The closure of one of the main routes into the city has led to frustration and long delays for local residents and motorists.
George Williams, from Ashurst, set off early but sat in traffic for more than 50 minutes: "I'm thinking about ditching the cars somewhere on the way and walking the rest of the way but got to find somewhere first."
Further back, Melanie Thomas, from Totton, had travelled less than 1.6km (1 mile) in an hour but was more understanding about the roadworks: "It has to be done but could have been done better, much better organised."
Meanwhile, Karen Parsons, who had moved 800m (0.5 miles) in half an hour, described the delays as "horrendous".
"Last minute change by Southern Water not to do it yesterday and change all the arrangements very late in the day kind of makes it inevitable not to avoid it really.
"Not looking good for a start to work," she said.
Dan West admitted his morning could have been better.
He said his usual one minute journey had taken 50 minutes and counting: "Busy enough as it is with the school runs, trying to get to work. I knew it would be bad but not quite this bad."
Southern Water says it is trying to pinpoint the exact location of the leak.
A spokesperson said: "Due to the nature of the work the eastbound carriageway will remain closed for a number of days – with the closure being 24/7 to allow our teams to work.
"We will provide a further update on progress on Wednesday morning. We're sorry for the disruption this work is causing."
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