THE man in charge of manually controlling the lights at the Greengates Crossroads is “doing his best to balance things out fairly”, the contractor has said.
Howard Civil Engineering was responding to fierce criticism and growing frustration about the length of time it is taking motorists to get through the busy junction.
The New Line-Harrogate Road improvement works have been ongoing for almost two years now – since July 2020 – and have cost Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority £13.75 million.
Motorists have had misery piled on them at various points during the schedule, with congestion peaking when a five-way traffic light system was employed last summer.
But as the scheme gets ever closer to its conclusion, drivers have been hit with arguably the heaviest traffic of the entire two years, perhaps exacerbated by the return to normal after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The company contracted to undertake the works – Howard Civil Engineering – is in the final stage of the scheme, resurfacing the road and installing new traffic lights at the junction.
Less efficient temporary signals have been used in the meantime, which has led to huge amounts of congestion in all four directions during the morning and evening rush hours over the past few weeks.
One disgruntled commuter said her everyday 20-minute journey is taking an hour, with traffic queuing all the way up Harrogate Road/Apperley Lane to the JCT600 roundabout in Rawdon.
She said: “It’s getting to me now.”
Another individual said it took them 25 minutes to move half a mile, whereas on another part of their journey they managed almost three miles in 10 minutes.
One person resorted to cycling to and from work in order to make their commute faster.
Michael Frazer, Secretary of the Friends of Greengates Cenotaph community group, said drivers and residents have been angry about the resurfacing works and feel they could have been “better managed”.
He added: “The resurfacing takes place at night between 9pm and 6am and many residents have been kept awake because of the noise all night without any compensation and during the day the permanent traffic lights have been replaced by mobile temporary lights which are moved to accommodate the resurfacing, but the maximum green signal on temporary lights is restricted to 50 seconds which has caused a huge backlog of queuing traffic on all four roads, but especially on Harrogate Road."
Howard Civil Engineering has attempted to combat the growing unrest by putting in place a Bradford Council staff member to manually control the lights during the peak periods, from May 3.
The unit controlling the lights is on New Line, near Farmfoods, and the aim is to achieve a better balance to the queue length in all four directions.
A spokesperson for Howard Civil Engineering said: “He is aware that the leg which seems to have the heaviest traffic and therefore requires a bigger share of the green time is the one from Apperley bridge.
“He is doing he best to balance things out fairly.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel