Vocal Voices

I have just seen a post on a local website to say that the road I usually take to get to the station has now reopened - it's been closed since the beginning of the year for bridge repairs.

It closed on 6th Jan and we were told would be closed for 6 months. Given the really horrendous winter I really thought it would be more than 6 months, but hats off to the people managing the whole process - they did it; admitted (if you want to be fussy) 2.5 weeks longer than the 6 months, but well done them....

Can't wait to see how it improves everything. Hopefully traffic through Send will now ease up loads

That should make life better for you

Good news indeed

Our town was pretty well stuffed this morning - roadworks and roads closed in all directions, it took us 20 minutes to get home

Good news!!

The huge roundabout near us, by Walls ice cream factory, has been under reconstruction since March - it was supposed to be finished in 12 weeks but of course it isn't It has caused road chaos here, and delayed the buses considerably

That'll make things easier Ria!

There was a railway bridge closed - road and pedestrian bridges - near to my parents for about 6 months earlier this year and of course the work overran. It was such a pain though, traffic was horrendous.

What a relief, Ria!

Here, we have the A38 Birmingham Tunnels completely closed for 6 weeks until 01/09 - they are installing new extractor fans. This is the second successive year they've closed these tunnels, and they time it to coincide with the holiday season. Nevertheless, the advice is avoid the Birmingham city centre at all costs if driving, and use public transport.

Which is OK, except that they have also closed the railway line to Redditch (between Barnt Green and Redditch) for pretty much the same period, so they can "double" the track at Alvechurch! Which affects many commuters from the south of the city.

Added to which there's massive ongoing road works and closures at Spaghetti Junction to try to solve the perennial bottlenecks on the approach roads - pretty much for the same period again - which affects travellers in the north of the city.

So, if you want to travel from the east of Birmingham to the west of Birmingham these days, it'd best to join the M42 in Warwickshire, travel right round the south of the city via Worcestershire, and access the west-side from the M5 !! That's a 37 mile trip to visit my S, compared to about 14 miles direct, but it's probably just as quick!

Crazy isn't it! We come in from the north and can avoid Spaghetti Junction by either getting off at Great Barr and down the A34 or going through West Brom and Handsworth - a longer drive but at least you keep moving!

it is utter madness when these roadworks / rail repairs etc aren't co-ordinated. I sometimes wonder if the powers that be do this deliberately just to see how difficult they can make it for everyone