Outrage as the ‘worst traffic ever’ leaves city in gridlock
Roadworks have been blamed for traffic mayhem in Bath that has “never been so bad”, according to residents.
On Saturday, business owner Natalie Bonnici-headley took three hours to cover a distance that should take eight minutes as others shared photos and videos of long queues.
Conservative group leader Vic Pritchard claimed the “traffic chaos” on successive weekends was exactly what Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Liberal Democrat administration wanted in Bath so people would abandon their cars.
He said it should open negotiations with utility companies to seek a temporary halt to all roadworks during busy periods.
However Lib Dem peer Lord Strasburger tweeted that the “traffic mayhem” was caused by Wessex Water blocking a lane in the city’s one-way system and said it was “lazy to blame the council for things they can’t change”.
Wessex Water said it had been asked by B&NES Council to divert a sewer near Avon Street car park to allow work to begin on its Bath Quays North development.
Sarah Baker, who was born and raised in Bath and returned in 2010, tweeted a video of mostly buses and coaches queuing from the train station all the way along Manvers Street that has been viewed more than 16,000 times.
“This is quite possibly the worst traffic I’ve ever witnessed,” she said. “There is no creative planning for transport in this city.”
Dave Dixon, a former deputy leader of the Lib Dems, asked if it was council policy to allow gridlock to happen and said: “It’s never been so bad.”
Replying to Lord Strasburger he said: “Stop just blaming this on Wessex Water! Every edge of the city is gridlocked.”
Mrs Bonnici-headley, who owns Sweet Little Things, said it took her three hours to travel the mile from Dorchester Street to George Street to drop off a cake - a journey she could only make in her refrigerated van that normally takes her eight minutes.
“Thankfully it was my last delivery before I went home, I can’t imagine what I would have done if I had had more deliveries around Bath,” she said.
James Fisher was trying to drop off his laptop for repair. It took him twoand-a-half hours to get to the Southgate car park, meaning he missed his appointment.
Congestion in other parts of the city has been blamed on delayed £3.8 million repairs to Cleveland Bridge, which reopened to vehicles under two metres wide last month.
Residents have complained temporary traffic lights there were only letting through four cars at a time on Saturday and were not synchronised
with the main junction.
Gary Peacock, the council’s deputy group manager for highways and traffic, told a webinar in March before the work started in July: “We know leading up to Christmas in late November the network becomes exceedingly busy, and again we would want the temporary traffic signals removed in time for that Christmas embargo.”
However, complications in the project will see the traffic lights remain in place into early 2022, according to the council’s website, and the bridge will only be open to light traffic. Council leader Kevin Guy said: “The transport issues in the city of Bath are historic and well known. The ancient inadequacies of the city’s road network have been highlighted by one major essential piece of road work being conducted by Wessex Water, resulting in significant gridlock on a network.
“As leader of B&NES Council I fully support the local residents’ desire to create healthier and more sustainable ways of getting around the city. We are working hard to implement new sustainable highway routes, including the very popular Bath Riverside project with its adjoining city corridors.
“Moaning and not providing a single solution is the default position of the local Tories but the key way to reduce traffic is to support community-backed sustainable transport routes within our amazing city and beyond to North East Somerset.”
Cllr Manda Rigby, cabinet member for transport, said: “While the council seeks to minimise disruption on the highway, unfortunately a combination of factors led to the congestion over the weekend and we want to apologise to people caught up in it.
“It had been intended that Cleveland Bridge would have been opened before the road closure for the Wessex Water works on a sewer pipe at the Ambury started, however the bridge condition being worse than expected has meant the works are taking longer.
“The volume of traffic entering the city has recovered to pre-pandemic levels and above and data suggests that the footfall within the city centre is also higher than equivalent weeks in 2019. ”
A Wessex Water spokesperson said: “B&NES Council requisitioned Wessex Water to divert a sewer near Avon Street car park to allow work to begin on the council’s Bath Quays North development.
“Due to the closure of Cleveland Bridge and the subsequent restrictions still in place for vehicles travelling over Cleveland Bridge, the council has managed the extent of the work and timings for when and where we can excavate in the road, to minimise the impact on people travelling through the city.”
The spokesperson said the work had been carried out in phases and was due to pause on November 19 for the busy Christmas period then restart on January 4 with a planned completion in mid-february.