By Maria Zaccaro, Local Democracy Reporter
The bus and cycle lane on the A3024 Bitterne Road West will be removed overnight on May 31.
The Conservatives pledged to remove it when they won control of Southampton City Council in this year’s elections.
Council leader Cllr Dan Fitzhenry (Con) said the decision came after more than 400 residents objected to the scheme.
But opposition leader Cllr Satvir Kaur (Lab) said the move is “disappointing” and “shortsighted”.
According to the council, since the implementation of the scheme bus journey times have reduced by an average of three and a half minutes on the outbound and three minutes on the inbound while car journey times increased by five minutes for eastbound traffic in the afternoon at peak time.
Signage will now be installed to direct traffic to use both eastbound and westbound lanes between Union Road and Maybray King Way.
Works to reline the carriageway will be carried out overnight from June 21 for up to five nights but details are yet to be revealed.
The council said cyclists will be able to continue to use the quietway cycle route that runs through Bitterne before joining the existing shared use cycle paths along Northam River Bridge.
The previous bus lane between Princes Street and Britannia Road and at the Six Dials junction will instead remain in place.
Cllr Kaur said: “It is disappointing and shortsighted to see the removal of this scheme without any real alternatives for those residents that have come to rely on this scheme and want different travel options.”
But Cllr Fitzhenry said: “This road was never the main proposed cycle lane. There’s an alternative cycle lane that is safe that can be used.”
He said he will be exploring form of mass transit and added: “Bus journey times went down but there were no new buses, no new routes, there were no real alternatives provided and everybody spends five minutes more in traffic. It was the wrong scheme.”
Andrew Wickham, Bluestar managing director, said: “Although disappointed, we are still encouraged by the council’s commitment to improving traffic flow across the city.”
The authority revealed it spent £48,000 to design, install and maintain the lane while £35,000 will be spent to remove it.
The money came from the Department for Transport.
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