The A449 Malvern to Worcester Road has been suffering lengthy delays due to roadworks

11:16am Tuesday 18th September 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Richard Vernalls, @rvernallsWN #worcsnews

There were lengthy delays during the morning rush hour There were lengthy delays during the morning rush hour

UPDATE 9.10AM: These traffic lights have been removed.

THE traffic lights causing lengthy tailbacks on the main Worcester to Malvern Road are no longer there.

Drivers were being warned to use alternative routes yesterday.

National Grid is replacing a stretch of tarmac after it became badly rutted, following earlier roadworks carried out at the weekend.

So since late Monday, traffic lights had been in place by the petrol filling station at Powick limiting traffic flow to one lane.

This caused delays of up to an hour for some drivers, with queues back to London Road in Worcester and Newlands, in the direction of Malvern.

The gas firm has apologised to drivers caught up in the tailbacks.

Comments(34)

whyme says...
11:34am Tue 18 Sep 12

Half an hour!!! Left Newtown Road at 8am and got to Malvern at 10am! Queue's from Powick all the way back to Whittington Island. Add to that the traffic tailed back at all roundabouts inbetween. Chaos.

Report this post »

Arthur Blenkinsop says...
11:54am Tue 18 Sep 12

I left Worcester Bath road at 8.10, got to Spring Lane in Malvern at 9.15. Left Malvern at 9.30, came back through Bransford, and guess what........... road works, got back to Worcester at just gone 10. Both major routes into Worcester from Malvern/Hereford have road works with significant delays. I guess that the Powick road works have been coordinated by Worcester council and the Bransford ones by Malvern council. With a bit more effort, they could probably have snarled up the entire west midlands!

Report this post »

pronstar says...
11:55am Tue 18 Sep 12

Oh how marvellous

Report this post »

CJH says...
12:04pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Arthur Blenkinsop wrote:
I left Worcester Bath road at 8.10, got to Spring Lane in Malvern at 9.15. Left Malvern at 9.30, came back through Bransford, and guess what........... road works, got back to Worcester at just gone 10. Both major routes into Worcester from Malvern/Hereford have road works with significant delays. I guess that the Powick road works have been coordinated by Worcester council and the Bransford ones by Malvern council. With a bit more effort, they could probably have snarled up the entire west midlands!
Not sure the word 'co-ordinated' applies here! Don't think they can even co-ordinate within their own councils, let alone with each other.

Report this post »

denon says...
12:09pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Its not Worcester City or Malvern District councils responsibility...it is Worcestershire County Council job if it is planned rather than emergency work .

Report this post »

Arthur Blenkinsop says...
12:14pm Tue 18 Sep 12

denon wrote:
Its not Worcester City or Malvern District councils responsibility...it is Worcestershire County Council job if it is planned rather than emergency work .
Even worse then. Why do major works on two major routes at the same time?

Report this post »

CJH says...
12:16pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Does anyone know how long they will be there this time?

Report this post »

Arthur Blenkinsop says...
12:19pm Tue 18 Sep 12

CJH wrote:
Does anyone know how long they will be there this time?
One day work, six months tea break - could be years yet!

Report this post »

David CH says...
12:35pm Tue 18 Sep 12

I complained to the WCC HUB several weeks ago and the reply I got wasn't very helpful (see below). Looks as though both of them should be finished by now as well!

"Thank you for contacting the Worcestershire Hub regarding the current roadworks in the area.
The works on the A449 are National Grid who are working on a gas main and are due to complete by 31/8/12.
The A4103 is Severn Trent who are working to replace part of the drainage/sluice system and are scheduled to 14/9/12.

It is unfortunate that both these servcies require work at the same time, however neither can be delayed until the other is completed due to the nature of the repairs.

Information regarding current and future works can be found on our website here;

http://www.worcester
shire.gov.uk/cms/roa
dworks-and-road-clos
ures.aspx

These sheets are kept up to date by County Highways regarding roadworks in the area.

If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us again.

