My Journey Travel Demand Management presents the Workplace Travel Briefing.
The Briefing on Thursday 8th February 2024 focussed on Active Travel.
Martina Olley from Southampton City Council to bring us up to speed with the many active travel developments in the City.
For more information on this contact workplaces at myjourneyhampshire.com
The My Journey Workplace Travel Briefing is our new format for keeping you up to date with sustainable travel and transport news and opportunities in the Solent Region. Everyone who has an interest in reducing their own and their organisation’s carbon footprint is invited. There are briefings from key sustainable travel organisations, tips on how to get your workplace motivated and information about challenges and events that you can get your colleagues involved in.
Martino works at samon city council delivering a wide variety of infrastructure projects and has in the past been a great friend to us on the on the Travel demand management project helping out on some of our Behavior change issues helping out with things like lead rides and all of those kinds
Of things and is my go-to person when I talk about curbs and um barriers and all of those kinds of things to to to as as as our expert in how all of those things work and what’s happening with projects today I’m going to turn my camera off so
It’s going to be just you the floor is all yours thank you Andy and good morning everybody so my title is the transforming City fund program manager um I think you probably all heard from me before because I’ve given briefings before but a very very quick as like
Summary again of what is transforming cities fund the program it is a roughly 7 million pound program which goes across Southampton and Hampshire on corridors in and out of Southampton and within the city center so I’m going to first give a a brief update of where we
Are with this very large program and then a quick update on any other active travel um developments within Southampton that is only um I’m obviously not fully um up to speed on everything that goes on within Hampshire so I better concentrate on on the developments so moving on to the first
Slide I thought i’ give you s like a visual update of of where we are with the um the schemes within the TCF program and as I said it is about corridors in and out of Southampton and about the city center so I’m going Corridor by Corridor and then focus into
The city center so starting off with the Western Corridor which is the one from Totten and he into South the water side into Southampton and just IAL overview there in terms of uh colors so in blue are all the project schemes which have been completed and in green as you can
See on this particular Corridor everything is nice and green and we are either in the construction phase or very very near to starting construction on on most of those schemes yes we do have um the the bus lanes on the western Corridor where we are still discussions with stakeholder that key stakeholder is
ABP and we are gathering some more data and evidence to then continue those discussions but otherwise that Corridor is in really good shape with a number of schemes complete and the others pretty much on track for um moving on with them um going on to the the northern
Corridor so that is the corridor from chanders sport to Southampton and the progress update here is is that we completed the last of the schemes along that Corridor that is the TCF schemes along that Corridor um at the end of last year so Glen a the last phase phase
Three phase three has been completed just before Christmas so this is the first fully complete Corridor with all the schemes along these corridors along this Corridor now complete um obviously the earlier phases were from the initial trch one of TCF um within Hampshire but that Corridor leads from Hampshire into
The city center of Southampton so big achievement uh that we have that first Corridor fully complete moving on to a much much bigger and um with significantly more schemes on uh uh the corridor from eastly into Southampton and you can see it isn’t quite so green and blue there’s a lot of
Blue on this C again we’ve completed a lot of the schemes um but we unfortunately do have a red there and that is uh the bishop Stoke uh Road scheme in eastley which we had to make some significant changes to which Change Control is currently with DFT and we are
Waiting the outcome of that change control to see how we can move forward with this scheme so unfortunately a little bit of a hold up there and there for some uncertainty as to where we are heading with this scheme um and in Amber bear is the ports uh portswood Road bus
Scheme which is within the portswood Broadway some of you may be aware there were a couple of um consultations which happened uh the second one uh towards the latter end of last year we then had uh took this scheme to Cabinet in January and more recently at the
Beginning of uh February to scrutiny but we do now have a way forward we just need to work on the timelines uh when we will introduce what and that um approval was for a trial of a bus gate at the Broadway um at the short section of
