LAST night miles of the M27 was closed as work to rebuild Romsey Road bridge began.

As previously reported, the M27 will be closed from junction three to five until 5am on Monday morning.

Traffic will, as a result, be diverted.

Westbound traffic faces a 58 mile diversion, driving up as far as Andover and the A303, out to Salisbury and back round to Southampton. This will turn a ten-minute drive into a two-hour loop of Hampshire.

Rail users will also be affected by the works, it was confirmed that buses will replace trains to and from Southampton this weekend.

In a statement South Western Railway said stopping services between Salisbury and Southampton will be altered to run between Salisbury and Eastleigh via Romsey and bus services will run between Eastleigh and Southampton Central and between Southampton Central and Romsey via Millbrook and Redbridge.

Southampton Independents councillor Andrew Pope said the replacement of trains with buses and the roadworks will cause problems in the city.

Highways England has also confirmed that there are special arrangements in place with the emergency services in the event of an incident but the routes set to be used by the emergency services have not been revealed.

Romsey Road bridge carries the A3057 over the M27 between Upton and Nursling.