On Wednesday 12th June Portsmouth Cycle Forum took a bike tour of traffic light controlled junctions in the city in the company of Councillor Jason Fazackarley, the Portsmouth city council cabinet member for Traffic and Transportation. Also along on the ride were Simon Brownlie, PCC road network manager and Jayne Rodgers, PCC Active Travel officer.

We cycled 18km around the city and visited some 18 junctions, highlighting numerous issues that impact cyclists at each of those junctions. Cllr Fazackarley agreed to review the current programme of junction enhancements and incorporate issues raised according to priority.

Immediate action was promised to rectify sensors at the junction of Airport Service Road and Eastern Road which fail to detect cyclists and can leave them stranded at the junction. PCC reports that this has now been done although we have yet to test it ourselves. If it is now working properly this is an impressively speedy response.

A potential enhancement to the junction at Milton Road / Velder Ave was also proposed by PCC. This would allow access for cyclists to the junction from Alverstone Road. This is subject to design feasibility and affordability but the officers seemed optimistic.

PCF were pleased to note that timings at the traffic lights at Elm Grove / Grove Road have been adjusted to give more time for cyclists to clear the junction when a light changes to red. Previously, only 3 seconds had been allowed between one arm of the junction going to red before the next arm changed to green. We were given hope that there may be changes to the timings and layout at the Elm Grove / Victoria Road South junction which are currently hostile for cyclists.