Roadworks at the Aztec West Roundabout on the A38 Gloucester Road are set to continue for “two to three weeks” according to an unofficial source at South Gloucestershire Council (SGC).
Signs notifying motorists of impending work to install a bus lane on the northbound carriageway of the A38 south of the roundabout had been displayed in the vicinity for a number of weeks but many drivers were taken by surprise when lane restrictions were imposed on the roundabout itself on Monday morning.
The closure of one of the three lanes on the roundabout between the Bradley Stoke Way and Aztec West Business Park exits led to massive tailbacks, stretching back onto to the M4 and M5 motorways during the morning rush hour.
The work is also having a knock-on effect on traffic leaving Bradley Stoke, with longer than normal tailbacks being experienced along Bradley Stoke Way.
Traffic leaving the business park during the evening peak hours is also being affected due to the closure of one of the three lanes exiting onto the roundabout.
The work being done on the roundabout itself will add an extra general traffic lane for northbound traffic on the A38 making a right turn into Bradley Stoke Way.
Full details of the project, e.g. its timescale and phasing, were hard to come by on Monday with virtually no relevant information available on the SGC or travel+ websites (a situation since rectified following enquiries by The Journal).
A press release put out by SGC on 19th March (which didn’t reach The Journal) states that the A38 project – part of the £69.8 million Greater Bristol Bus Network (GBBN) scheme – should be completed by “Autumn 2010”.
A summary statement of the work being carried out is now available on the ‘Bus improvement schemes in progress‘ page of the SGC website. Detailed plans may be viewed here.
The Journal Comments
Motorists are right to feel let down by the lack of information made available by SGC in advance of work starting. Putting up signs referencing a website that holds virtually no relevant information is simply not good enough.
The value of the extra general traffic lane on the Aztec West Roundabout will also be questioned by many locals as it will only assist the relatively small number of motorists making a right turn off the northbound A38 into Bradley Stoke.
That will be no substitute for the Aztec West bus priority scheme that would have provided much-needed extra general traffic lanes on Bradley Stoke Way. That earlier proposed scheme was abandoned by SGC after First Group re-routed its 73 service so that it no longer entered the Aztec West Business Park at peak hours.
Am I the only person confused by this? I thought SGC had formally dropped the proposal to modify the Aztec Roundabout after consultation? I’m therefore not convinced this has even gone through the correct legal planning steps.
As far as I can see, the only open proposal was to widen the A38 near the roundabout to realign the road, allowing for the bus lane from Patchway to the roundabout.
One of the reasons the proposal was dropped was that people predicted that adding a bus-lane on the roundabout would cause traffic-chaos. Well, guess what? The schools aren’t even back yet and already there’s traffic chaos around Almondsbury.
Bert – the work on the roundabout was included in the consultation on the second (current) scheme but was given very little prominence in the documents and plans.
There is a bullet point on the Poster and a single sentence in the Formal Statement of Reasons. The new lane on the roundabout is annotated on the Plan but not higlighted with colour as per the A38 bus lane changes.
South Gloucestershire Council could certainly have done a lot more to warn motorists of the disruption likely to be caused by the work on the roundabout. Let’s hope that they finish it within the 2/3 weeks timeframe they have estimated.
Things would perhaps run more smoothly if motorists would actually read the road signs. They clearly state that the only lane going to the motorway from bradley is the right hand lane. Yet evertime I’ve been to the roundabout, someone has cut me up by trying to use the middle lane to turn right.
Wrong! You can go round to the motorway from the middle or right hand lane leaving Bradley Stoke Way. The markings on the roundabout clearly state left hand lane for A38/Aztec Business Park, middle lane for Aztec Business Park and A38 north/Motorway right hand lane for A38 north/Motorway and right turn back into Bradley Stoke. Goto Google maps and have a look…..then you’ll be able to do it correctly and stop getting cut up all the time.
Andrew, are you one of the many sleepy drivers who have failed to see the temporary ‘yellow’ advisory signs which as Jon said mean, that during the roundabout road works, the only lane going to the motorway from Bradley Stoke is the right hand lane???
I must confess, the first time I came through Bradley Stoke after they’d started, I did my usual get to the left-most lane to go straight on to Aztec West, thinking “Great, it’s empty”, only then to see the yellow sign showing that was for the A38(S) only! Of course, by that point someone was behind me with the middle lane full, so I had to step on it from the lights and squeeze in. ahem, oops!
I noticed today that these works had the expected morning rush-hour effect – a stationary queue of traffic onto the M5 sliproad, back to the Almondsbury interchange, all the way back to the M32 junction on the M4, then all the way down the M32 past Hambrook. Genius!
Glad I choose to drive to work through Hambrook & Bradley Stoke rather than via the motorways (though it still took 20 mins to get from Willow Brook to Aztec West).
No one mentioned temporary signs…….
Andrew, John mentioned the signs in his first sentence!! Regardless of whether they are permanent or temporary, you should always read the signs.
Following on from what Bert was saying, I do think they should put the lane assignment signs a bit further back along the road so you can prepare yourself earlier, rather than finding out when it’s too late.
If buses to Aztec west were better im sure that would help as well!
I currently travel in from Frampton and have a bus to Parkway then Aztec west! Im not sure if its just me that finds the service a tad poor?