Stafford MP calls talks over roadworks gridlock

Drivers are facing long delays on the Queensway and Tixall Road as separate projects continue. It comes just weeks after there was gridlock on Beaconside and the A513 near Stafford Crematorium.

Now Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy is holding talks with Staffordshire County Council's highways department in a bid to relieve the congestion.

He says there have been concerns that the timings of temporary traffic lights have caused 'greater delays than necessary'.

Mr Lefroy said: "Traffic congestion is clearly a major problem for everyone in Stafford at present. A combination of emergency work on gas leaks, temporary lane closures for the Riverside development and the closure of Tixall Road for renewing of pipes has led to serious congestion.

"I have taken this up with Highways and asked that as much information as possible be provided and that contractors do their best to keep traffic flowing. Sometimes the timing on temporary signals has caused greater delays than necessary. I am also working more generally with the county council on various improvements which could be made to traffic-light timing and road layout."

Tixall Road has shut between Blackheath Lane and St Thomas Lane until December for Severn Trent to install 12 miles of new pipe.

Two months of work on Beaconside also caused chaos over the summer.

Motorists will be sent through Weston on the A51 and A518 Weston Road to get to Stafford from Wolseley Bridge – an 11-mile journey instead of the usual eight miles. Severn Trent bosses say that they need to take action to cope with the hundreds of houses being built – including 346 for soldiers and families at the MOD's Beaconside barracks.

The firm is also investing another £5m to upgrade two sewage pumping stations and to install new sewers. In early January, work will start on the A513 from The Green to the roundabout at the junction with Brocton Road, using two way traffic lights.

Work will then continue along the A513 towards Stafford when a section between the roundabout junction of Brocton Road and School Lane will be closed.

While the road is shut, other work will take place along the A513 at Weeping Cross. This will progress along the A513 to the Radford Bank junction with the Cannock Road roundabout. All of the work on the A513 is expected to be finished by July 2015.

A lane of the northbound Queensway ring road is closed while the multi-million-pound Riverside complex is built.