Portswood Road um it wasin the Broadway but we do now have a way forward with this scheme but still need to obviously work on the exact timelines also in Amber there is Lodge Road where we had some sign ific inputs from active travel England to this scheme um and that is
Programmed for construction in Autumn 24 apart from that everything nice blue and green on that Corridor and as you can see there is a lot that has already happened along that Corridor moving to the next Corridor the Eastern corridors that’s Bon to Southampton mostly blue complete and
Green in uh construction or about to start we do have one Amber scheme there and that is the Hampshire scheme on Providence Hill cycling scheme and that is dependent uh unfortunately on the outcome of the Change Control for Bishop Stoke road because there is some reallocation of budget there so we
Hopefully have that change control outcome from DFT DFT very very shortly so that scheme is ready to go it just needs that confirmation from DFT but otherwise this whole Corridor is in in good shape um and be moving quickly towards uh the completion of all the schemes along that
Corridor and then finally on to the city center uh most of you will will be aware that we have started two very significant schemes in the city center very recently that is this year and that is the albian place bus hub and urban park where we currently have got archaeological investigation ongoing to
Make sure that we can then stick to program that we rule out as much risk as we can in these early stages and also even more recent this week the uh ring second phase uh of the Ring Road has started and is now in construction so
That was a mer M mer major sort of like um setup and run up to the start of this game it is quite significant the TM uh that is the one way system along the Ring Road from a Charlotte Place roundabout to Civic Center Junction but we really have the the latest technology
There the the temporary signals in operation along the stretch and so far fingers crossed ad is moving Ed is moving relatively well yes in the PM Peak we do have some congestion but to be quite honest we do usually have congestion under normal circumstances as well well so some Journey times have
Reduced and some Journey times have increased because of that TM but um so far so good we’ve obviously only had three full days of of uh results and of of feedback but so far traffic is moving within the city center so that is really very good news and of course we will be
Progressing with the scheme as quickly as it is possible with the AIM to finish uh by the end of June beginning of July so that is TCF in a nutshell and now I just quickly would like to um make you aware of other developments which are
Coming up so what’s next uh we do have bitten Road East um which is a cycle and walking scheme which is um starting in Autumn this year and that will create a link to bit District center with a dedicated cycle um route next one on that list here is the
A325 Portsmouth Road itchen Bridge route safety scheme and that is a scheme which will benefit pedestrians cyclists but also um car drivers so in the summer of 2024 uh there is a major maintenance scheme for the itchen bridge is is on the cards hence why we need to be off
The network with the Ring Road that then leads nicely into it Bridge so a lot happening on the network and then both spring and autum fitting around the itchen bridge maintenance scheme uh there are some um elements of the uh Road Safety scheme along Portsmouth Road
So on that Corridor they going to be a busy Corridor all year as well and then of course we’ve got the Outdoor Sports Center um where you I’m sure you’re all aware about the leveling up fund which we have received for improvements to the sport center and as part of that package
There will be improvements in terms of uh transport um around the Sport Center to improve the access to and from the sports center both for people walking cycling but also um arriving by bus so we’re talking about an active travel zone we are talking about cycle improvements along Winchester Road and
We’re also talking about a new bus route along Hill Lane which will link the station with the hospital and of course on the way also pick up uh the the sports center so make it easier to access the sports center by bus and then last but not least of course is the safe
Routs to schools where we are currently working on five um schools um one of them is the Spring Hill uh SRA Crossing which has been completed but there is others which are currently in the final um stages before we go out on site um at uh freemantle waterly road then we’ve
Got high town but we’ve also got mous hole Lane and we’re exploring funding for another five further safe routs to school schemes um to hopefully in the next round of funding we will have more to uh to report here and that is all happening during spring and then Into
Summer um this year and that is my very very quick overview of TCF and other active travel developments within the City and surrounding area huzzah i’ I’ve got a bunch of questions for you first um uh a question from the floor um and I’m going to read it
Exactly as as as as it’s written down what’s up with the itching Bridge um what why are we doing the work on the itching bridge and and what are the the intended outcomes I am not directly involved in um that scheme uh it’s one which I’m definitely not involved but anyway so
