[Forum] Traffic grinds to a halt – Aztec West / M5 J16 roadworks to blame?

Traffic congestion at the Aztec West Roundabout on the A38 in north Bristol.

What is with the traffic today around Bradley Stoke? Took me 15 mins to travel from the roundabout at the bottom of Braydon Avenue to the Jubilee Centre. First sign of congestion at the Aztec roundabout and the whole town grinds to a halt.

Lou1969

Photo: Archive image of traffic congestion at the Aztec West Roundabout.

Ed: Plenty of discussion about this on our Facebook page this morning. See: http://on.fb.me/1tyzVrL

A sample of the comments:

  • Emma Nicholson: “Guess why the kids have gone back to school and the council can’t organise roadworks and perform them right! Let’s make 2 lanes into 1 and wonder why Bradley Stoke, Aztec and everywhere [is at] a standstill”
  • Simon Kneller: “The traffic planner for the council should be brought to account. If I made such a catastrophic and incompetent mistake I would sacked!”
  • Martin Lamb: “Wait till they build ‘Filton Keynes’ – you will see gridlock then.”
  • Alison Smallcombe: “Our council really should be ashamed of their organisation. These traffic problems wouldn’t happen in other countries.”
  • Matthew Goddard: “One lane taken out of M5 J16 roundabout and this is what it causes.. Wouldn’t be so bad if it was being worked on, but not a workman in sight! SGC planners = joke!”
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  1. Took me 50 minutes to drive from Meadowbrook Primary School to Aztec West which is a total of 1.7miles, absolute joke!

  2. Took 50 minutes to move from bowsland way to wheatfield school this morning! Someone should definitely be held accountable for the traffic chaos! Ridiculous on a Monday morning hope it’s not a taste of things to come.

  3. Took me 40 min to get to my sons school which is 1,2 mile
    Didnt even go to preschool next to aldi cos traffic was nightmare
    Just called southgloss council check on highways and they can just say somebody is going to check how they can improve and help but not sure what they can do to help
    for now we need to get ready for the some story everyday !!!!

  4. its the same in Stoke gifford especially at about 4.30 trying to get past parkeay train station going towards gypsy patch…. It took me 1 hour the other night to get from lime kiln close Stoke gifford to Patchway

  5. What a joke, had to abandon car and walk my son to school, walk back and then sit in traffic to try to get to work!! Why does the council not do road works at night, weekends, or start work after rush hour traffic, causing minimum amount of delay to people who need to travel by car. Also why does it take so long to complete road works, if it was in any other industry questions would be asked as to why taking so long!!

  6. Well, they say you can’t make an omelette without breaking an egg….
    However, I think we’ll be going through quite a few eggs in the next 4/5 months until this is over.
    Is this being done by SGC Highways dept. or the Highways Agency?

  7. To All those people complaining that it took them 50 minutes to travel a mile.. have you tried walking? Why are you taking the car for such short distances…

    Maybe you should consider that you may be the cause of the problem?

  8. In Response to Richy_R because these short distances as you put them are not always the end of the journey, if you took time to read the responses before trawling out your anti car rubbish you would of seen that people had to continue their travel plans to workplaces.

    I think your short sightedness is probably the cause of you being unable to obtain a driving licence

  9. took me 3 hours to go from ormonds close to Filton avenue then back to Aztec onto the m5 🙁 made me 2hours late travelling

  10. I thought exactly the same thing myself @Richy_R. It was almost enjoyable travelling to work last week during the half term.

  11. It takes around 15 minutes to walk 1.2 miles, around 5 minutes to cycle. The traffic was visible from a very early time in the morning, short journeys only contribute to congestion.

    Obviously this isn’t suitable for all people, other must get to work on time, make appointments on time, but for many it is possible to exchange the comfort of a seatbelt for a pair of trainers 🙂

  12. It is absolutely ridiculous that Bradley Stoke residents have to pay the price for what appears to have been minor roadworks. Some people have suggested that car drivers should consider walking. Have they not considered that parents might be trying to drop their children off at school en route to work?! This makes “walking” an impossibility!!!

  13. i travel from South Wales everyday and this morning joined the queue halfway along the M48 from the Severn Bridge. Two hours later I arrived at the office in Aztec West!

    There had better be a lot of head scratching and decision making going on at the council and highways department or there are going to be a lot of very unhappy people and organisations! Can’t imagine how much lost work time companies have experienced today.

  14. Why oh! Why is it only in this country that road repairs/works are not at night after say 9pm till 7am as in other European cities ?

  15. The problem is people driving their kids to school. Not only is this lazy, it’s bad for the environment. All the schools are within walking distance and your kids have two working legs, let them use them! I walked to school or rode my bike, there’s no need to drive for just a mile or two.

  16. Well get used to it because the road works are not leaving any time soon. Moaning here wont change anything. SGC dont give a dam about people sitting in traffic.

    Walk or cycle if possible, if not just accept u will be sitting in traffic for the forseeable future. I will just drive down the bus lane and wave at everyone sat at a standstill. Suckers…

  17. It took me 1 hour to get from Ormonds Close onto the M5 motorway, I was late for a course. Was it all due to the one lane closure on the Almondsbury junction roundabout? And the really annoying thing is that there were no workers there actually doing anything!

  18. I am 100% certain the Aztec West / M5 J16 roadwork’s is to blame. They have cut of the outside lane which leads onto the M5 or back to Aztec West.
    They have reopened the other lane they have been working on which was cut off for motorist going onto the M5.

    There are signs of this advising motorist of the new lanes, but I guess people are getting confused.

    Taking school kids to school doesn’t help, however I’m not one of these anti-car freaks saying the one word they could think off ‘Walk’… I walked to school on many of occasions back in the day but one day I got mugged and punched in the face which resulted in nerve damage, and all this happened on the way home from school. Parents love their children and just want to see them get to school safely, so stop being hypocrites.

  19. I bet if the contractors were given a million £ bonus to complete the work in 20% of the allotted time they’d soon get all these jobs completed. They drag them out unnecessarily because there is no consequences for them. Take Gypsy Patch for example. You only ever see a maximum of 3-4 blokes on that job at any time. No wonder it takes forever to finish. Obviously paid by the day….!!!! No other trade would get away with it.

  20. Well said Dimitri. Time for tough questions to be asked:
    – why are there only a couple of workers actually on-site at any time?
    – why is their working day so short?
    – what penalties exist in the contract for over-run/poor quality?

  21. Please Please Please change the two right hand lanes to M5 North and the inner lane to M5 South and A38. This would be the same as it was and get rid of this stupid one lane for m5 North where all the problems are.

    Planners what where you thinking.

  22. omg the road works have to be done so put up with it I know a lot of people taking kids to school could walk them there but cant be bothered
    also people need to learn how to read road signs