Traffic brings north of town to standstill (From Gazette)
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Traffic brings north of town to standstill
3:09pm Wednesday 19th September 2012 in News By Andrea Collitt
FURIOUS motorists told how it took them as long as an hour to travel less than a mile.
Traffic was snarled up along Severalls Lane in Colchester through the rush hour until 7.30pm on Tuesday.
It resulted in the nearby Severalls Business Park being gridlocked as well as Ipswich Road up to the A12 junction.
Traffic problems ensued this morning on those roads and in Mill Road after more roadworks started in Turner Road.
See tomorrow's Gazette for the full story.
Comments(27)
Colchester666
says...
5:54pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Sdapeze wrote:Sdapeze.... Are you serious? We, the people who work hard every day and pay our taxes are LAZY??? Are people expected to use a bike to get to say thurrock or stansted!?!?! From the sound of it you clearly dont use a car or have a commute to work... Lucky you, Maybe we should all stop causing pollution and using cars and just sign on and sit at home all day drinking cider.... Lets see where that gets the economy!
So who do these furious motorists think causes the traffic jams? Who can it be I wonder? Could it be they that are at fault? Get a bike you lazy good for nothing polluters of the air.
Boris
says...
6:38pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Probably, of course, the "fury" is an invention of Andrea Colitt. The Gazette loves to talk about "fury" when what it means is "mild annoyance".
Say It As It Is OK?
says...
7:30pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Boris wrote:So you haven't joined the MP3\iPod set yet Boris?
Sdapeze is right, as is Colchester666. Yes, so many of us rely on our cars as the only cost-effective way to get from A to B. But nobody at all has the right to be furious when caught in a traffic jam. I was in a jam this afternoon in Lexden Road, it might have ,made me late for my appointment, but I didn't get furious. I accepted it as a normal fact of life, and concentrated on the lyrics of the songs I was listening to on a cassette.
Probably, of course, the "fury" is an invention of Andrea Colitt. The Gazette loves to talk about "fury" when what it means is "mild annoyance".
25414nora
says...
8:41pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Sdapeze wrote:Well Well Sdapeze (jess) your ante motorist stance is a world away from that young 'car crazy' apprentice in Woods factory all those years ago.
So who do these furious motorists think causes the traffic jams? Who can it be I wonder? Could it be they that are at fault? Get a bike you lazy good for nothing polluters of the air.
As it is, I too agree generally with your sentiments regarding cars, traffic, and pollution.
Incidently your dad Jeph was the senior personnel officer, when in 1962, I applied (with sucess) for a position in in the machine shop, (centre lathe setter operator), later CNC operative. I retired in 2,000.... 'O' happy days..
Reginald47
says...
10:58pm Wed 19 Sep 12
Boris
says...
12:35am Thu 20 Sep 12
Thanks, Say It. Why would I want to do that? My car is 15 years old and its radio only has a cassette player. And I have hundreds of good cassettes, I like playing them. The one I was listening to on this occasion was by Edson Cordeiro.
hughie-s
says...
7:58am Thu 20 Sep 12
Brooks Forbutox
says...
8:58am Thu 20 Sep 12
matt020876
says...
9:51am Thu 20 Sep 12
So yes us motorists do have the right to be furious!
And enough of the greeen rubbish - global warming is a natural phonemonon - even though were lead to believe it isnt......
icecoolmark
says...
10:42am Thu 20 Sep 12
Boris wrote:Nobody has the right?! WTF? It depends as to why the motorist is being held up. You holier than though idiot. Listening to a 'cassette' just about sums you up, I don't know you but i'll bet you are retired with nothing to do, nowhere to get to and have nothing else to do but go out for 'little drives' in your honda. Poke your nose elsewhere...
Sdapeze is right, as is Colchester666. Yes, so many of us rely on our cars as the only cost-effective way to get from A to B. But nobody at all has the right to be furious when caught in a traffic jam. I was in a jam this afternoon in Lexden Road, it might have ,made me late for my appointment, but I didn't get furious. I accepted it as a normal fact of life, and concentrated on the lyrics of the songs I was listening to on a cassette.
Probably, of course, the "fury" is an invention of Andrea Colitt. The Gazette loves to talk about "fury" when what it means is "mild annoyance".
Douglas Park
says...
11:29am Thu 20 Sep 12
Brooks Forbutox wrote:Comparing modern lifestyles & commuting to the Victorian era is hardly valid. They had to cope with far worse air pollution from factories, water polluted by sewage and heavy metals and practically no health provision for the poor.
Colchester 666 - move house, get lodgings, shorten your car journey and give the planet a chance to breathe. More than 3,000 people in the UK have premature deaths owing to traffic fumes. Long distance commuting is part of the problem. How do you think the Victorians coped?
The reality is many people chose to live in one place and commute to to their place of work. This may be for a number of reasons, but from a personal perspective my work has taken me from South London to the Midlands, but I have no desire to live in either area as my life and friends are all here in Colchester.
As a motorist, I do accept that traffic congestion is a fact I have to deal with from time to time, but when road works are planned and it is known that will cause jams, is it that difficult for traffic management to be implemented to ease congestion and divert traffic in a timely manner to another route?
