The city council has unveiled proposals for the inside lane of the eastbound Millbrook Road West carriageway – towards the city centre – on the approach to the Regents Park Road traffic light junction.
Labour council leaders said the move will make use of the extra lane created as part of the Transforming Cities Fund work that took place three years ago.
But an opposition Conservative Millbrook ward councillor said he has concerns it will cause congestion, and has urged bosses to implement the bus lane, which would cover around 200 metres of road, on an initial trial basis at first.
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The council is also planning to put a bus lane in Redbridge Road across the junction with Parkside Avenue to improve safety.
A public consultation on both bus lane proposals is open until November 22.
Cllr Eamonn Keogh, Labour cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “As part of our Local Transport Plan goal to improve bus services across Southampton, we are proposing two key improvements to the Totton to Southampton bus corridor, on Redbridge Road and Millbrook Road West, both of which will enable buses to access nearby stops with less delays, reducing bus journey times and improving bus reliability.”
Cllr Keogh said the plans are part of wider improvements brought forward in partnership with Hampshire County Council and funded by the Department for Transport to improve bus journeys from the Waterside area into Southampton.
This project included a new bus lane onto the Marchwood Bypass, bus priority at Rushington Roundabout and investment in customer experience at Southampton Central Interchange and Albion Place Bus Hub.
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Cllr Keogh added: “The proposal for Redbridge Road will also improve safety for road users by discouraging the use of the exit slip road for Parkside Avenue as an extra lane for onward journeys while the Millbrook Road West proposal will make use of the extra lane added as part of the Transforming Cities Fund works which took place in August 2021, which will limit the impact on other road users.”
The subject of bus lanes in Millbrook Road West has been a contentious political issue for several years.
Conservative Millbrook ward councillor Jeremy Moulton said: “We are pleased that after years of campaigning by Cllr Steve Galton and me that the original Labour plans for bus lanes leading onto Millbrook Roundabout and Mountbatten Roundabout have been scrapped.
“The council’s latest traffic modelling showed they would cause long queues of traffic, which is what we have been saying for years.”
He added: “We remain concerned that the planned bus lane leading to the Regents Park Road lights will still cause congestion, especially with the added traffic problems associated with Costco and the petrol station there.
“If Labour do press ahead with this bus lane, I am asking that they trial it first so the effects can be properly understood.”
Details on the public consultation on the proposals can be found online at transport.southampton.gov.uk/tro-consultations/a33-corridor-bus-lanes/
