Here is an update following my receipt of a copy of the Balfour Beatty Living Places report into traffic light arrangements at the Romsey Road / Tebourba Way junction, obtained under a Freedom of Information request.

🗓️ Key dates

• The report was published in May 2024
• A decision was taken in July 2025
• The new four‑way signal arrangement was implemented in January 2026

That means there was a gap of around 20 months between the report being produced and the changes being introduced on the ground.

🚑 Accident data

The report analysed accident data from 2019 to 2023. Over that five‑year period the junction recorded 10 injury accidents in total:

• 9 slight injury collisions
• 1 serious injury collision (April 2022)

There were no fatal accidents in the period reviewed.

🚗 Traffic volume context

The junction carries approximately 8.5 to 9 million vehicle movements per year.

↩️ Right turns, proportion vs absolute risk

The report states that 45% of the slight injury collisions, that is 4 out of 9, were attributable to right‑turn movements. When set against the number of right‑turn movements, this works out at roughly one accident per three‑quarters of a million right‑turn movements.

The report is therefore clear on two things:

• The absolute number of accidents is very low
• The proportion linked to right turns is relatively high
   

⏱️ Impact on queues and delays (what the report says)

The report explicitly acknowledges that the proposed four‑way signal arrangement would increase delay and queue lengths.

It estimates that the change would:

• Increase maximum queues by around 40 to 55 metres in the AM peak
• Increase maximum queues by around 20 to 30 metres in the PM peak
• Result in the longest queues reaching roughly 100 to 115 metres
   

😣 What we are seeing in practice

In reality, congestion has been far worse than forecast.

This may be due to a combination of factors, including:

• Ongoing roadworks in the area
• Sharp traffic spikes during school runs
• Weather impacts on traffic flow

We are also seeing congestion propagating to other junctions, creating knock‑on impacts across the wider road network. Given the suburban nature of the corridor and the number of nearby side roads, this is not surprising, but it appears to have been underestimated.

💷 Cost

The cost of implementing the four‑way signal option was £4,833.10.

🟦 Option 2 (the alternative approach)

The report also refers to Option 2, which would have:

• Retained the existing basic staging arrangement
• Allowed Romsey Road eastbound and westbound to continue running together
• Introduced targeted signal timing and operational refinements rather than fully separating opposing approaches

In effect, Option 2 was a more capacity and network‑friendly approach, offering incremental safety benefit without fundamentally changing how the junction operates.

The key advantages of Option 2 were:

• Much lower impact on queues and delays
• Shorter and more stable peak queues
• Better resilience during peak periods and incidents

In a suburban corridor with closely spaced side roads, this matters. It reduces:

• Frustration accessing side roads
• Bus reliability problems
• Complaints from residents who cannot get out of their roads

Option 2 represents a more proportionate intervention, recognising the right‑turn collision pattern without over‑engineering the junction relative to the scale of the problem.

However, Option 2 was never fully considered. It was presented more as an idea, with:

• No drawings
• No cost estimates
• No detailed assessment alongside the preferred option
   

🧾 My overall conclusion

My overall conclusion is that the Council opted for the easiest and cheapest solution. Despite stating that the decision was driven by road safety, it took over a year and a half to implement (suggesting it wasn’t that urgent). Alternative options were not properly developed or costed, and the impact on the wider road network was significantly underestimated.

⏳ Next steps

The Council Leader committed to me that he would review the options over a two‑week period. That commitment was made over three weeks ago, and despite chasing I have not yet received a response. I will continue to press for an update.

If anyone would like to see the full report, I am happy to share it. Please email me at: councillor.j.moulton@southampton.gov.uk

Best wishes,

Jeremy Moulton
Conservative Councillor for Millbrook