WORK on the Woolston and Itchen Active Travel Zone has gathered pace with a new crossing set to be installed.

Southampton City Council and its highways partner Balfour Beatty Living Places, are starting a new phase of works for the Woolston and Itchen Active Travel Zone (ATZ) at the junction of Radstock Road and Manor Road South on Monday, June 19.

Active Travel Zones are neighbourhoods that encourage active travel through a range of measures which calm traffic and improve the environment for people walking, wheeling, or cycling.

This can help to address concerns with air quality, speed of traffic and safety, the council said.

At Radstock Road in Woolston, this will be in the form of a new parallel pedestrian and cycle crossing which will provide safer routes to the nearby St Patrick’s Catholic Primary and Ludlow Infant and Junior Schools and will be raised to help slow speeds and reinforce the 20mph speed limit.

In addition, the pavement on the east side will be widened with new seating and greening provided, and the footpath to Ludlow Road will be widened and resurfaced to create a dedicated shared pedestrian and cycle path that links this section of the SCN2 cycleway between the Itchen Bridge and Ludlow Road.

In a statement, Councillor Eamonn Keogh, cabinet member for environment and transport, said: “I would like to thank residents in Woolston and Itchen for their feedback and contributions to making the Active Travel Zone happen.

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“The improvements proposed at Radstock Road are one part of an extensive plan to make active travel an easier and more attractive proposition, and by encouraging those that can, to consider leaving the car at home more often, especially for shorter local journeys, we hope that the ATZ will help to improve air quality and people’s overall health and wellbeing in Woolston and Itchen.”

The idea of an ATZ for Woolston and Itchen was first suggested to locals in a survey in August 2021 which saw nearly 3,000 contributions from local people and identified Radstock Road as a location that would benefit from active travel improvements.

Since then, the council has been working closely with residents through face-to-face workshops and online surveys to co-design detailed proposals for improvements across the area, extending from Archery Road in the south to Bishops Road in the north.

To facilitate these works, the junction of Radstock Road and Manor Road South will be closed to vehicles for the duration, however pedestrian access to St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School via Radstock Road will be maintained.

Part of the footpath between Radstock Road and Ludlow Road will also be closed while the works take place.