Work is due to get underway on a new pedestrian crossing in a bid to make a main Southampton route safer. 

Southampton City Council says work will start on May 20 to create a new zebra crossing at Portsmouth Road's junction with Spring Road. 

The new crossing is being funded by the Department for Transport and comes as part of the Safer Roads Fund which will also see a new zebra crossing placed at Portsmouth Road's junction with Botley Road. 

In addition, continuous crossings are due to be installed at Fort Road, Adey Close and The Grove to "reinforce the pedestrian priority" and make crossing the junctions easier.

READ MORE: Roadworks in Spring Road, Southampton, delayed - this is why

Transport boss Cllr Eamonn Keogh said: "These new pedestrian crossings will help people walking, wheeling and cycling to safely cross a significant route into the city centre in key locations."

He said the work will be about "reducing the risk of accidents and making it easier to access essential community facilities".

These include schools, doctors’ surgeries, play areas and the Green Flag award-winning Mayfield Park and Green Flag nominated Miller’s Pond Local Nature Reserve”.

The improvements will be delivered in four phases, starting with Spring Road before progressing to Fort Road in June and Botley Road and Adey Close in July and August.

The first phase at Spring Road will begin after the Eastern Quietway works at Spring Road and Station Road have been completed, allowing local traffic to use this route again.

Traffic management measures will be in place for each phase of the project with temporary traffic signals set to be used in Spring Road.

These will be manually controlled at peak times to minimise delays.

The junction will also be closed throughout to provide a storage and welfare area.

The plans follow an independent survey carried out by the Road Safety Foundation that identified Portsmouth Road as one of 27 roads across the UK that needs safety improvements. 

The survey was based not just on existing injury accident records but also risk of injury accidents as assessed foundation.

The new pedestrian crossings are expected to reduce conflict with traffic whilst also not having a significant impact on driver’s journey times.