THE proposals for junction 3 of the M27 will have a greater chance of succeeding so long as Southampton City Council has nothing to do with it.

I’m not convinced that more traffic lights will help. I have used junction 3 for the southbound M271 for the past ten years at about 8am and, if my memory serves me correctly, cannot remember any queues at this exit until the through lane was dispensed with and traffic lights installed.

Traffic lights, when phased properly, can assist with traffic flow but in a lot of cases they have the opposite effect. Traffic through the centre of Hedge End flows quite nicely when the lights aren’t working but as soon as they are turned on, queues form in four directions.

J McCARTHY, Hedge End.

Editor's note: Southampton City Council have never had anything to do with the M27 and nor has any other local authority. The entire motorway network is run and planned by the Highways Agency, which is part of the Department for Transport.