A cycle activated traffic light has been installed at the junction of Milton Rd / Velder Avenue.  Located on the corner of Milton Rd and Alverstone Rd it automatically detects waiting cyclists and will stop all traffic in the junction to allow cyclists to safely navigate the junction to any of the four exits - Milton Rd North & South, Velder Avenue and Rodney Rd.  We have been testing the light and it works well - it’s fast too, we’ve never had to wait more than a minute.  This light allows cyclists to approach this busy junction from the quiet streets and lanes around Fratton Park and to get across it quickly and safely.

When Portsmouth City Council carried out works on the busy Milton Rd / Velder Ave junction back in 2012 it closed off access to the junction from Alverstone Rd.  This forced cyclists to either take their chances on Milton Rd or endure a tedious chain of up to 3 toucan crossings to get where they needed to go.  We have been pushing PCC to fix this ever since and this is the result. This light - which we think is pretty neat thinking by PCC - has restored access to the junction for cyclists and has been implemented using money left in the budget from the original junction works.  So the taxpayer has had no extra costs to foot.

The only issue with the light is that it is 2 metres up - meaning cyclists need to crane their necks to see it. That’s down to DfT regulations. With luck and a following wind low level cycle specific signals should be approved in the next year and PCC will be allowed to install a signal head at cyclist eye level.

To use the light a cyclist just needs to ride up to the stop line and wait for the green cyclist light to appear.

Good work PCC!