Campaigners fear ‘chaos’ from A38 works
GROUPS PROTEST AGAINST ‘HUGE’ ROAD PROJECT I think people know that the works are happening but they don’t know the extent of them.
CAMPAIGNERS are venting their anger at plans to carry out extensive work on the A38.
Derby residents and concerned community groups have teamed up with Derby Climate Coalition for a protest against the proposed works.
They say it will have an overall negative impact on the city and have set up a website called Chaos for Derby.
Next Tuesday’s protest has been organised to coincide with a Highways England meeting at The Stuart Hotel, in London Road.
Scheduled to begin next year, the roadworks seek to improve three roundabouts along the A38 through Derby.
The junctions earmarked for improvement are located at Kingsway, Markeaton and Little Eaton.
In its report, Highways England said traffic demands on the A38 through Derby are likely to increase faster than the national average.
To address the traffic issues, it has proposed to build an underpass at Little Eaton and Kingsway, and an embankment flyover at Markeaton.
Mair Perkins, one of the protest organisers, said it’s going to be a huge project with implications for everybody in the city.
The 32-year-old said: “When I’ve spoken to people, I think people know that the works are happening
Mair Perkins but they don’t know the extent of them.
“If you go through the Highways England website, which isn’t that easy to navigate, you can see how extensive the works are when you dig through some of the reports.”
Ms Perkins said, despite the project goals to reduce traffic, “there is evidence that increasing road capacity increases road traffic”.
She said: “It doesn’t make sense to do the work if we will have the same problems in the future.
“To reduce road traffic, Government and local councils should invest in other transport methods and encourage people to use them.”
The campaign group’s Chaos for Derby website highlights a number of other issues related to the roadworks.
These include increased air pollution and the demolition of some houses situated in the areas of construction.
A petition which was organised to object to the roadworks has gathered more than 400 signatures.
Ms Perkins said: “We would prefer that the Department of Transport moved the budgets from Highways England to invest in public transport instead, but we realise that isn’t simple to do.
“We hope that Highways England and the Department of Transport will listen to our concerns”
The protest is set to take place on Tuesday, February 18, outside The Stuart Hotel, in London Road, at 9.15am.
A spokesperson for Highways England said: “We appreciate that roadworks can impact on local communities as well as road users and we value the importance of working closely with residents and local authorities on schemes to minimise disruption.
“This is a major upgrade of one of the city’s busiest commuter routes and once complete will alleviate congestion, improve road safety and improve journey time reliability.”