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Work to replace traffic lights set to last 7 weeks

BBC A car stopped in front of a set of temporary traffic lights at a junction.BBC
Temporary traffic lights are in place at present

Work to fix traffic lights that broke in September will take seven weeks to complete because the whole system needs to be replaced, a council has said.

The signals at the Civic Centre junctions with Portland Terrace, Civic Centre Hill and Havelock Road in Southampton stopped working on 13 September.

Southampton City Council previously said it could not simply repair the lights because some parts were "no longer manufactured".

The work, set to start on Monday, will require a number of restrictions to be in place including temporary traffic signals.

Balfour Beatty, which works with the council to manage Southampton's roads, said there would be traffic operatives on site during peak hours to help traffic flow.

Southampton City Council leader explains the work taking place at Civic Centre junction

Traffic restrictions

A number of closures and diversions will be in place:

  • The two centre lanes of Havelock Road, between Western Esplanade and Portland Terrace/Civic Centre Road, will be closed
  • This means there will be no through access between the Ring Road and Portland Terrace, and vice versa. There will be a diversion route using Western Esplanade and Civic Centre Road
  • Those approaching the junction from the west will be able to turn left and follow onto Civic Centre Road, but there will be no access to Portland Terrace
  • Those approaching from the east will be able to turn left as well as continue straight onto Western Esplanade, but vehicles will not be able to access the Ring Road via Havelock Road
  • Those travelling from the south will be unable to continue onto Havelock Road to access the Ring Road, and those travelling from the north will be unable to access Portland Terrace
Southampton City Council/Balfour Beatty A graphic showing a birds eye view of the junction, with the closed bits shaded in purple and the restricted bits shaded in blue.Southampton City Council/Balfour Beatty
There will be a number of lane restrictions and closures in place

"A non-repairable fault has caused the traffic lights to fail and so, in order to overcome that, we need to replace the entirety of that bit of the system," said leader of Southampton City Council Lorna Fielker.

"Which is an absolutely huge job, because you need to evacuate and replace underground cables that serve the junction as well as putting in new signal lights."

She said the work would be done "as quickly as possible".

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