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Bitterne Road East Pedestrian and Cycle Improvements

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Summary

  • Where: Bitterne Road East
  • When: Autumn 2024
  • What: Improved facilities for people walking, wheeling and cycling along Bitterne Road East
  • Why: To connect local communities with Bitterne Precinct, local schools and services

Project Details

Southampton City Council has secured funding from the Government’s Active Travel Fund to improve the facilities for people walking, wheeling, and cycling along Bitterne Road East between Somerset Avenue and Bitterne Precinct. The scheme aims to provide an active travel option for local communities connecting them with Bitterne Precinct, local schools and services.

Previous survey results can be found through the tile opposite.

June 2024

In order to inform the future works, we are carrying out investigations on the footways and carriageway of Bitterne Road East as well as Milbury Crescent, Bath Road, and Somerset Avenue over a period of 3 weeks. 

This work is planned to start on Monday 3rd June 2024, with the working locations and restrictions detailed below.

Monday 3rd June and Tuesday 4th June (2 days)

Footway closures on Bitterne Road East near Bitterne Library, with pedestrian diversions in place. Due to a slight incursion on the carriageway to create the pedestrian diversion, there will be some lane narrowing on Bitterne Road East.

Wednesday 5th June until Friday 7th June (3 days)

Temporary traffic signals on Bitterne Road East due to a lane restriction, with a footway closure and pedestrian diversion route in place.

Access to Milbury Crescent will only be possible through the ‘no entry’ end, and during which time the ‘no entry’ restriction will be lifted. Please see the map below for the restrictions in place:

Monday 10th June until Friday 14th June (3 days)*

Footway closure on Bitterne Road East near the entrance to Keynsham Road, with pedestrian diversions in place. The ‘no entry’ end of Milbury Crescent will be closed and temporary traffic signals will be in place at the junction with Bath Road. Please see the map below for the restrictions in place.

*Due to a utility company working nearby, our team will not be working between the 11th and 12th June, however the works will resume from Thursday 13th June.

Monday 17th June until Wednesday 19th June (3 days)

Footway closure on Bitterne Road East between the junctions of Bath Road and Exleigh Close with temporary traffic signals due to lane restrictions, with access still maintained for pedestrians.

Thursday 20th June until Monday 24th June (3 days)

Footway closure on Bitterne Road East at the junction of Somerset Avenue, with pedestrian diversion routes in place and some incursion on the carriageway.

Working hours for the temporary lights will be between 9:30am and 3:30pm, however the rest of the investigations will take place between 7:00am and 5:00pm. The restrictions will be in place only during the working hours.

More information regarding the scheme will be released in the future. 

February 2024

Last autumn, we asked for your feedback on the plans to improve the facilities for people walking, wheeling, and cycling along Bitterne Road East. Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to this consultation. We are in the process of reviewing the feedback received to inform the next stage of design.

The feedback can be reviewed in full here and in summary below.

Consultation summary

Total number of responses: 268

The two proposed measures with the highest level of support were:

  • New signalised pedestrian / cycle crossing over Bitterne Road East, close to the junction of Somerset Avenue (63%)
  • Proposed upgrade to existing signalised crossing to toucan at Commercial Street and continuous crossing across Commercial Street to link to Bitterne Library (59%)

The two proposed measures with the highest level of disagreement were:

  • Changes to the Bath Road junction (52%)
  • Protected two-way on road cycle lane between Somerset Avenue and Bath Road (48%)

60% of respondents told us that the proposals may have a negative impact on motor vehicle journey times.

Over half of respondents (56%) also told us that the proposals may have positive impact on the safety of pedestrians travelling along and crossing roads on Bitterne Road East.

October 2023

The consultation on the proposals outlines below has now closed. We will review all of the feedback received which will help to inform our plans for the area as these are finalised over the coming months.

(Open in a new window)

  1. Proposed widening of path between Bitterne Road East and Somerset Avenue to make it ‘shared use’ for pedestrians and cycling. 
  2. Proposed new signalised pedestrian / cycle crossing over Bitterne Road East, close to the junction of Somerset Avenue.
  3. Proposed protected two-way on road cycle lane between Somerset Avenue and Bath Road (this will mean the removal of the left turn and right turn lanes into Bath Road). 
  4. Proposed protected two-way off carriageway cycle lane between Bath Road and Bitterne Road East access to Milbury Crescent (this will mean the existing footway along south side of Bitterne Road East will be removed). 
  5. Proposed changes to the Bath Road junction to make it easier for pedestrians to cross Bath Road with a new continuous crossing.
  6. Proposed  improvements to alternative pedestrian route on the Bitterne Road East service road (between Bath Road and Milbury Crescent). 
  7. Proposed upgrade to existing signalised crossing on Bitterne Road East to toucan (for pedestrians and cycles) at Commercial Street and continuous crossing across Commercial Street to link to Bitterne Library. 
  8. Proposed widening of path to shared use to Bitterne Precinct and continuous cycle crossing of Bitterne Road East Service Road.