MAJOR works on a vital road in a major UK city could delay motorists for up to a year.
Plans to resurface roads between two roundabouts in Nottingham are expected to result in devastating disruption for locals.
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The managing director of bus operator Trentbarton says that “everything around the western side of the city” will be hit with gridlock traffic if buses aren’t given priority.
The works are being carried out by National Highways on the A52 between the Priory roundabout and the QMC roundabout.
The company will also be building a conjoined cycleway and footpath on the eastbound side of the road.
The work will last from spring 2025 until spring 2026, however precise dates are yet to be confirmed.
Tom Morgan, managing director of Trentbarton, said: “The works between Priory Island and QMC are going to cause massive disruption to everything around that western side of the city that come in via QMC.
“Inevitably, residual traffic will end up either going up onto Ilkeston Road or it’ll come past the university south entrance.
“We’ve been lobbying to say we should be prioritising bus movements.
University Boulevard, for example, is dual lane in both directions and we’ve been pushing to say one of those should be a bus lane.
“Then we should be encouraging people to use the bus, to prioritise buses, make sure they’re not stuck in the congestion, encourage people to get on board and we can move them more efficiently if they were to do that.
“We’d be able to put additional buses on to move the volume of people.
“The alternative is, people will just get back in their cars, creating more congestion, which creates a bigger problem and journey times slow down and all the buses are stuck in it.
“Whether we will win or not is another matter, but we can keep pushing.”
National Highways project manager Susan Chambers added: “We’ve been discussing this scheme with the Nottingham bus operators since the end of last year and are very appreciative of their support and collaborative efforts.
“Roadworks do, inevitably, cause some disruption and this ambitious scheme will be challenging to all road users on such a key route.
“This scheme is essential to rebuild the carriageway, which is coming to the end of its working life, to tackle drainage issues and ensure safer journeys for cyclists and pedestrians.
“We are doing all we can to minimise disruption and will continue to work closely with bus operators and other impacted road users throughout the construction period.”
