TWO Hampshire motorways have been reopened after a day of traffic chaos yesterday.

Sections of the M3 and the M27 were shut on Saturday due to "emergency infrastructure works".

Highways England says a fallen lamp column between junctions 13 and 14 was behind the emergency works on the M3.

A spokesperson for Highways England says the column, which fell due to corrosion, landed across both sides of the carriageway around 7pm on Friday night.

As a result, the motorway was closed in both directions between the two junctions.

Crews from Highways England then carried out safety inspections on other lamp columns on that stretch of the road, causing partial closures of the M3 between junctions 13 and 14.

A spokesperson says the motorway was fully reopened around 10.20pm last night.

Drivers were also unable to use the westbound M27 link road on to the M3 from junction four at Eastleigh on Saturday morning.

That stretch of motorway, which was later partially reopened, was fully reopened around midday on Saturday.

During the closures, drivers faced delays of around 45 minutes.

However, some drivers reportedly were left stuck on the motorway for 90 minutes due to the closures.

One driver, posting on Twitter, said: "Absolutely fuming, could’ve at least had a warning before coming onto the slip road been stuck for an hour and a half at a standstill."

Another said: "We said exactly the same, luckily we hit it when one lane was still open but still missed our little girl's ballet lesson! A sign of some description might have been useful!"

A spokesperson for Highways England said the closures were necessary to allow engineers to carry out a safety inspection of all remaining lamp columns on that stretch of road.