4th September

Joining the M27 eastbound at J11, and these two huge signs mark the start of greater times.

The merge is now, finally, back to what it used be, only with the left-hand lane of the slip road continuing as lane one of the motorway. Despite this, and the fact that the very same thing happens to the mainline of the M27 just three miles down the road, this design was labelled confusing by local residents the day it opened. The criticism seems to have quietened down now.

The mainline of the motorway - four lanes!

Even so, it's packed here.

That sign is a bit high, isn't it?

With the new barrier, new lane, new surface and new signs, the road feels a bit urban now. The hill is a lot steeper than you'd think it is.

Approaching the end of the lane, this presents a whole new problem, as people in lane three want those in lane four to move over early, but if they did that before the top of the hill then we'd be back to square one. As such, most drivers quite rightly stay until the end of lane four, but this means that when they get to the top those in lane three won't let them in.

No problems today though. Now that the commuters are used to the new layout it seems to flow fine, although the road wasn't that bad to start with.

Loads of room to merge. The hard shoulder is still coned off as for the next two months there will be landscaping and communication works (emergency telephones, message boards, etc).

Oh, and checking the bridges!