Motorists were promised waiting times at one of Gloucestershire’s busiest roundabouts would be cut by up to 15 minutes thanks to the new layout revealed in 2017.
The revamped Elmbridge Court roundabout, with its new ‘hamburger lane’ fully reopened on 22nd September 2017 after 13 months of work and £9million invested.
But commuters have taken to social media to air frustrations with the project.
£14m spent on the new Elmbridge Court roundabout and intelligent traffic lights. This makes the traffic worse than the original, old roundabout. Traffic lights not working this morning and absolutely no queues in any direction! This roundabout is a complete fail and a waste of taxpayers’ money. #turnthelightsoffforgood
Tom Hallam
MyChurchdown understands that the traffic lights on the Barnwood and Longlevens junctions have failed on numerous occasions within the past 2 weeks. We contacted Gloucestershire Highways on 3 occasions to report the failure and were informed that the on call crew would attend the site on each call.
However some road users have said the roundabout works much better when the lights are off and have asked for the lights to remain switched off.
@glosroads the Elmbridge court lights are out this morning and the traffic is sooooo much better. Can we turn them off for good?!?— Tom Hallam (@TomH_Instructor) January 9, 2019
There is also confusion as to whether the traffic lights are part time however there is no signage on the roundabout to indicate this.
The lights’ phasing is completely wrong. Little time for Churchdown residents to get out. The lights from Longlevens/Hamburger turn red before lights from Longlevens allowing traffic to build up in front of vehicles from Barnwood heading for the northern bypass as they get their green. So they can go nowhere as Longlevens traffic is queued in front of them. When it clears and they can go, the lights on the northern bypass go red
Dave Bridges
Lights on the Churchdown junction are a must. Takes far to long to get out with only 1:2 cars getting out every other cycle of lights. Surprised there’s not been a bad accident as road users coming off the roundabout towards golden valley/ Barnwood come a great speed. Waste of Council money as no improvement from Churchdown.
Debbie Waterland
The quality of materials mainly the curb stones with built in drainage are shocking. They were breaking all during construction and I have seen the contracting company out numerous times since to replace them. They are made of to thin concrete and must be cheap as they fall apart with the slightest bit of wind blowing in them. This money spent was also badly used when so many of our roads just simply need resurfacing not redesigning with major disruption for months on end. Council needs a rethink on its spending policy.
Ben Wilkinson
You can read the full reaction on our MyChurchdown Facebook Post.
Gloucestershire Highways told us:
We are aware that there is an on-going issue with the lights at Elmbridge Court, this is due to faulty electrical parts. Our traffic signal contractor are currently working on the issue to get the matter resolved as quickly as possible. TY Glos Roads Team— Glos Roads (@GlosRoads)