We are always looking for ways to improve the quality of service we offer to our customers. We would appreciate it if you could spare a few minutes of your time to give us feedback about your recent experience when contacting the Worcestershire Hub. Tell us what you think by completing our short customer satisfaction survey: http://www.worcester
shire.gov.uk/researc
hweb/hub/feedback.ht
m

Regards,"

Report this post »

CJH says...
12:38pm Tue 18 Sep 12

I can't see anything about this in the WN Live Travel - not as an incident or planned works. It would be helpful to know what was happening.

Report this post »

readysteadygo says...
12:45pm Tue 18 Sep 12

over 45 minutes delayed this morning and to make matters worse only letting 5 or 6 cars through the lights at a time and low and behold when get to the roadworks no-one there working that was a 9am this morning, madness to delay people unplanned that way, not even any warnings on the local radio to forwarn needed to leave even earlier than planned.

Does not bode well for those of us who leave work plenty early enough to get in on time to be delayed that way and resulting in us being late to work, especially when employers are looking for excuses to cut staff numbers in this current econmoic climate.

About time the councils monitored these roadworks more closely and those utility companies start getting fined if they over run on scheduled works, place lights and then abandon the work which seemed to be the case this morning or leave the reinstatement works in a diabolical state when leave the site, the road through powick is a disgrace the way the surface has been reinstated.

When will we have joined up planning across all the county so routes are kept running as smooth as possible especially where there are very few alternative routes into the city.

I dont see why peoples jobs should be put at risk through the authorities concerned lack of planning and notice to the general public of expected delays.

Report this post »

DEMRICS says...
1:12pm Tue 18 Sep 12

This is yet another example of the motorist suffering because of another ill-calculated decision by the idiots known as highway engineers at County Hall. Sure, these works needed doing but why the hell couldn't the highways department co-ordinate these works better and manage the contractors so that chaos was minimal.

I really do believe that the word brains and intelligence are missing from the vocabulary of Worcestershire's highways engineers. They should all be held to account or sacked with immediate effect. I wonder how much these staff get paid too for displaying unrivalled levels of incompetence!

Report this post »

Name unknown says...
1:20pm Tue 18 Sep 12

When Joe-Bloggs-Average commits an indiscretion as a private road user he is normally fined and/or penalised for it.

It's a shame the authorities responsible for delayed or shoddy roadworks aren't equally answerable for their actions or inactions on the road network

Report this post »

Arthur Blenkinsop says...
1:22pm Tue 18 Sep 12

DEMRICS........ they quite probably get paid a lot more than you or i do!

Report this post »

David CH says...
1:59pm Tue 18 Sep 12

They were just putting the cones and lights out in Powick last night at about 22:30 as I was coming back from Worcester.

Report this post »

readysteadygo says...
2:17pm Tue 18 Sep 12

so come on the contractor concerned...why did you put up the cones and then not bothering doing any work this morning...making loads of us inexcusably late for work this morning?????

Nothing more frustrating than reaching the front of a long queue only to find cones with no work being done.

even more idiotic than this was the parents driving kids to school who decided in their moronic minds to overtake the long queues to turn left into the road feeding powick school...did you leave your brains at home to drive towards the oncoming traffic with your little ones in the car, good job you didnt meet oncoming the ambulance cars and ambulances that were going towards malvern at 830am.....really beggers belief how some people drive and take risks...better to get your kids to school late than not at all!!!!

all this cause by cones with no work and badly co-ordinated lights and works.....will it take a tragedy before someone does something to improve this sorry mess ???

Report this post »

MulsanneChap says...
2:59pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Funny how much criticism the County Council's highways department are receiving for these roadworks which are being carried out by a utility company, which the Council cannot prohibit under law, yet the Highways Agency seem to be immune from public criticism for the mammoth chaos they're causing on the M5 between Worcester and Droitwich, where hardly anyone is seen to be working and which will carry on until mid-November.

