Southampton City Council says it will introduce a pop-up cycle lane on Portswood Road new next week as part of Green Transport Recovery Plan.

 

Since announcing the Green Transport Recovery Plan (GTRP) at the end of May this year, Southampton City Council says it has been “swift to implement new measures across the city to support social distancing and more active travel”.

This from the council in their own words

Since the start of the COVID-19 lockdown, there has been a significant shift in the way the public travel in Southampton, with a 31% reduction in road traffic levels and average cycle numbers increasing by 85%. Some of the schemes that have already been delivered as part of the GTRP include widened pavements along Portland Terrace and temporary cycle lanes on both The Avenue and Bassett Avenue. The council has received a range of comments on this new temporary cycle route and is encouraged by the impact it has had in getting more people to cycle either as part of their commute or for leisure.

Next week, the council plans to introduce ‘pop-up’ cycle lanes on Portswood Road and Hill Lane by using sections of on-street parking. The temporary cycle lane along Hill Lane will be created by repurposing the existing parking between Raymond Road and Burgess Road. This will provide a safer, more spacious environment for people walking and cycling along this popular route with important links to Southampton General Hospital, local schools and the city centre. Bus and cycle lanes will also be installed along the A3024 Bitterne Road West between Union Road and Maybray King Way.

The new temporary 'pop-up' cycle lane on Bassett Avenue

These changes are in addition to the existing Southampton Cycle Network (SCN) which continues to be developed in line with the council’s ten-year Cycling Strategy, launched in 2017. The network already includes two complete routes to the east and west of the city – SCN1 from Totton to Southampton city centre and SCN3/4 from Windhover Roundabout to Southampton city centre. The SCN5 route along The Avenue is also well on its way to being completed, with numbers of people cycling along here expected to increase further as Hampshire County Council completes an important missing link in the route that will create a continuous commuter cycle route between Chandler’s Ford and the city centre. Once complete, the Southampton Cycle Network will provide a series of connected and consistent routes enabling people to travel by bike in and around the city safely and with ease.

The council monitors and evaluates all of its schemes and will make modifications where appropriate, taking into account feedback from the public and any changes in traffic conditions.

Councillor Steve Leggett, Cabinet Member for Green City and Place, says:

“As the COVID-19 lockdown is slowly eased and people start to travel more, we have been presented with a unique moment to reshape the city to support economic recovery, be more resilient and influence how people travel to work and for leisure. The Green Transport Recovery Plan is a response to that moment in which we aim to improve health and well-being by creating attractive places where people will have the confidence to walk and cycle safely. It includes many infrastructure projects that were already planned in line with our long-term Green City vision, but which are now being accelerated to respond to current challenges.

Feedback from the people that live and work in Southampton and visitors to our city is incredibly important to us and we will continue to listen to comments on each of the schemes proposed to ensure they are a benefit to residents, businesses and commuters alike.

I would like to reiterate that we are implementing a combination of temporary and experimental schemes to help lock in new positive active travel behaviours using powers granted to us by the Department for Transport. These low cost schemes are designed to be quick to install and can be amended as necessary in line with changes in people’s travel habits and feedback from road users. ”