A FRUSTRATED resident has warned that “traffic chaos” in Worcester St John’s is due to get worse as around a dozen road works get underway in and around the neighbourhood.
Bertie Ballinger highlighted the current slowdown at temporary lights on Henwick Road, with further disruption due to follow from April 27.
Mr Ballinger, deputy chairman for membership at Worcester Conservatives and a St Clements resident, wants the council to stage the bulk of the activity in quieter times of year, such as school holidays.
“There is, and will continue to be, traffic chaos on very busy roads in St Clements due to road works,” he said.
“It’s a lot of work to be going on all at once.
“Henwick Road is one of the main roads going in and out of Worcester and you’ve already got temporary traffic lights right on it going in.
“If you go on the One Network website you can see that more temporary lights are going to go on at the same time as these ones at the junction with Martley Road.
“Further up, between now and the end of May, there will be more temporary lights on Lechmere Crescent and on the Hallow Road bit.
“That whole junction, if it’s done on time, will be an absolute nightmare from now until the end of May.”
Slow traffic is a common sight to the west of the city centre (Image: Bertie Ballinger)
Around a dozen works are due to take place in and around Henwick Road and Hallow Lane between now and the end of May.
They are mainly being carried out by Cadent Gas and Severn Trent Water, according to roadworks monitoring platform One Network.
The gas company has told residents that it is replacing old pipes with new plastic ones in order that they have “greener gas in the future”.
The IT support worker, 30, who cycles to and from work, believes that the work could be staggered better to coincide with holidays and quieter times.
Bertie Ballinger wants improvements to the timing of roadworks (Image: Bertie Ballinger)
“The county council could probably stage it a bit better,” he said.
“They have just had half term for two weeks, and they’ve only done one of the parts, but now two months of works are going to be done before the summer holidays.
“It seems like they have done it in the wrong order.”
Worcester News has approached Worcestershire County Council for comment.
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