Town centre roadworks cause controversy (From Brentwood Weekly News)

Town centre roadworks cause controversy

7:30am Thursday 7th February 2013 in News

CALLS for better traffic plans have been demanded after roadworks have caused havoc in Brentwood.

Temporary traffic lights have been set up on the A128 Ingrave Road and Brentwood Road while Essex and Suffolk Water carry out maintenance work.

However, motorists have struggled to travel through the area while work takes place, with some taking an hour to pass the site.

After a number of complaints, four way traffic lights were installed.

Despite this helping traffic flow, Lib Dem county councillor for Brentwood South David Kendall, believes with more roadworks in the pipeline, better plans must be thought out.

Mr Kendall said: “Lessons need to be learnt from this whole situation because if more roadworks are due across various parts of Brentwood in the coming months, then we cannot have the same as what happened on the A128.

“For people trying to get in and out of Brentwood from Herongate it’s been an absolute nightmare trying to drive around.

“People need to get in and out of the town and in the future, I think the council along with the contractors need to look at plans in a more in-depth way.”

Essex County Council said there had been some issues with the system, but these had been resolved.

A spokeswoman said: “Three-way temporary traffic light controls were put in place, which we stipulated should be manually controlled.

“However, as works started it was recognised this arrangement was not sufficient and the following day they were replaced with four-way temporary traffic light controls instead.

“Officers have been satisfied with the traffic arrangements here since.

“The work requiring the four-way lights is expected to be completed on Tuesday, after which these lights will be replaced with two-way traffic light controls.

“Essex County Council will always publish details of roadworks taking place on its website and advise drivers to take them into consideration when planning their journey.”

A spokesman for Essex and Suffolk Water said: “We’re carrying out essential water mains replacement. “Some of the pipes in this area are up to 80 years old and they are not as reliable as they once were. “We are investing around £1million to upgrade about 6km of water pipes in the area. This will directly improve supplies to about 1,560 properties.

“We appreciate that this essential work has caused significant traffic delays at times and would like to apologise to anyone who has been affected.”