Families’ two years of hell with nightmare roadworks
RESIDENTS SAY THEY CAN’T GET OFF ESTATE IN MORNING
FAMILIES on a Tyneside estate say they have been living through a traffic nightmare for more than two years due to roadworks and congestion.
Residents in Longbenton, North Tyneside, claim they are trapped every morning at peak time and find it difficult to get out of their estate, with cars blocking both main exit points.
On one side is Killingworth Road, which has had roadworks going on since July 2017, and on the other side is the Four Lane Ends junction, which suffers from congestion.
As a result, people say traffic in the area moves at a snail’s pace during rush hour.
Billy Thompson, 61, a baker, said: “We’ve suffered because of the work going on along Killingworth Road and because of the congestion at Four Lane Ends.
“It’s horrendous. You can’t get off the estate in the morning. If you want to get to work, you have to leave an hour and a half early.
“It doesn’t matter which way you go, you are going to get stuck.”
Paul Sanderson, 64, says taxi drivers have told him they can’t come to pick him up from the middle of the West Farm Avenue area because they will get stuck in traffic. I’ve had taxis telling me they won’t come onto the estate because the traffic is that bad and they’ll not be able to get back out,” he added.
“It can take around half an hour just to get from Four Lane Ends to West Farm Avenue at peak time.
“There are cars everywhere bumper to bumper. And because of that residents here are trapped, we can’t get out. It can sometimes take over an hour to go half a mile.”
Lee Kelly, manager of The Charnwood pub, said she often got stuck in traffic when she took her granddaughter to school.
“It was absolutely horrendous,” she said. “The journey to her school should only take 10 minutes. But it was taking us at least half an hour every morning.”
And resident Yvonne Richardson said she has had to add an extra hour to journeys, such as attending hospital appointments, and it once took 45 minutes just to get down West Farm Avenue.
The 69-year-old added: “It has been horrendous for more than two years. That’s a long time and it has had an effect on people’s lives.”
The full construction programme for Killingworth Road is due to be completed by spring 2020.
The route, part of the A189, is undergoing a £13.5m transformation that has seen a new Metro bridge installed and the road widened.
Work had been due to finish by February 2018, but was hit by a string of setbacks.
In the summer, the road reopened to traffic in both directions, much to the relief of drivers who had been navigating around the roadworks.
But the site is still seeing delays due to construction on the route. Temporary traffic lights have been installed to restrict traffic between the Haddricks Mill junction and the Killingworth Road Metro bridge until mid-December.
Newcastle City Council says that vehicles heading southbound into Newcastle at peak times are likely to suffer the most severe delays. In a bid to help cope with the congestion, Salters Bridge has reopened to traffic and a northbound bus lane on Four Lanes End has been removed.
Coun Arlene Ainsley, the council’s cabinet member for transport and air quality, said earlier this month: “Killingworth Road is due for completion this spring, but we have now reached a particularly disruptive stage of construction, so I am asking people to please bear with us during this period.
“We need to alternate southbound and northbound traffic through a narrow section of the road, which will cause delays, particularly to southbound traffic during peak periods. “We are advising commuters to avoid Killingworth Road and use alternative routes or public transport.”
Billy Thompson