20th January
The 20th January was day two of the M27 Widening roadworks, meaning that the cones had only just gone out. Here's what it looked like:
Looking east (towards Portsmouth). The eastbound carriageway was re-marked the previous night and the westbound side will be done tonight to reflect the layout in place eastbound. The plastic sheeting seen to the left is called reptile fencing and is used to keep reptiles out of the works zone.
The widening will be done "on the cheap". In other words, the central reservation will be upgraded and narrowed, the existing lanes will be narrowed, and then only a small section of tarmac will need to be built on the verge. Where there are any obstructions, such as bridges or message boards, the hard shoulder won't be built, meaning that as you can see here it will be very intermittent.
Looking west now. The speed limit will be enforced by 'yellow vultures', or average speed cameras (SPECS). As there are only two cameras to a pole, one lane isn't being watched.
Zooming in towards J11, you'll see that the two cameras have a sign attached to them saying they're not in use, as the speed limit and cameras will only be used when the temporary road layout is introduced.
Looking east from the Downend Road bridge, the wall of cones to the left will be used to shift traffic back to the main carriageway at the end of the roadworks. That red sign marks a gap for works vehicles to enter the area.
To the left you can see that the road looks like it's already four lanes. The truth is that this is the end of the J11 onslip, which was very long to help vehicles join the road and climb the hill at the same time.
Swivelling round and looking west, a works vehicle sets off having applied the finishing touches to the wall of cones. That worn line on the right is what's left of the 'ghost island' merge at J11.
On a completely different note, look at the size of the cutting which this road is built in. The land excavated from here was carried by conveyor belt to J12, the M275 and the A27 Farlington Bypass, which are all built on this land and would otherwise be in the sea.
The J11 slip road. There are two things to note here, firstly there is no camera to start monitoring joining traffic's average speed, and secondly the fact that two busy lanes merge in to one at the very top of the slip road, something which caused miles of queues through Fareham during the first few days of the roadworks.