Toneloc
says...
1:29pm Thu 20 Sep 12
The fact is surely that Colchester (being an old town with old infrastructure) is at breaking point. If 1 road out of action causes tailbacks like this then we clearly cant cope with the 1500 or so additional houses that Mersea Homes want to build behind Mile End Road (plus more on the Severalls site) without another crossing point at the railway- and a proper ring road.
Without them, traffic jams are here to stay.
Cant help but think that there will be less of a school run contigent today tho'
Sdapeze
says...
2:59pm Thu 20 Sep 12
ColuTrev
says...
4:59pm Thu 20 Sep 12
Field Marshal Sprocket
says...
5:17pm Thu 20 Sep 12
Disgusting.
romantic
says...
5:17pm Thu 20 Sep 12
The solution is not to open more and more roads, it is to get people to stop viewing it as an automatic right to go anywhere and everywhere by car.
I´m not some retired person with "nothing to do", but I switched from driving to cycling a few years ago, and actually it´s quite often faster to get where I need to be.
If more of those people sitting one to a car in these jams switched to alternatives like cycling or walking, or got together with others going the same way, or jumped on the bus instead, the traffic problems would get reduced without having to add more roads.
Bigh321
says...
9:29pm Thu 20 Sep 12
Colchester council are idiots
Boris
says...
2:04am Fri 21 Sep 12
icecoolmark wrote:Luckily I don't know you either, Mark, but I suggest you calm down and think about who is really the idiot. Take a look in the mirror.
Boris wrote:Nobody has the right?! WTF? It depends as to why the motorist is being held up. You holier than though idiot. Listening to a 'cassette' just about sums you up, I don't know you but i'll bet you are retired with nothing to do, nowhere to get to and have nothing else to do but go out for 'little drives' in your honda. Poke your nose elsewhere...
Sdapeze is right, as is Colchester666. Yes, so many of us rely on our cars as the only cost-effective way to get from A to B. But nobody at all has the right to be furious when caught in a traffic jam. I was in a jam this afternoon in Lexden Road, it might have ,made me late for my appointment, but I didn't get furious. I accepted it as a normal fact of life, and concentrated on the lyrics of the songs I was listening to on a cassette.
Probably, of course, the "fury" is an invention of Andrea Colitt. The Gazette loves to talk about "fury" when what it means is "mild annoyance".
wellnow
says...
12:09pm Fri 21 Sep 12
quite a change from the woods jephcott era lol.
JBoswick
says...
12:34pm Fri 21 Sep 12
The issue wasn't totally the councils fault. Motorists were blocking exits on roundabouts instead of being patient and leaving gaps
Smouldering Ewok
says...
1:28pm Fri 21 Sep 12
It's going to get a whole lot worse.
mummy250271
says...
6:35pm Fri 21 Sep 12
Colchester666 wrote:Well said Colchester666, I drive a car, I eat meat, I use aerosols and I work BLOODY hard and pay my taxes to help those that dont work !!!!!!!
Sdapeze wrote:Sdapeze.... Are you serious? We, the people who work hard every day and pay our taxes are LAZY??? Are people expected to use a bike to get to say thurrock or stansted!?!?! From the sound of it you clearly dont use a car or have a commute to work... Lucky you, Maybe we should all stop causing pollution and using cars and just sign on and sit at home all day drinking cider.... Lets see where that gets the economy!
So who do these furious motorists think causes the traffic jams? Who can it be I wonder? Could it be they that are at fault? Get a bike you lazy good for nothing polluters of the air.
Grabber
says...
1:50pm Sat 22 Sep 12
ColuTrev wrote:Thats what I do and I can't believe that Ipswich rd wasn't closed to traffic heading northbound to the A12 and all traffic diverted to the Stadium junction problem solved !
Why don't they turn down severalls lane and get on the A12 at the new junction (J28) ?
Come on Highways its not rocket science .....
CJ1989
says...
7:34pm Sat 22 Sep 12
While I'll admit it was mildly irritating, I think 'furious' is pushing it. In fact while I was sat in traffic I was marvelling at how comfortable I was. It was quiet, peaceful, I had air-con, comfy seats, and unlimited music streaming from my phone, it was bliss.
And no, I'm not retired (got about 50 years to go before that), I was on my way to a meeting.
The road network really does need improving though. The exponential increase in cars and their use is a fact of life now, and nothing is going to stop it.
Buses aren't a viable alternative, as to make them convenient enough for people to actually use, there would need to be as many of them as there are cars. Trains are too expensive and you still need to get to the stations in the first place. Bicycles are great for short journeys, but you'll be turning up at work with your suit dripping with sweat if you've had to get from a village outside Colchester to the severalls estate, then over to Chelmsford.
So we're left with improving the roads. A lot of people don't like the idea, but I don't really see much of a choice?
Sdapeze
says...
7:53pm Sat 22 Sep 12
Grabber
says...
9:43pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Sdapeze wrote:Because most of them aren't insured or taxed !!!!
Colchester was great in the Woods Jephcott era. We didn't have traffic problems anything we have now. Nowadays, even people on benefits have cars. How can that be?
Sdapeze says...
5:27pm Wed 19 Sep 12