Around £250,000 has been set aside for Southampton City Council’s plans to install adaptable lights on the bridge which could be set to different colours for certain occasions.
The Labour administration has confirmed the money will come from the highways capital programme budget.
The project came forward after a campaign by Saints fan Perry McMillan who wanted to see red and white lights replace the existing blue set up as this was the colour of rivals Portsmouth.
Conservative councillor Rob Harwood, who previously raised safety concerns about using red lights, asked about the cost of the project at a full council meeting on Wednesday, March 25.
Cllr Harwood said: “Given that these lights are in perfect working order now and we’ve got another nine years of the PFI where they have to be maintained by the PFI contractor at no additional cost to us, why are wasting that money now.
“It is coming out of the roads budget I assume, so why aren’t we putting it into the roads when we don’t really to spend it [on lights].
“It seems like wasteful spend.”
Simon Letts, Labour councillor responsible for finance, said the money was coming from the highways budget which included structures.
He said there was a wide range of work planned on the Itchen Bridge over the next year and there was an opportunity to add the lights into this.
Cllr Letts said: “The bridge is going to go through its 50th anniversary next year.
“The reason we brought it forward is because it is an iconic structure in our city and we don’t celebrate it enough.
“We are putting £1 million into the Bargate Quarter to put some really good paving around the Bargate to actually set that monument off.Over the years we have put £9 million into Guildhall Square to establish that. £4.5 million went into the areas around the Walls.
“I’m really proud of the Itchen Bridge.
“I think it’s a symbol of our city and I think we need to celebrate it more. The plan here isn’t just to have one colour of lights, blue, the colour of Portsmouth and the Conservatives, but to give us the option to light the bridge in a variety of colours to celebrate different events.”
Cllr Letts said lights could be set purple, green and white for International Women’s Day, rainbow colours for pride and red, white and blue for national celebration days around the royal family.
He said his preference was to have the structure itself lit up in colour rather than having lights on poles above the bridge.