Bridge is coming up to I believe about 50 years old and does require some maintenance and we’re taking the opportunity of course to also improve uh Mr rag the the the traffic Arrangement across the itchen bridge so I can take this question back and can provide a
More detailed can ask my colleagues to provide a more detailed answer but that is very very high level and I see councelor Kio has switched his camera on as well he would like to add anything to what I just said so yeah so I’m I’m one of those old
People that can remember a time before an itching bridge when there was a floating bridge I can remember when the bridge was open so as Martine was mentioned we’re not far off the uh 50th anniversary of the bridge and it is in need of significant drainage work so we’re doing two things
We’re going to upgrade the drainage because if we don’t upgrade the drainage then that’s going to impact the um the future of the bridge and as Martina said we can put on some safety barriers as well and there will be some Carriage resurfacing so while we’ve announced the
Um the potential dates we’re still working on what will be the plans because clearly at this stage you know closing that infrastructure would have a significant impact but certainly Martina and the team are working on how we can try and mitigate that but as Martin has mentioned we won’t start the works until
We finish the Ring Road in the um in the city center but it is about making sure that that bridge can then continue for another 50 years thereafter and at the risk of putting you on the spot um am I right in thinking that there will be continued
Access for pedestrians and cyclists over the bridge during those works or is there going to be interruptions to that so as I understand it the plan is that cyclists and pedestrians would continue to have access so that’s right and there’s another major piece of work that probably we haven’t mentioned is at the
Salt Mar Junction so whilst we’re going to take this opportunity to um Implement some quite significant improvements to the Salt M Junction for cyclists and pedestrians because you know as someone who Cycles across the bridge quite regularly the U the salt Mar Junction is not without his challenges so um and under
As Martina said the um uh the sa roads program for Portsmouth Road we’ve got some uh grant money to make that Improvement there so I think it’s going to hopefully make that whole Corridor again a lot safer for everyone and in addition to that we’ve got some other
Improvements down at the um wer Mobility Hub so there’s some really exciting things coming along there brilliant thank thank you very much for that um the water side Corridor am I right in thinking that that’s being delivered between sampton city council and Hamshire County Council kind of in
Partnership and therefore the bits that are outside of Southampton will be delivered by Hampshire that is correct as I said right on the outset the TCF program is an overarching program which is along the corridors which are coming from Hampshire into Southampton and the city center so yes all four corridors which I
Mentioned there are schemes on each of those corridors which are some of them Southampton some of them Hampshire Hampshire delivers their own schemes Southampton delivers their schemes brilliant so coming back to a scheme that’s more yours um someone uh was trying to pick my brains about
What’s going on with um Glen a road what’s the level of segregation for cyclists along that Corridor when the scheme is complete completed the um Glenair scheme is complete so it is all three phases um which obviously started off with the junction of Glenair with burches Road
Where we had this buildout on the Sal side so if you come out of Low’s walk you do now have space um as a cyclist as a pedestrian going north south because you’ve also got St uh heavy pedestrian movements east west of course lots of students going between the boulder
Campus and the main campus of the University then you’ve got the first section of um Glenair Road between burches Road and Olive Road um which was originally obviously roundabout we changed that um priority um formalized the the island there with a new planter which is has been taken on by the
University they were very Kean to do the pl themselves so it’s great interaction with the university um and and Southampton City Council then we’ve got the most northern section to Basset Avenue where we do have the parking formalized with build outs um it is all about reducing speeds
And making cycling um safer because of the the reduction in speed along that section brilliant thank you um this next question comes from someone called Rey and this is about the the stonum lane Corridor um and he was he he was saying to me that there are some bits where you
Have to hop on and off the pavement along that Corridor are there any plans to revisit that and to get cyclists off the carriageway for more of that road or is that section all Hampshire County Council um I’m not quite sure which section you talking about but yes there’s obviously challenges along that
