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Motorists incensed by Walsall light frenzy
Friday 10th April 2009, 10:50AM BST.
Motorists are battling through dozens of new traffic lights following the overhaul of the road network in Walsall – with a shocking 22 sets on just one 1.9-mile stretch.
The obstacle course of lights runs along the popular route from Junction 10 of the M6 to the Arboretum junction, along with a myriad of pedestrian crossings.
It follows the installation of three new traffic lights on Littleton Street West leading up to the Arboretum junction.
The tally of pedestrian crossings in and around the town has reached 80.
The new lights and crossings form part of the £22 million ring road scheme due for completion at the end of the month.
Council chiefs claimthey have more control over traffic flow. But others claim it has made getting in and out of the town a nightmare.
Councillor Ian Robertson said: “By the time people have waited at each set of traffic lights, they could have got into town using the old road system much faster.
“Taxi firms in the town say it is dreadful and is taking much longer for them to get through the town.”
He also highlighted the cost of traffic light, at £50,000 to £60,000 each.
Office worker Mike Arnold, of Wolverhampton, travels into Walsall daily.
He said: “I understand some of the lights are there to help traffic flow, but the problem is all of the pedestrian crossings in between as well.”
Steve Pretty, Walsall Council’s head of engineering and transport, added the road had been planned with computer models to test maximum efficiency.
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I live in the South Of France, but at christmas I returned to Walsall, and these lights were an absolute nightmare, one of the biggest problems for me was at the the arboretum junction trying to work out which road was for which traffic flow, beats driving in France still :)
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This road was built to speed up the traffic ?
Ive used it a couple of times and now go another way.
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Well, walsall has always been a nightmare to drive around and now the town planners have made it even worse. I understood this was supposed to ease traffic trhough the town straight up to junction 10….there are so many traffic lights on it this is a joke. The junction at the arboretum is so confusing eventually someone will be killed by this travesty of a design. So have we achieved better flow of traffic into and out of Walsall…NO!, Has all of the cars waiting at lights with engines running improved the environment / carbon output…..NO!, Its really hard to see what has been achieved for the millions of pounds of taxpayers money spent…it beggars the question does the council know what it is doing and does it actually understand what the towns need. Look out surrounding areas, Walsall’s red route is coming toyou soon…specifically designed to kill all shops outside Walsall centre and slowly send you into the wreck of a transport system that is Walsall.
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Well I suppose they have to use the lights they have saved from the arbouretum somewhere
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I thought it was the new illuminations!
Seriously I live by the police station in walsall and I have stopped going to Walsall! We have the only planners that think “ring road” means THROUGH THE MIDDLE.
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Who came up with the idea of putting the separate pedestrian crossing lights on Green Lane near the police station? Vehicles travelling towards town see the green lights for the crossing, then don’t notice that the red lights are showing to prevent them driving across the flow of traffic between Court Way and Blue Lane East.
Why couldn’t the pedestrian crossing lights be phased with the junction control lights? Simples!
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Same sort of comments as jeffb !
Strange how road madness is catching : isn’t it the A34 between Talke and ? Cannock that is the world’s road with the highest number of radar speed traps per mile / kilometre (Please which is now politically correct in the UK ?).
Somebody should start exporting this sort of idea to places of inbuilt road madness like Egypt or China.
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Computer models? Maximum efficiency?
Sounds like someone purchased a very bad computer package or mistook maximum for minimum.
Far worse delays now. More confusion for motorists, many of whom use the bus lane on Lichfield street now.
Oh, and not forgetting the delay in completing the project.
Still, it seems to have achieved one purpose. It will reduce non-local traffic who won’t bother coming into our town for business or shopping.
I was under the impression the council wanted to encourage firms to relocate to Walsall, this ring road is obviously to encourage them to relocate elsewhere.
