COUNTY council chiefs say they are pumping in £90m into roads to keep traffic moving in Hampshire.

Hampshire County Council is investing the money this financial year to help the transport infrastructure in the county.

The investment will be made in maintaining roads, in major highways improvement schemes, flood alleviation, bridge strengthening work, town centre improvements and road safety.

Executive Member for Environment and Transport at Hampshire County Council Councillor Rob Humby, said: "Good infrastructure is vital to any area's prosperity and quality of life.

"Despite the savings we are having to make because of ongoing cuts in our funding from Government, this considerable investment in road maintenance and improvement works demonstrates that we have the capacity and scale to prioritise schemes which will ensure economic growth, improve journey times and road safety, and provide better access to employment and education for the people of Hampshire."

"This is an unprecedented large value programme, which will benefit residents and businesses across Hampshire.

"It is made achievable through the knowledge and expertise of the staff at Hampshire County Council, and their ability to programme and deliver such a large volume of work."

Major road improvement schemes represent, £30m of the £90 million investment, with Hampshire County Council completing eight major schemes over the past few months, this work includes St Margaret's Roundabout and Peel Common Roundabout in Fareham, Leigh Road and Passfield Avenue in Eastleigh.

In Basingstoke work has been done to the A33 including the Ringway Roundabout and the Popley Junction.

Further work on the county's roads will total £52m, this includes work to the A30/A340 Winchester Road roundabout and the A33 Crockford and Binfields Roundabouts in Basingstoke, and work to the A27 in Fareham at the Gudge Heath Lane and Station Roundabout, and also the A27 Titchfield.

The investment has also been bolstered by £1.5 million incentive grant and £1.48 million pothole action grant, both from the Government's Department for Transport.