There are no costings for the latest Woodmill traffic light proposals and any figures are “purely speculative”, according to a spokesperson.
Article continues after this message...
A figure of £250,000 was mentioned online on the Nextdoor website as the cost by a visitor to an information session about the scheme held last week.
“I think the £250K was given as a very rough figure based on similar schemes but there has been no detailed design at this stage, no costing at all, so any figures would be purely speculative,” a Highways Service Partnership spokesperson told bitternepark.info.
“Woodmill and Woodmill Bridge are both listed structures so there are likely to be planning costs and specialist design costs that we would have no reference point to compare to, we also need to manage existing traffic… [to and from] …the Woodmill Activity Centre,” he said.
Temporary lights at Woodmill
He added that the initial consultation was at “an early design stage” to see if there were other considerations that might have been overlooked.
“Quite a few” were apparently raised, but some – like replacing the Portswood Road signals or replacing the double roundabout at Woodmill Lane and Manor Farm Road with signals – are apparently “out of scope”.
“In scope”, though, could be detection measures to avoid traffic overwhelming the Woodmill Lane/Manor Farm roundabout in extremely busy periods, and traffic calming on the bridge to improve pedestrian safety.
Woodmill Bridge pinch point (archive image)
There have long been concerns that green lights prompt some drivers to speed over the bridge where there’s little room for walkers, and some attendees at a meeting to discuss lights on the bridge as far back as 2007 (when lights were said to cost £100,000), called for traffic calming measures whether or not lights were installed.
There’s a range of views about putting in lights on both our own Facebook page and in comments on the Nextdoor site, including those agreeing lights should go in, some preferring things as they are, others wondering why advisory “three at a time” signs have never been tried, and some even calling for a two-lane bridge.