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There is loads of faults with the new lights, road layout and traffic flow. It doesn’t make driving through walsall any faster at all and now some routes you have to go all the way around because you can’t use them i.e lichfield road doesn’t lead to lichfield only 4 buses, access to teddesley street blocked? and what if you live on lower forster street you have to go all the way round or make a u turn ?? i mean come on all the faults and the major issue on lichfield street 2 lanes merge into 1 with a give way aswell and they just painted a red/orange line on ground to make you notice this. it’s stupid and a huge waste of money ….
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I still curse the day that traffic was banned from the centre of Walsall. It didn’t really cause any problems, did it? I have terrible trouble with all the new roads because the only signs for what lane to get into are painted on the roads, and the roads are covered with queuing traffic. Please can we have some free-standing signs which explain how to get into the correct lane earlier? There would be plenty of time to sit and read them.
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I bet you’ve also got pedestrian phases that turn green for pedestrians when there’s not a pedestrian in sight, too – like we have in Wolverhampton ! Anything to frustrate the motorist, that’s the motto nowadays, I’m afraid. And any excuse to spend other people’s money on non-accountable hare-brained schemes. Quite what we do about it, I’m not sure.
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I think that the ring road was planned by the tea lady whilst the planners were in a meeting funded by our rates.
It’s deadly coming from Morrisons towards Aldridge, two lines of badly planned traffic converging into a railing near to the school.
There will be a fatality here soon I am sure.
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I travel from the Arboretum Junction to Junction 10 every working day. It is an absolute nightmare. It takes me longer to get from the arboretum junction to Junction 10 (1.8m), than it takes me to get from junction 10 to Cannock town centre (11 miles).
Half of the lights are not needed, and the sequencing could be improved. However much money this has cost, it has made travelling through Walsall a nightmare.
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Walsall council has succeeded, with this latest hairbrained traffic management system, the town is dying on its feet and rather than help with the flow of traffic in and out of town, they have made people think twice about visiting walsall.
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Steve Pretty, Walsall Council’s head of engineering and transport, added the road had been planned with computer models to test maximum efficiency.
You sure it wasn’t your GAMEBOY or WII?
Nice to see your contribution to saving the earth !!!
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Agree with every comment that has been made!
John (No:6)
The comment you made re the lights at the police station. I was one of the first to use this a few Sundays back. Driving my bus towards Walsall town centre along Green Lane i saw green lights showing on a gantry and was about to carry on straight across when i noticed another set just a few feet past them (not on any gantry) SHOWING RED! fortunatly i had no standing passengers otherwise they would have been sent flying. this particular set of lights is an accident waiting to happen!
WALSALL COUNCIL PLEASE TAKE NOTE
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When the Littleton Arms was pulled down in Littleton Street the importance of the new road was that it would speed the flow of traffic between the Arboretum and J10 of the M6. I’ve been saying for years that putting all those traffic lights on that supposedly faster road would make it slower than the old road. Now I am being proved right, but I take no comfort in that!
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Agree with all these comments. It took me 25 minutes to go through this useless system the other day. Steve Pretty, shut your laptop down, get in your car, and drive the route a few times, then you’ll see what an utter mess has been created – at OUR expense.
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Walsall MBC should have thought this scheme through -and consulted PROPERLY with drivers and pedestrians before proceeding. Computer modeling is fine but what about the practical realities of wide roads for elderly pedestrians to cross, and poor signage and too many lights from a drivers eye view for example.
I wander how many drivers (some from abroad), trying to find/drive through Walsall (especially using SatNav with pre-2009 software) will be totally confused by ALL of the recent road changes including ’1-way’ systems and ‘no-entries’ around the town -I dread the next time the M6 is closed somewhere between J7-10 !!!
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“April 31st has been given as the latest deadline”!!!
That sounds about right….as April 31st does not exsist and never will that is a rather apt date to give for completion. I’m sure that anyone who lives in or commutes through Walsall will share my views that ring road completion seems like something that will never happen!!!
I often wonder if the people who design and plan these “improvements” (i use the term lightly) actually drive themselves and if so do they drive through the places they plan to change!
£5.5 million would have been better spent on social housing or facilities for the people of Walsall to enjoy!
But who am I to comment – its nothing to do with me is it – a mere resident??? Ho hum.
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