Redbridge Roundabout works to begin in May

Works to improve Redbridge Roundabout are due to start on May 1 and are expected to run until spring 2020.

The  Redbridge scheme comes after a six-month project to improve the nearby Millbrook Roundabout finished on April 7.

The scheme, set to cost between £8.5 million and £15.5 million, will add an extra lane to ease congestion for vehicles travelling from the motorway to the city centre and the port.

According to the plans,  the crossings on Redbridge Road will be upgraded and the existing  footbridge will be replaced to make it possible for both pedestrians and cyclists to cross.

A shared-use path will be built on the southern side of the roundabout.

The scheme will also see improvements made to the subway by Gover Road, while the subway at the southern edge of the roundabout will be shut.

Residents said the scheme, which aims to reduce traffic congestion, is needed.

Eugene McManus, chairman of the Redbridge Residents Association, said: “It will be chaos but the works are very much overdue and the reality is that, as many residents accept, we just have to suffer for the bigger picture.”

Mr McManus said the residents associations has had a series of “constructive” meetings with Highways England and Southampton City Council representatives to ensure that traffic will not be diverted through Redbridge.

He added: “We anxiously await the publication of the diversion route. It will cause disruption to all road users in Southampton. However, we trust that the lessons learnt from the mistake made with diversion routes at the Millbrook Roundabout will not be repeated.”

Opposition councillor Steve Galton,  environment and transport spokesperson for the Conservative party, said: “We hope this won’t just result in a shifting of the congestion to Millbrook roundabout. Fingers crossed that the traffic management plans will have less of an impact than the council’s recent work on the Millbrook roundabout. ”