That route currently under TCF there were no plans for anything further and I do appreciate uh that the merma come within to Southampton there is this ESP spend on stonum Lane we’ve looked at loads of different options nothing um was what we could deliver for the funding that was available um it it
Is a very tricky um uh location um hopefully within future funding rounds we could look at that area again and and um hopefully get to a position where we can find a scheme that we can fund at that brilliant thank you um got two questions
About the Ring Road for you and I’m so sorry first I didn’t expect that no no it’s fine um obviously there’s loads of detail out there that you haven’t had time to talk about where is the best place to be able to go and find out
About what the phasing on that where the road closures are and when things are likely to be finished and or most importantly what it’s going to look like when it’s done so start with one so use our website the um the transport website we do have an update there there is also a
Map on there which shows you exactly what the traffic management is which movements are possible which movements are not possible but essentially in very simplistic terms you’ve got new road both directions and then we’ve got the actual Ring Road which is anticlockwise a one-way system which means all the side roads are accessible
In the same way as they previously were but it is essentially a right off right onto the Ring Road so you can’t obviously turn left onto the ring R because that would be clockwise uh I know it sounds simple you is taking some time to get your head
Around it but do look at that map um uh because it does give you the the movements which are feasible brilliant the reason why we went for something quite so extensive it is an extensive traffic management is in order that we can do all the works in parallel because we’ve got the London
Road Junction B Place Junction is one like area of work and then of course we’ve got deure commercial West Park area which is the other area and one of the options was to do one first and then the other one then we would have talked about pretty much a year of Works
Whereas if we do the two at the same time of of course it’s only the longer duration which is about six to seven months for devire commercial um West Park which brings it significantly shorter build period so quite a bit of pain unfortunately but then the pain
Wouldn’t have been much different if he did it one after the other one he would have just ended up being far far longer than with this solution we are Really Trying to minimize the duration of that impact of that trans traffic management impact brilliant and now an entirely
Selfish question on behalf of a fell called Andy who would like to know so when I came up from the station on Monday the traffic was at a standstill and it’s quite tricky to cycle up there are there any plans to put additional Provisions in for um cyclists to bypass
The uh cues of traffic from people who are using single occupancy vehicles to access the city center not currently it is one because it is after all the Ring Road um which has one of the main functions is to move the traffic and there is always going to
Be that conflict of you know Road space reallocation from what is a main Ring Road is very very tricky indeed but you know maybe in in a few years time if there are other funding rounds we can look further as to how we can uh maximize um the that’s obviously
The RO space for all users brilliant thank you final one and this one is a bit of a curveball um you mentioned that you found some exciting archaeology in in in the in some of the city center schemes now people here may not know that my background is an
Archaeologist so I’m intensely curious to find out what you found and please feel free to go there’s a report somewhere no there isn’t a report because it’s all ongoing of course but the um albian Place bus hub is in what probably you could call the most archaeological most historic part
Of the city center we’ve got the castle Bailey wall which is the walls which obviously supported the old castle which doesn’t exist anymore so the chances of finding interesting stuff very is quite significant uh and of course our archaeologists are quite excited about it also the Castle Bailey walls and
Generally the walls are a scheduled ancient Monument so we have to go through um scheduled Monument consent which goes with historic England and of course historic England directly reports to the Secretary of State so we have a lot of Hoops that we have to go through
To get to this position um and have continuous monitoring in place because of course vibration all that during construction um is taken very serious by historic England so um it it is a very challenging scheme not just because of the nature of the scheme but also because of it particularly because of
Its location because Archaeology is so key to this scheme brilliant thank you very much I’m just having a quick run through the chat to make sure that I haven’t missed anything blindingly obvious that people were asking about perfect in which case Martinez you are off the hook thank you so much for
Coming along this morning I will let you get back to doing the important stuff rather than um answering my ridiculous questions about archaeology