Work to resolve drainage problems at a busy Ipswich interchange caused massive delays for motorists in the town yesterday – and the disruption could last all week.
Drivers trying to get past the works in Star Lane reported delays of up to an hour - with one angry commuter saying “roadworks in the town are beyond a joke”.
“Last week we had gas works of some kind on Wherstead Road, which caused way more hold-ups and disruption than they needed to, and now this,”the driver added, asking not to be named.
“Having waited in traffic for so long, I assumed there had been a terrible accident or something like that, only to find that when I got to the cause of the delays, it was a few cones in the road – with no workmen in sight.
“Delays like this have a knock on effect on your whole day, making it a bad day right from the moment you hit the traffic until the moment that you leave work that evening – invariably later than planned after the morning hold-ups.
“There doesn’t seem to be any thought at all given to the commuter in all of this.”
Another driver, Kevin Brown, said it took 50 minutes to travel just under two miles, from Chantry to the Novotel roundabout.
While Kathryn Darby added: “Belstead Road was queued back to St Joseph’s College and it took us half an hour to travel down to Willoughby Road.”
Suffolk County Council explained the work was to resolve flooding problems at the pedestrian crossing on Star Lane, which had been caused by the recent heavy rain and had resulted in safety issues.
“We are now installing two additional gullies and related connections to an existing drainage chamber to alleviate the problem,” a spokesman for SCC added.
“The workforce will be working between 9.30am – 3.30pm to limit as much disruption as possible, however it is necessary for lane closures to be in place 24 hours a day at this location to enable the area of works to be protected for the safety of all road users and pedestrians as there are open gullies being worked on.
“A safety assessment will take place and a decision will be made on 16 May as to whether the works continue until Friday due to obstructing tram lines discovered beneath the carriageway.”
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