Summary
- Where: Itchen Bridge.
- What: Essential maintenance works comprising the most significant programme of maintenance works to the Itchen Bridge crossing since it first opened.
- Why: To ensure it remains in good working order and to extend its lifespan.
Latest News
May 2024
Following the detailed implementation planning of the project, the indicative timescales given in our January update below have changed and the bridge will not close over the summer to motor vehicles.
Instead, works scheduled for later this year will focus on the parapet works to install new safety fencing and preparatory works for phase 2. These works will not require a closure of the carriageway to motor vehicles and will allow two-way traffic to be maintained.
Details of the second phase of works, including the replacement of the drainage system and resurfacing of the bridge, which is when the bridge will need to be closed to motor vehicles, will be released in due course.
These new delivery plans offer best value for local people and consider the feedback we have received from people, community groups and businesses regarding the closure of the bridge.
Please note that details are subject to change as new information becomes available and further information will be released in due course.
January 2024
Details of the works and detailed implementation programme are still being finalised and will be released in due course.
In order to safely carry out the works, the Itchen Bridge will be closed to motor vehicles in the summer for approximately 8 weeks. Dates will be announced once the plans are confirmed.
Diversions for local drivers and buses will be confirmed in due course. People coming into the city centre from further afield will be encouraged to continue on the M27 to J5 or J3, or to use alternative methods of travel. The Itchen Bridge will remain open to pedestrians and cyclists for the duration of the works, but it will be necessary to follow signed diversions around active work areas.
The Ring Road improvement works will have been completed and the temporary one-way system on the Ring Road brought to an end prior to the works starting on the Itchen Bridge.
October 2023
We are in the early stages of planning essential maintenance to both the surface and the structure of the Itchen Bridge to ensure it remains in good working order and to extend its lifespan. As part of this planning, we will be looking at minimising the disruption to users of the bridge during these essential works that will take place in 2024.
Updates will be published here, in our City News e-bulletin, which you can sign up to receive here: https://soton.cc/StayConnected, and on social media with the hashtag #ItchenBridgeRenewal in due course.
When the maintenance works to the Itchen Bridge do take place, we will also be undertaking works funded through the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund at the Saltmarsh Road junction with the Itchen Bridge to further minimise disruption. Updates on this scheme will also be released in due course.