Chris Huhne

Thousands of people in the Eastleigh constituency suffer from motorway noise, particularly on those still summer nights when every sound travels for miles. This particularly affects the areas of Eastleigh, West End, Hedge End and Bursledon as the M3 and M27 run through.

The problem is that the old concrete surface is far noisier than new low-noise tarmac. The ridges in the concrete throw out noise, and there is a thud-thud as lorries and cars go over the joins between the concrete slabs. If the concrete was overlaid with low-noise tarmac, the sound level would at least halve. (For the technically minded, the cut is between 3.7 and 5.5 decibels according to the tarmac).

Chris Huhne has been campaigning to resurface the sections of the M27 and M3 nearest to residents with tarmac, and has pressed Transport ministers to spend the recent £4 million savings on the M27 widening on low-noise tarmac.

If you would like to support Chris’s campaign, please email chris@chrishuhne.org.uk and ask to be kept in touch with developments. Please also sign up to the campaign Quiet Please! http://www.quietplease.org.uk/.

If you would like to check your noise levels, the Department of the Environment’s noise map now covers much (but not all) of Eastleigh and you can see it here http://services.defra.gov.uk/wps/portal/noise