Report this post »

ushmush83 says...
3:39pm Tue 18 Sep 12

MulsanneChap wrote:
Funny how much criticism the County Council's highways department are receiving for these roadworks which are being carried out by a utility company, which the Council cannot prohibit under law, yet the Highways Agency seem to be immune from public criticism for the mammoth chaos they're causing on the M5 between Worcester and Droitwich, where hardly anyone is seen to be working and which will carry on until mid-November.
True that!

Driven down that section of the M5 roughly 10 times, at various times of day, since those 'works' started, and i'm yet to see any actual work being done.

Report this post »

Maggie Would says...
3:55pm Tue 18 Sep 12

MulsanneChap wrote:
Funny how much criticism the County Council's highways department are receiving for these roadworks which are being carried out by a utility company, which the Council cannot prohibit under law, yet the Highways Agency seem to be immune from public criticism for the mammoth chaos they're causing on the M5 between Worcester and Droitwich, where hardly anyone is seen to be working and which will carry on until mid-November.
My thoughts exactly. I don't think you can blame WCC for this, the utilities are a law unto themselves.
As for the M5 between J6 and J5, I have been stuck on there so many times over the years I prefer to drive a bit longer along the A38 to J5 to minimise time spent on the motorway. I have been caught out too many times and life's too short to spend it looking up the car in front's exhaust pipe.

Report this post »

jb says...
4:08pm Tue 18 Sep 12

It's caught a few of the queue jumpers out on the Powick roundabout coming from Worcester to Malvern. The ones who use the right hand lane and cut across the vehicles in the middle lane. Saw this happen twice during the first lot of roadworks in powick, nearly caused collisions with vehicles in the correct lane when they realised traffic was backing up.

Report this post »

Jabbadad says...
4:36pm Tue 18 Sep 12

I agree with all the comments here and the snarl up in the centre of Worcester has not had many mentions. Again few if any men working on the Lowesmoor site on the corner of St Martins gate, for the past two weeks there has been traffic control, (used those words for a laugh) with a whole lane coned off, with Traffic lights and then workmen with stop & Go signs. The result has been the same holdups all through and along City Walls road, the Trinity, The Butts, Rainbow Hill in fact all roads heading to, through or past the City Centre. I have to come to the conclusion that we don't actually have a County Council Highways department, just perhaps a couple of overpaid people shuffling bits of paper around, in the hope that they are seen employable. Well based upon our highways conditions, and continuous road blocks, they are not. for the record Coun John Smith is the County Council cabinet member responsible for highways. Ring him not the Hub.

Report this post »

WilkoJ says...
5:23pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Jabbadad wrote:
I agree with all the comments here and the snarl up in the centre of Worcester has not had many mentions. Again few if any men working on the Lowesmoor site on the corner of St Martins gate, for the past two weeks there has been traffic control, (used those words for a laugh) with a whole lane coned off, with Traffic lights and then workmen with stop & Go signs. The result has been the same holdups all through and along City Walls road, the Trinity, The Butts, Rainbow Hill in fact all roads heading to, through or past the City Centre. I have to come to the conclusion that we don't actually have a County Council Highways department, just perhaps a couple of overpaid people shuffling bits of paper around, in the hope that they are seen employable. Well based upon our highways conditions, and continuous road blocks, they are not. for the record Coun John Smith is the County Council cabinet member responsible for highways. Ring him not the Hub.
Summed up nicely Jabbadad. These highways staff are so overpaid, yet they do virtually nothing except cause chaos on the roads, and then try and blame utility companies, legislation and basically anyone but themselves.

And what is more galling is that the County Council appear to have recently spent thousands of pounds repairing the roads and paths, and redoing road markings, on the County Hall site, yet they are choosing to neglect maintaining the roads and pavements which tax payers pay them to do!

In addition to John Smith, John Hobbs is the director of environmental services, which includes the highways department, and Peter Blake is the head of integrated transport (the manager of the highways department).

