THE nightmare of Handy Cross will be sorted out within five years, promised transport minister Keith Hill.

There will be £3.5 million from the Government for major works at the junction, and even if a public inquiry is necessary, delaying a start, it will still be completed within five years, he said yesterday.

Mr Hill admitted that redesigning the junction to help traffic flow more quickly had to be the answer at Handy Cross, rather than inducements to force people out of their cars and into buses.

"We are committed to public transport, where it makes sense," he said. "But there is only limited scope for this through this junction.

"This solution concentrates on the road infrastructure."

The minister visited the the beleaguered M40 junction yesterday, touring it and other parts of the town by coach, along with councillors and officers from Buckinghamshire and Wycombe district. Afterwards he announced that the work would take place.

Road changes were necessary, he said, because at Handy Cross six streams of traffic converge going to High Wycombe, to Cressex Industrial Park, to and from Marlow and to London and Birmingham.

The minister missed the horrors of last week when traffic lights failed at the junction, traffic gridlocked and people were hours late for work. But he knew all about it.

"I hear it was terrible," he told the Free Press. "But it will all be over in the next couple of weeks."

At the core of the redesigned junction are new lanes, to separate traffic bound in different directions and to improve flow.

The long tailbacks getting on and off the A404 Marlow bypass are being tackled.

There will be a new slip road from the A404 turning left onto the M40 towards Oxford, which will keep this traffic off the main crossing.

Traffic on the M40 from Oxford wanting to get onto the A404 south will have a new section of road, cutting across the centre of Handy Cross roundabout and avoiding several sets of lights that have to be negotiated at present.

Traffic from London on the M40 and turning off to go onto the A404 south will also have a new lane off the motorway and a dedicated left turn at the lights.

Traffic on the A404 from High Wycombe wanting to go to London on the M40 will have an extra lane to improve conditions.