Welcome back roadworks

Okay I purposefully didn't mention that the three-way set of lights in Stourport were removed on Thursday evening (IIRC) this was for two reasons. Firstly the purely selfish one that with people avoiding Stourport like the plague it would make traffic levels easier for me (hey I'm no Saint), but more importantly secondly was the fact that I knew this was only going to be a temporary situation and if people starting using the town expecting the lights to be gone, then traffic levels will turn chaotic when they're 'suddenly' put back up to do the other side's pavement.

My fears were justified this morning when I pulled out of my drive and joined the queue for the bridge. with no traffic a particular journey takes 5 minutes; with normal levels of traffic 10-15, 20 max. This morning 45 minutes.

First off despite only working on the bottom half of Bridge Street they still had the three-way set of lights up and had cordoned off the entire left (from the Bridge) side of Bridge Street, this resulted in a few problems.

Problem 1: Traffic from Bridge Street had to use the wrong side of the small island utilizing the right-turn lane out of High Street, not too much of a problem until you consider that the traffic light in York Street is only technically controlling its left/straight turn.

Problem 2: Although time-wise it was legal nobody thought of the consequences of allowing a large delivery van to park outside Subway at the left-hand entrance to High Street causing problems for traffic trying to turn left out of New Street, likewise the maintenance van parked before it and the delivery van parked opposite the pair caused some small hassles for larger vehicles.

Problem 3: This one's a matter of timing and length of road. When the traffic is let through from the bridge there's a resultant shuffle moving back through the queue, given the length of the queue this obviously continues long after the traffic has been stopped. Unfortunately the traffic now heading towards the bridge is travelling faster then this shuffle and the timing is such that it reaches the main junction from Areley Common at the same time as the gap. So despite there possibly being space for cars to turn right out of the junction, they can't because of the oncoming traffic. By the time the traffic dies down the gap has passed them by.

We also have the joy that there is still work going on in Hartlebury Road and, judging by the notice and diversion signs, some work going on in the Village too.

Who knows what it's going to be like this evening, a diversion through the Holts may be in order.

Okay moan moan moan, but the fact is that in the long term this is good news. We're finally getting some decent, and level, pavements which will certainly tidy things up ready for the Basin Link. How nice things can look when we still have to put up with the eyesore that is the Old Indoor Market is another matter. The problems stem from the methods being used to do the work, which seem to be tilted in favour of the contractors rather then the people still trying to use the roads.