Motorists in Bath are set to face several more months of transport misery as a result of a number of major local transport projects falling behind schedule, it’s been revealed.
Bath and North East Somerset Council has admitted that it will still be up to five months before work will be completed on Rossiter Road and Newbridge Park & Ride in Bath, whilst roadworks in Keynsham Town Centre will also now stretch well on into next year.
Opposition Conservative councillors have slammed the Council over the delays, accusing the Council’s ruling Liberal Democrats of failing to have a grip on the projects and warning that the delays to the roadworks will cause unnecessary disruption to residents and motorists.
At the time the contract was signed, work on Rossiter Road and Widcombe Parade was expected to be completed by 7th November. That date has now been pushed-back by five months to April.
Work to expand the Newbridge Park & Ride is already a year behind its originally planned schedule, and was more recently due to be completed by November. However, the Council has now said this work is also not likely to be completed until April next year.
The roadworks around the new Keynsham Civic Centre were originally due to be completed in November, with the office complex fully occupied by now.
However, the highway works surrounding the development are now not scheduled for completion until March.
Councillor Anthony Clarke, Conservative opposition spokesman for transport, said: “The ongoing delays to these major road projects signal several more months of transport misery for local residents, causing unnecessary disruption and running the risk of increasing costs.
“Some of the delay can be put down to the problems the Council recently had with its highways contractor, but that doesn’t account for all of it.
“The rest is simply down to the Liberal Democrats’ incompetence and their failure to have a proper handle of major projects of this sort.
“The Council needs to get a better grip of these important projects to get them completed as quickly as possible after Christmas to minimise any further disruption.”
