Operatives manning temporary traffic lights on a £32m bridge reduced to single file since June after faults were detected now have to make a 2 mile round trip to use a loo after their ‘comfort cabin’ was removed. The decision has angered councillor Chris Boden who been updating residents of Whittlesey on delays caused by survey work being carried out to detect the faults on the Ralph Butcher Causeway, the bridge which links Peterborough to Whittlesey.
“I’ve reported (via CCC Highways) how stupid it is to have taken away the white ‘comfort cabin’ from the bridge,” says Cllr Boden.
“When the traffic light operator needs to go to the toilet, he now has to go to the Esso garage on Peterborough Road, (Whittlesey) leaving the traffic lights on automatic.
“Similarly, I’ve reported, when a replacement battery was needed for the lights, the traffic light operator had to drive all the way to his base and back, again leaving the lights on automatic.
“Especially when the B1040 is closed, there’s no way of preventing peak hour delays – too many people have to travel via the bridge. What I keep on pressing for is the best possible reduction of peak hour delays by allowing longer periods of green lights for rush hour traffic.”
He said that sometimes, the lights fail when on automatic overnight.
“More often, it seems to be that there’s a sensor failure rather than it being the lights themselves that fail,” he said.
He urged anyone who spots a fault with the lights to call Core Highways on 0330 043 3030.
“Even in the middle of the night, someone will come out to fix the problem,” he said.
“The weekend traffic light operators have generally been very poor at managing traffic flows, with most of them being more concerned with staying in the warmth of their cab. Too many of us have also seen them asleep on duty.”
Cllr Boden, a Cambridgeshire county councillor and leader of Fenland District Council, says that Jones Bros, the county council’s contractor for building the bridge, has not yet handed over the Causeway to Cambridgeshire County Council, “so Jones Bros remain responsible for all operational issues, including the traffic lights.
“The line of communication is unhelpful. When I have a complaint or suggestion I’m meant to contact CCC Highways, who then contact Jones Bros, who then contact their traffic management contractor, Core Highways.
“In practice I have often, unofficially, short circuited the process and just gone to the bridge to discuss issues with the Core Highways’ lights operator there”.
Cllr Boden says the management arrangements for manning the bridge is not the fault of the operatives.
“The person who has been working the lights there, on weekdays, is conscientious and experienced,” said Cllr Boden.
“But he’s under instructions from his employer. When we first had the B1040 closure, implementing a morning bias in favour of traffic going towards Peterborough worked as well as any system could work, with a morning peak green light time westbound of 7 minutes.
“There’s a similar, but not quite so one-sided, bias needed in the other direction between 15:30 and 18:30 weekdays.
“Unfortunately, since then, I’ve been told that Jones Bros have determined that 4 minutes on green is the maximum that’s required. That may be fine when the B1040 is open, but when it’s closed because of flooding, 4 minutes on green just isn’t enough and has led to longer delays than necessary in the mornings towards Peterborough.
“There’s a similar, but lesser, problem in the other direction late afternoons and evenings. If they still had spotter vehicles out they’d know this.”
Cllr Boden added: “I’ve made representations to the county council about this, and they say that my observations and suggestions have been being passed on to Jones Bros.
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“But this just isn’t producing the changes we need, so I’ve asked county highways to send highways officers to the bridge at peak hours to experience for themselves that there’s insufficient peak hour bias in favour of the predominant peak hour direction am/pm.”
Cllr Boden says he has been told to expect a report on the faults – and what might then happen to rectify them – in January.
“County council highways officers told me that, until they receive the report from Jones Bros, no option for the future will be off the table so far as the bridge is concerned,” he said.
“If defect remediation needs further temporary restrictions on the bridge, the officers assured me that weight restrictions would be considered before considering any full closure for such works – although this is something purely theoretical until the report is produced.”