Report this post »

Alright Bob says...
6:28pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Yet again great foresight by the highways department allowing the gas company to dig up the road at Powick and also let Severn Trent dig up the road at Bransford at the same time......The only other route from Worcester to Malvern unhindered is via Upton on severn. BRILLIANT!!!!!!!!!

Report this post »

bingobango says...
7:00pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Look on the bright side... WCC will be getting a hefty payout from Nation Grid for not completing on time.

/sarcasm

Report this post »

grumpy woman says...
7:35pm Tue 18 Sep 12

If we're talking about daft road decisions, what about the new slip road at the Whittington roudabout. It's impossible to see what is coming round the roundabout without looking out of the rear side window. Good luck to vans, lorries and especially left had drives. I understand there have already been a couple of rear shunts.
Then further down the hill, the righthand lane has not been marked for turning right and idiots are using it to overtake and go straight over at the roundabout.

Report this post »

A Local Reader says...
7:56pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Why can't we be given some advance notice / warning of these roadworks?
We shouldn't have to allow an extra 45 minutes for our journeys to work or school just in case the Powick roadworks suddenly return!
Also, when travelling from Worcester to Malvern I decided to avoid Powick and go by Bransford and Leigh Sinton and, guess what, there are major roadworks there too. Very annoying.
Even if the council aren't directly responsible for all these roadworks, surely they can try and coordinate things to avoid clashes of roadworks and ideally let people know in advance.

Report this post »

Ctrl Alt Del says...
8:52pm Tue 18 Sep 12

The work on the new concrete barrier is mostly carried out at night, which is usual for these type of works for "elf 'n safety" reasons.

Report this post »

TANNER1 says...
10:43pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Left Droitwich at 7.40 arrived at Malvern at 9am
The accumulation of traffic from Powick did not help, but the new Island arrangements are not good. The slip road at Whittington is an accident waiting to happen, nearly one this morning. You have to look carefully over your shoulder because of the speed of drivers coming off the roundabout. its difficult what ever the county engineer says.
The filter lane at St peters is being used to go straight across and this is jamming the whole roundabout up and increasing the quantity of traffic going to the next roundabout and this cannot get through because it is then being choked off by the traffic coming up the Bath road. Every one gets frustrated and then they block the roundabouts I like the Train!!!!

Report this post »

Lyppard says...
10:44pm Tue 18 Sep 12

i have been stuck in these roadworks 4 times today and 3 of the times have not seen any work being done....unless u call leaning on a shovel work!!!!

Report this post »

accobra1 says...
11:29pm Tue 18 Sep 12

Just hope that, as I make this comment, they are working though the night as promised and that the traffic chaos caused today will not be repeated! Whole thing re gas mains at Powick these past weeks has been an absolute joke. Why haven't they worked into the evening to complete this job? Took over and hour to travel eight miles to work in Malvern this morning! As for the dreadful filter lane going towards Malvern at the new Whittington roundabout and the absence of any workforce on the central barrier replacement on the M5 - don't even go there!!!

Report this post »

ChrisJames8 says...
11:35am Thu 20 Sep 12

Whilst agreeing with all the correspondents, surprised no one has mentioned Bath Road particularly near the Co Op store.I have lived on St Peters for 25 years and there is hardly a week when temps are not in place at the same place! again can't the local authority get it's act together, no to much to ask.

Report this post »

jakebodge says...
5:11pm Mon 24 Sep 12

The traffic lights are still there & it took 9 mins for the lights to change on Sunday 23 sep. No wonder the queues were excessive. Also no work was going on just someone managing the t/lights not very well. I turned my engine off to save fuel. How much time & fuel is actually being wasted on these roadworks!!!

Report this post »

Jabbadad says...
6:05pm Mon 24 Sep 12

Should have kept quiet, seems they had a spare set of traffic lights available so where I live ,put the cones out at 9am today, then the traffic lights, then started work at around 10.30am. and no one here at 3pm.

Report this post »

ChrisJames8 says...
11:48am Tue 25 Sep 12

Surprise Surprise Temps at Cherry Orchard. It must be 5 days I did miss them.!!

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree