AIBU to be fed up with constant temporary traffic lights?

[Bluegreenyellowpink]

I’ve accepted Im probably getting older and crankier as such and it’s evidently clear I need to organise myself better. All I’d like to do in a morning is get in my car, do the 5 minute school run, nursery drop off, and work without their being temporary traffic lights absolutely everywhere! Yes I live in a city, but the road we live just off, has been declared by the council the most dug up road in our city.

We rarely have signs up explaining road closures/delays so I can plan extra time. Do you live in a city where it’s just a given that you need to allow extra time for unexpected interruptions? There’s been so much work done to the roads (not upto standard so it’s needed redoing) Is this just how life is now and I need to get with it!?

Every motorway has been dug up since 1997 with the promise of 'improvements'.

I drive a 23 minute journey to get to work and last month I had 1 road closure and 3 sets of temporary lights to get to it! My drive between Work place and home (in the same local authority) covers small towns and villages.

its ridiculous at times.

at present we have 1 set of temporary lights between work and home.

I live at temporary lights. That's all I have to say. 😞

Tbh either we have lots of roadworks or we don’t get any of the potholes properly fixed. It’s a good sign. But also effing frustrating.

If you live anywhere near the HS2 route your life will be non stop traffic lights. Nightmare everywhere. Country lanes closed and complete destruction of the countryside for miles and miles. A few traffic lights in a city isn’t on the same planet at this appalling mess just to get to Birmingham 15 minutes quicker!

We currently have a massive diversion for 6months for a warehouse being built.

It was supposed to be just some temp traffic lights with one way traffic. But on day 1, sone idiots forgot how to queue over a level crossing... so they had to close the whole road. To get from one side of the closure to the other, less than 100m, is a 3 mile diversion taking about 10-15minutes.

You cant even walk through it.

I have a 11 min commute there’s 4 routes I can take to get to work every single way has at least one set of temp lights.
today I can’t even leave my street without encountering them (2 entry/exit points.). The majority of the time I pass there’s no workers.
yesterday I gave myself an extra 20 mins to get to work and made it by the skin of my teeth 😡 5 weeks and counting

A nearby road was closed for over six months in 2024. It was closed again for six months at the end of last year and into this year, to do the same thing all over again.

There doesn’t seem to be any joined up thinking. A company is tasked with installing barriers and/or temporary lights. Another lot come along and dig up roads and do what it is they’ve been hired for. They leave and the barriers and traffic lights stay. Why? Do they not communicate with one another?

I understand. We have them on our road right now. And in the three alternative routes around our small area. It’s constant gridlock.

I agree, and I check if there are road works en route well before I set off and allow extra time if there are. The council where I live are pretty efficient, and put up road signs informing that there will be road works a good few days before they start.

Mind you, I was caught out yesterday. They closed a road in the middle of my (one way) town centre, put in a diversion and the resultant traffic chaos meant that what's normally a a 5-10 minute journey took nearly 20 minutes. People were leaving town and going along the bypass and entering from the other side because it was quicker, despite being 2-3 miles longer!

It was closed because scaffolding was being erected in a busy street that's so narrow that the scaffolders lorry almost entirely blocked it.

Temporary lights have been on the two main roads near me pretty much constantly for about six years.

It's never been this bad and a lot of the same bits of road have been dug up three or four times for various things.

Its got so bad, key services in the area have publicly complained.

Temporary lights keep popping up like weeds where I have, they have done for years. There's one road where I have literally lost count of how many times they have appeared. And they never seem to be there for anything useful, like fixing the potholes, which also keep appearing from nowhere.

Not just cities. The B4000 in Berkshire has a different section up every month (or so it seems).

We have two well used roads near us that run parallel. Not main roads but heavily used including bus routes. One is closed for 6 months, can't remember why. So what have they done? Put 3-way temp lights on the parallel road because of roadworks. Like who thought it was a good idea?!

You have all made me feel slightly better as it’s clearly not just me! But yes.. frustrating is definitely the word!

Try the A228 in Kent between the M2 and the M20. Not been as bad this year, but last year there NOT being roadworks was a cause for celebration. Mostly just a few yards long, but again and again the same parts of the road being dug up, usually with no reason given and no advance notification. I rarely saw anyone actually doing any work there, and could go past any time from 7:30am to 9:30am for my morning commute.

They've also suddenly dug up the end of my road by the junction onto the A2 this morning (no notice of course), so the main drag out of town. I didn't even bother to leave today until after 9:30 as the queues were adding 40% onto my journey until that point (hooray for flexi time).

I get you OP there's a road near me been closed or temp lights or combinations about 5 times in last 18months. For building new supermarket/houses/blah blah.

Thingbis to avoid it, its easily 10mile round trip with few options so everyone is using the alternatives and roads just grind to a halt.

It's actually become an election issue here.
Fortunately I'm on the easier side of it and can divert most times with minimal delay..