improvements and £874,000 is coming from Hampshire County Council.