DRIVERS across Bromsgrove have contacted The Standard in their droves to complain about roadworks near Asda which, they say, are bringing the whole town to a standstill.
Motorists have voiced their anger after being caught up in delays on the main Birmingham Road and surrounding routes affected by the work.
We have had letters and copious comments on our social media pages about the chaos which people say is hitting all the main town centre routes.
And, they added, with the overnight works on the M5 diverting extra traffic through Bromsgrove, there was no let up in the constant traffic.
One told The Standard: “It is usually bad in Bromsgrove but at the moment it is like one big car park.
“On Friday at 3.30pm it took me 45 minutes to get from Aston Fields to Broad Street.
“The gridlock around Asda is ridiculous. It clearly has not been thought out and when more homes are built, it is only going to get worse – especially during school runs and rush hour.”
Our Facebook page has also been inundated and as we went to press yesterday there were 160 reactions, almost 50 comments and the story had been shared 52 times.
Ben Thomas wrote on Facebook: “Heads need to roll on this. Why don’t Severn Trent get the work done asap – preferably in the evening.
“The amount of times I’ve been past these coned-off areas and there’s been nobody working – it’s infuriating.
Katie Caldicott stated: “We sat at the traffic lights by Asda today and watched the lights change to green ten times before we actually moved!
“I have never known anything like it.”
Jason Andrew Donnelly said: “I’ve lived in Bromsgrove for over 30 years.
“The town is growing and the roads can’t cope anymore and I can see it getting worse.”
Jackie Newman wrote: “On Monday it took me 90 minutes to drive the eight-mile round trip to take my kids to school. Absolutely crazy”
Storm Churchill: wrote: “It’s beyond a joke. It took me an hour and ten minutes yesterday morning to drop my daughter at South Bromsgrove High and drive home again to Sidemoor.”
And Joel Deakin said: “No consideration, poor planning, no explanation…welcome to Bromsgrove.”
Jon Fraser, Worcestershire County Council’s Head of Highways, said the works were being carried out by Severn Trent which was installing a new water main. He added they were scheduled to be completed by Thursday, June 1.
Turn to our letters section on pages eight and nine for more views on the issue.
* WHAT do you think? Is the traffic worse now than it has been? Where do you think are the traffic hotspots and pinch points? Email your views to [email protected] or write to us at the address on the letters page.
