Here's another update on main road SOX in the south Hampshire urban area, broken down and described a bit more.
Road improvement schemes:
M27 Junction 5 - a handful of Philips MA50s (approx. 4no.) on Stainton hockeystick columns still survive on the Stoneham Lane spur to the roundabout. The rest of the old lighting at the roundabout was removed in the past couple of weeks as part of the junction improvement scheme, so these MA50s are on borrowed time.
Asda Havant Roundabout - a handful of old columns with Philips MA50s and Relite Hyperion 135s still survive on the Hulbert Road approaches to the roundabout. Meanwhile, a fair amount of SOX featuring the likes of Eleco GR150s, Philips MA50s and Relite Hyperion 135s still survive on the western Purbrook Way approach to the roundabout. At the current stage of roadworks it seems the SOX may still be with us for a good couple more months.
Whiteley Way - GEC Z9555 "Bricks" still survive on their tapered steel CU Phosco columns on the dual carriageway section of Whiteley Way and the Rookery Avenue/Parkway roundabout. The widening scheme on Whiteley Way has not yet commenced, but is due to start imminently, and due to the nature of the widening the old lighting on the dual carriageway section is likely to be removed early into the scheme.
Other locations with a quantity of SOX
Charles Watts Way - a small handful of SOX lanterns, GEC Z9554Ms and Philips MA50s, survive on PetitJean hockeystick columns to the west of M27 Junction 7. The majority of existing columns in the road have had SON casual replacements over the years. This road was originally destined to have its lighting replaced in 2011, but programming of works by SSE has never been their strong point.
Hulbert Road (Waterlooville) - the Tempest Avenue/Frendstaple Road roundabout and its immediate Hulbert Road approaches are still lit by a good amount of GEC Z9554Ms and Philips MA50s on Stainton hockeystick columns. A replacement scheme on Hulbert Road to the west of this roundabout finished off within the past couple of weeks, missing out this roundabout. Being able to replace all lighting in one street in one go has never been SSE's strong point.
Newgate Lane - this is the last known publically maintained road in south Hampshire to be lit with 90W SOX. South of Tanners Lane there are significant numbers of GEC Z9454s on slimline S&L columns with large cranked brackets, along with Philips MA90 casual replacements. There is also a solitary Eleco HW509 on a chunky, older style S&L column, plus a solitary Phosco P157. This road's street lighting is now the greatest blast from the past when it comes to main road lighting.
Purbrook Way - replacements have been in progress for approaching a month. This road features lanterns such as Eleco GR150s, GEC Z9554Ms and Philips MA50s on older S&L columns and slightly later (late 1970s) Stainton columns. In the past couple of weeks SSE have only achieved about one-day's worth of work, so the works are dragging on with limited progress. Replacing lighting in a brisk and timely fashion has never been SSE's strong point.
Lone SOX survivors
Botley Road, North Baddesley - along with a pair of Urbis ZX3s, a solitary Philips MA50 survives on a mid-1970s Stainton column just west of Rownhams Lane. The last three columns on this road, which are around some overhead power cables, have been missed out, as it would appear they are missing from the street lighting inventory. Either they were missing from the inventory inherited, or when the crews replaced the rest of the lighting missing the ones around the power cables (renumbering columns in the road in the process) they updated the inventory incorrectly. Doing a thorough job with lighting replacements and reporting any problems or anomalies is not a strong point of SSE.
Segensworth Road - from Witherbed Lane westwards towards the Segensworth Roundabout, in amongst a number of Urbis ZX3s, a Philips XGS104 and a Relite Aries, a solitary GEC Z9554 survives on a PetitJean hockeystick column. The old columns around the Witherbed Lane junction were missed out from replacements when the Witherbed Lane gyratory system was built in 2008, most likely due to the overhead electric cables above them.
And that's it! Main road SOX still survives in a few places in Portsmouth, and there are a handful of stragglers on the Highways Agency network and on private land and private roads, but that's all.
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