‘Bad joke’ junction maddens motorists

Muddled motorists say they are being driven round the bend by Walsall’s multi-million pound new road system.

Drivers have criticised the major scheme to revamp the road network around the town.

Motorists have branded the new set-up around the Arboretum junction “a bad joke”. Many drivers say they are particularly angry about the move to prevent traffic that is travelling away from the centre on Lichfield Street from either turning right or going straight on.

Terry Unwin, a 42-year-old van driver from Bloxwich, said he could not understand why vehicles were forced to turn left into Littleton Street.

“It just makes matters much worse,” he said.

“Instead of being able to go straight on to Lichfield Road or turn on to The Broadway, you end up having to drive all the way around, which is just a nightmare because everything there gets so snarled up now.

“Every day since the new system came in I see people getting to the junction and not knowing what to do. It’s just like some sort of bad joke.”

The Arboretum junction reopened on Monday after four months of roadworks. The previous roundabout has been transformed into a complicated junction operated by traffic lights.

Mandy Easton, who travels to the town centre every day, said she was baffled by the new system. The 32-year-old said: “I can’t understand it. They must have spent so much money on it, but it certainly hasn’t made things better.”

Councillor Anthony Harris, council cabinet member for highways, said disruption in the short term would be worth the long term benefits for road users.