Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Residents ‘trapped’ by repairs gridlock
‘This isn’t just about me, it’s about the community in this road as we all feel trapped in our homes because of the roadworks...’
Gridlock caused by emergency gas works left residents feeling “trapped” inside their own homes as they struggled to leave their driveways.
Part of the A28 Ashford Road in Thanington, Canterbury, was dug up by SGN on Monday, February 6, for the urgent repairs which were originally scheduled to last a week.
The completion date was later pushed back to Friday, February 17, but the gas firm insisted at the time it was working “as quickly and safely as possible” to finish the project promptly. Despite this, fed-up locals living along the route urged the company to hurry up. Speaking last Thursday, resident Patricia Nickle said: “This isn’t just about me, it’s about the community because up and down this road, we all felt trapped in our homes because of the roadworks. “Everybody would understand if people were out there working, responding to a gas leak. “But it always appeared that nothing was actually going on, every now and then a couple of people will look into the hole, but that was about it.” Two-way temporary traffic lights were erected when the project began, allowing motorists to continue using the route. However, Ms Nickle, a retired teacher, said there were regularly long tailbacks since the roadworks began.
She stated that the sight of gridlocked traffic was “horrendous, as the cars block everyone’s drives”.
“The Ashford Road is terrible for traffic anyway, and we always seem to have temporary traffic lights on this road,” she added.
“To get back on to our drives you’ve got to hold up all the traffic behind you to wait for a gap in the other lane.
“And because of the queues, the pollution was really bad for myself and my granddaughters. “That was another worry. It was all just very unpleasant.” Another set of temporary traffic lights were erected last Thursday further along Ashford Road by South East Water, as its teams undertook a separate maintenance project. A spokesman for SGN apologised for the delays, but warned it is “difficult to give exact timescales” due to the nature of the work.
“We’d like to apologise for the disruption this caused local residents and road users, and we want to assure them we worked as quickly and safely as possible to complete our essential emergency work,” he said. “Two-way temporary traffic lights were in place to allow our engineers to work and ensure everyone’s safety.
“Due to the nature of the work and the specialist equipment required, it was difficult to give exact timescales and a completion date.”
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