You really would think that those morons in charge of road works would start to get the message, wouldn’t you? So much so that – as I’ve said before – the total chaos on Nottingham’s roads can only be deliberate.
Today, there was almost gridlock on the south side (all along the ring road, all through West Bridgford, and all around Wilford and Ruddington) as people tried in vain to avoid the Wilford Lane road closure. But the best part was that on the A60 in Bradmore, and just to add insult to injury, some other morons identified as Severn Trent Water had got temporary lights up. These were there all day.
But the real problem is that they didn’t need to be there. The hole they’d dug was on the grass border next to someone’s house, and did not even extend as far as the path, let alone into the road. But of course, Health & Safety bullshit means that plastic barriers have to be put up to move the pedestrian walkway a certain number of metres away from any earthworks, and it then demands that if the walkway then comes within so many millimetres of the road then the road must be restricted and traffic lights put up. And this is what happened.
It wouldn’t have been so bad if the idle, lazy contractors were anywhere to be seen – but whatever time of day it was that they dug the hole, there was absolutely no one there to do even the smallest amount of labour any time from 12pm onwards. I noticed that around 6pm the lights had been pushed out of the way – and I doubt that it was Severn Trent who had done it.
I also encountered another Severn Trent road block this afternoon (and I’ve forgotten where it was). Again, temporary lights were up.
Going back to the Wilford Lane fiasco, is it only me who cannot figure out why the whole road needs to be closed for 4 months when the road is only about 8 metres wide at that point? I mean, what they’re doing is closing it and not doing anything to it for 90% of that period. It’s just “in the plan”. Obviously, these fools (who comprise Nottingham’s roads department and NET) are incapable of only closing such a vital artery for the shortest time possible, and can only respond to whatever came up on their flipcharts at the undoubtedly copious meetings they held to plan it in the first place.
As I say, it is deliberate, anti-motorist incompetence.