Star comment: Pointless roadworks to drag on
The road "improvements" on the outskirts of Shrewsbury, which nobody was calling for and which have caused disruption and frustration to motorists for months, are now going to drag on for much longer than anybody was warned.
The £8.4 million scheme at Shrewsbury's Emstrey and Preston Boats islands was supposed to be all over by Christmas.
The latest timescale is that the work will be finished by mid-March.
Given the record to date, that can be taken with a pinch of salt. Do not be surprised if the traffic cones are still there at Easter.
This has to be one of the most ill-starred road projects in Shropshire's recent history. When the scheme was announced, as a way of smoothing traffic flows at pinchpoints, many people were left scratching their heads as they did not think there was a particular problem at these places, and could not see how the changes would help things when they were fixing something that was not broken.
At certain times of the day motorists have been caught out by road closures and have been sent on unexpected diversions. At busy periods, the place has been a nightmare.
So why the extra delays? Claims that the weather has been a factor just do not wash. If the weather really has delayed things – and the weather has not been especially bad – then it points to ridiculously optimistic assumptions in the planning process.
The Highways Agency cites "safety issues on our working site" for the latest delays. Health and safety is a trump card, but not so much of a trump to exonerate the agency from criticism. These are things which will have, or should have, been factored into the planning and scheduling of the job. They are not surprise, unexpected issues that have cropped up.
Failures of planning and unrealistic timescales seem to have characterised this project. And the people who have been suffering are the residents and businesses in the Shrewsbury area who have been hit by disruption of unnecessary duration.
And there could yet be a sting in the tail. If it turns out that these improvements do not make things better, and actually contribute to extra delays and congestion, it will be a betrayal of those who had faith that it would all turn out for the best in the long run.
