THE first look at plans to tackle a notorious Basingstoke traffic bottleneck are set to be revealed.

Hampshire County Council is set to unveil to residents its £18.6m plan to improve Brighton Hill Roundabout and the A30 corridor as a whole.

Disruption due to unrelated roadworks around the Brighton Hill Roundabout in recent weeks has already been causing traffic chaos for motorists during rush hour.

Now, a series of exhibitions are set to be held for the £18.6m project, part of an overall £24m investment from the county council on road improvements around Basingstoke.

With a number of new housing developments proposed or being implemented at along the corridor, one thing residents residents asked for is proper infrastructure to be put in place to deal with the increase travel demand in future years.

The four drop-in exhibitions will give people a chance to view the proposals and speak to county council officers who will be available to answer any queries or concerns regarding the scheme.

Councillor Rob Humby, executive member for environment and transport at the county council, said: “These £18.6m improvements will help ease congestion at busy times of day, improve safety and provide people with more opportunities to walk and cycle.

“Good infrastructure is vital to Hampshire’s continued economic prosperity, and these improvements on the A30 have been designed to make day to day travel easier for local residents and commuters.

“I would encourage local people to come along to the public exhibitions so they can see the plans for themselves, and take the opportunity to talk to the team designing the scheme about any specific aspects in more detail.”

However, one of the concerns being raised about the project is whether the roads will have the capacity for the imminent influx of residents with all the new builds.

Hatch Warren and Beggarwood ward councillor Terri Reid said: “I have heard residents who are getting fed up saying they feel like they are living on a building site.

“We have seen a positive outcome from the improvements to the Winchester roundabout so I am hoping we will see something like this, which can deal with increased numbers of vehicles.

“It is all well and good introducing these schemes to get motors off the road, but at the end of the day people rely on their cars.”

Cllr Reid added: “There will be some interesting points to come out of the exhibitions so I urge residents to go along and help shape the improvements.”

The £24m investment has already included the Thornycroft Roundabout and Aldermaston Road while work on the A33 at Popley Way, Crockford Roundabout, Ringway Junction, Binfields Roundabout and Taylors Farm Roundabout continues until winter this year.

The funding for the A30 work has come from the county council securing £13 million of Local Growth Deal funding from the Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership for improvements to the A30 SW Corridor.

This matched by £5.6 million of funding from the county council, primarily financial contributions from new developments, giving a total budget of £18.6 million.

The public exhibitions are being held between September 4 and September 11, where people can find out more about the proposals, with a survey available online from September 3 until October 1 for residents to complete.

The drop-in sessions are being held on: Tuesday, 4 September, 2pm to 8pm at The Camrose; Wednesday, 5 September, 11am to 5.30pm at Church of Christ the King, in Sullivan Road; Thursday, 6 September, 2pm to 8.30pm, at Hatch Warren Community Centre; and Tuesday, 11 September, from 2pm to 8pm, again at The Camrose.

For more information, go to hants.gov.uk/transport/transportschemes/a30brightonhillroundabout.