It is hoped that the project will end years of traffic misery on the Eye roundabout, which is used by up to 40,000 cars every day.

Beginning in the spring, the scheme will see traffic lights installed on each of the roundabout's four arms – Frank Perkins Parkway, Parnwell Way, Peterborough Road and Paston Parkway, while pedestrians will be able to cross the roads at a series of toucan crossings.

Today, the city council's head of transport and engineering David Farquhar said the project would improve the safety record of a roundabout that The Evening Telegraph has previously revealed to be Peterborough's fourth worst accident blackspot, with 37 accidents between 2004 and 2006.

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While the project has been acclaimed by city councillors in Dogsthorpe and East wards, Welland Residents' Association says the scheme will increase congestion and lead to frustration because vehicles will have to come to a grinding halt at traffic lights.

Members are convinced that a footbridge spanning the Paston Parkway, connecting Eye Road to a KFC restaurant, a Somerfield supermarket and a petrol station – as opposed to a toucan crossing – would do the job of keeping pedestrians safe and ensuring that the flow of traffic is not interrupted.

Because the £4.75 million project does not include a proposal for a bridge, the residents' association has pledged to raise the £1.9 million needed to fund a structure.

Spokeswoman Anne Clipston said: "Imagine the traffic jams caused by toucan crossings at every junction? By proposing a bridge, we're doing the council a favour."

Dogsthorpe councillor Adrian Miners said: "I have sympathy for what they are saying, but I live in the real world. A bridge is the utopia but it's not going to happen in the near future.

"The signalisation should come sooner rather than later. The road is a deathtrap at the moment and traffic lights will give pedestrians time to cross without having to dart over the road."

East ward councillor Marion Todd said: "It is a bad junction, a horrendous junction. People crossing the road there are dicing with death. The crossings will make the area safer for pedestrians and will hopefully not have an adverse impact on traffic."

Mr Farquhar said the council would consider constructing a bridge if Welland Residents' Association successfully raised the cash.

In peak hours, up to 5,000 vehicles use the Eye roundabout, and there are an estimated 68 million vehicle movements in the area every year.

Welland Residents' Association will kickstart its campaign to raise £1.9 million at a public meeting at the Blue Mobile, next to the Charteris Centre, Welland, on Monday, starting at 7pm.