AT LAST! The rush-hour lane closures have ended and thousands of commuters on Hampshire's busy A31 trunk road through the New Forest can celebrate getting back to normal.

Most of the workmen, who have been resurfacing nine kilometres of westbound carriageway in a £2.7million contract since September, left last night and the cones were finally taken off the carriageways.

Some of them may be put back for a while in the off-peak part of Monday while the final touches are put to certain aspects of the job.

But the project's deputy engineer, Paul Coates of the Mott MacDonald engineering and design team from Ringwood, confirmed that the resurfacing is now complete. The project, which involved contra-flows, has meant periods of long tail-backs for the drivers of an average 58,000 vehicles a day travelling between Southampton and Bournemouth.

It has also seen contractor Associated Asphalt battling against heavy wet weather conditions at times, as well as delicate operations to safeguard the wildlife.

That wildlife includes colonies of smooth snakes, adders, lizards and slow worms which thrive on the central reservation.

Specialists working on the £3 million improvement scheme for Hampshire's busiest non-motorway trunk road had to be called in to deal with the smooth snakes, with thick gloves used to handle adders.

All the reptiles were moved to safe havens, havens, including the New Forest Reptiliary near Lyndhurst.

One of the worst queues - and definitely the worst language from motorists - occurred when a bus broke down and its brakes locked, causing huge tailbacks.

"The worst language came from women and the men working on the resurfacing didn't deserve it. It was something which was entirely out of their control," he said.

He added: "We don't do this work for the fun of it. We do it so the roads are still there in five and ten years' time. If we didn't do it, they would fall apart in two or three years."

At its peak, the scheme involved 50 to 60 men on site, including staff from the Ringwood-based earthworks and drainage firm Raymond Brown and a further 15 office-based workers on the management side.

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