Traffic improvements on Medway City Estate delayed for months

Traffic can queue for up to an hour to get off the Medway City Estate during busy periods.by Sarah Shaffi

Work to improve traffic jams on a busy industrial estate will not start until April, almost six months behind schedule.

Left-turn only lanes on the approaches to the Antonys Way and Sans Pareil roundabouts on the Medway City Estate were due to be set up in December but freezing weather conditions made it impossible.

Medway Council now says the earliest it will be able to carry out the work will be April.

The scheme, which will cost some £50,000, will see Berwick Way increased from two to three lanes, letting an extra 300 to 400 cars go through the Sans Pareil roundabout every hour.

The council's research shows lorries use the left-hand lane to go all the way around the roundabout into Wulfere Way, blocking traffic turning left on to Frindsbury Hill.

The changes will let them use the middle lane to cross the roundabout.

Antonys Way, which leads from the estate to the Medway Tunnel, will also have three lanes on the approach to the roundabout.

Director of regeneration, community and culture Robin Cooper said: "We have experienced particularly difficult weather conditions. It does still remain a priority of ours

"To be able to carry out all the necessary works, which include resurfacing the road, we would have to close the roundabout to motorists for a period of time. The most feasible time to do this would be during the next planned overnight tunnel closure in April."

There are 600 businesses on Medway City Estate, employing up to 6,000 people. During busy periods and bad weather, workers have been left queueing for more than an hour to leave the estate.

Monday, February 22 2010

Comments (2)

Comments closed

  • Dave wrote:

    Slow the traffic down a bit coming out of the tunnel to the roundabout and the estate may have a chance to clear a bit rather than taking life in our hands and pulling out on to the roundabout with 2 lanes of hurtling traffic coming at you.
    Do what they do in Mexico and put speed bumps on the junctions, slows them down a little giving us a chance to get of the estate

    01 Apr 2010 12:48 PM

    Report Abuse

  • Janice Clarke wrote:

    Traffic Improvements on Medway City Estate

    Three lanes for traffic exiting the Medway City Estate is a start but will not relieve the congestion caused by traffic already backed up on the roundabout due to delays at the Sans Pareil roundabout. How about traffic lights with a filter system to allow right turning traffic heading to the Medway Tunnel to leave the estate? It sometimes takes over 30 minutes to do a 5 minute journey. Think of the CO2 emissions from all that stationary traffic Medway Council!

    23 Feb 2010 12:52 PM

    Report Abuse

Terms of Comments
We do not actively moderate, monitor or edit contributions to the reader comments but we may intervene and take such action as we think necessary. If you have any concerns over the contents on our site, please either register those concerns using the report abuse button or contact us here.

Advertisement

Copyright: You may not copy, reproduce, republish, download, post, broadcast, transmit or otherwise use content on this site in any way except for your own personal, non-commercial use. You also agree not to adapt, alter or create a derivative work from any content on this site except for your own personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of content requires the prior written permission of the KM GROUP. Read full terms and conditions.