Roadworks traffic jams causing school run misery

Traffic jams caused by roadworks at a busy Lincoln junction are adding more than half an hour to the morning school run, local residents have said.

The five-month long project to install traffic lights at the Doddington Road and Birchwood Avenue junction began earlier this month.

The upgrade is taking place to increase road capacity and reduce congestion, but some drivers said it had caused "non-stop traffic", adding 35 or 40 minutes to their journeys to school.

Justin Brown, service director, growth, infrastructure and environment at Lincolnshire County Council said: "I completely understand why residents are frustrated by the congestion being caused by these works."

The work is being undertaken to meet future demand from the City of Lincoln Council's Charterholme housebuilding project.

Temporary signals and diversion routes are in place, with the work expected to be completed by the end of March.

Motorists will be unable to turn from Birchwood Avenue onto Doddington Road for most of the duration, although the other direction will remain open, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Vladyslava Soho said: "It's been non-stop terrible traffic. The school run used to take seven minutes – now it's 45 to 50.

"My husband said we should get push bikes because it would be quicker than driving."

Another resident, Ann-Marie Hamson, said: "It's been awful, particularly on the school run. We've had to start taking a detour which adds 35 minutes.

"We've been leaving early every morning, and my son was still 20 minutes late to school the other day."

However, some residents were pleased to see the junction undergoing improvements.

Sally Sawyer said: "It's about time something was done with the really bad junction. I've lived here for 20 years and it's needed doing all that time.

"It's particularly hard in winter months – any accident on the bypass causes all the traffic to be routed through here."

Brown said that while the county council was "responsible for issuing the legal parts of a set of works on a road", it was not one of its schemes.

"Lincolnshire County Council is not the authority which is putting this programme into the area - these works fall under the City of Lincoln Council's remit," he said.

"These junction improvements weren't something Lincolnshire County Council suddenly came up with or imposed at the last minute."

Brown added that the junction improvements formed part of a planning condition for the Western Growth Corridor development and were "identified through the planning process as mitigation for the impact of that development on the surrounding road network".

Councillor Joshua Wells, who is responsible for economic growth on the city council, said: "We explored with the highways authority, Lincolnshire County Council, whether they could be modified or removed.

"However, they were quite clear that the works must proceed.

"We recognise the congestion and disruption residents and road users have experienced since these works began, and we have listened to the concerns raised."

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