Newbury roadworks causing traffic ‘murder’ for motorists

Drivers in Newbury have branded council roadworks as rush hour ‘murder’.

On Monday there were works taking place on Boundary Road, Bartholomew Street and the A339, which caused considerable traffic jams across the area, particularly during the morning rush hour.

One motorist, who contacted Newburytoday, said he had seen no advance notice of the A339 roadworks and it had taken him 25 minutes to get from the Burger King roundabout to the Sainsbury’s roundabout.

He said the problems were compounded by the fact that there were also temporary traffic lights on the Boundary Road bridge and Bartholomew Street, close to St John’s roundabout.

The council said the works on the A339 and Kings Road are for vegetation cutting and are critical for safety reasons.

“This is scheduled to take place between 9.30am to 3.30pm (outside of peak times) and can't be done out of hours due to the nature of the works which is tree cutting,” it said.

“We are working with Thames Water to rearrange the lights on Newtown Road/Bartholomew Street.”

The Boundary Road and Bartholomew Street works are due to finish today, with the A339 roadworks scheduled to continue until Friday.