EVESHAM ground to a halt over the weekend as construction on Abbey Bridge took place at the same time as work on the bypass.
Queues of traffic waited to cross the bridge as four-way temporary traffic lights were used for the first time and there was no way to escape the gridlock as work to reline the A46 also took place on Saturday.
Drivers reported traffic at a standstill all over town, stretching from Greenhill, through the High Street to Hampton as well as along Cheltenham Road and Waterside.
Motorists who sat in jams for nearly an hour just to cross the town were left wondering how it will continue to attract visitors if traffic problems remain so bad for the duration of the bridge rebuilding project.
Victoria Hildyard, of Court Lane in Offenham, said: “At about 1.30pm on Saturday we were coming back from Tesco.
It took about 40 minutes just to get to the bridge. I had been told to avoid the bypass because of the re-lining.
“Another friend in the village had the same if not worse.
“I don’t understand why they don’t send people down by Aldi and open that up to two-way traffic now. I feel so sorry for people in the shops because you avoid Evesham like the plague.”
An alternative route was also requested by driving instructor Adrian Main, who suggested that Bridge Street could be opened to traffic after saying the weekend’s hold-ups had affected his business.
Martin King, former district councillor and Evesham resident, wrote to the Journal to say that journeys between one and two miles from the town centre to the other side of the river took between 45 and 60 minutes.
In response, Worcestershire County Council has arranged for the four-way traffic lights to only be operational daily between 9.30am and 3.30pm and they will not be in place over the bank holiday weekend.
Councillor John Smith, cabinet member for transport, said he was inundated with e-mails about the weekend jams, which he was also stuck in.
“At the moment they are taking out what I would call the edge of the bridge and they are encroaching more on the highway. That’s where we are at this moment in time. We all understand the frustration.”
Peter Blake, head of integrated transport, said the relining was not the county council’s responsibility and they had not been aware of it taking place.
He said: “The county council makes every effort to coordinate any works taking place on the highways it manages and this will continue as the Abbey Bridge and Viaduct scheme progresses.”
