TEMPORARY traffic lights caused gridlock in part of Christchurch of Monday morning.

Work along Somerford Road saw two-way traffic lights changed to three-way traffic lights, leading to significant delays in the area.

The situation was repeated on Tuesday, with some drivers urging others to stay away.

There was severe congestion along Wilverley Road, causing frustration for businesses and motorists.
 

Craig Pritchard from Christchurch Tyres, in Wilverley Road, said at one point drivers were queued for 30minutes waiting to get out of Wilverley Road.

Somerford roundabout was at a standstill, with traffic queued back to Hinton Admiral and cars also stuck on Somerford Road queueing back to McDonalds.

"It's chaos", Mr Pritchard said.

"We haven't been notified about this. It's been bad enough with the two-way lights, but when they changed them to three-way lights today, it just got worse."

He said the problem has been exacerbated by the main entrance to Meteor Retail Park being closed off, which means people are having to use the access point off Wilverley Road to get in and out.

Dorset County Council said the roadworks were not being carried out by them, however, they are the highways authority.

A spokesperson said: "The county council would not normally inform businesses and residents of a three-way traffic light system, because there is no road closure. However, advance warning signs have been out on site for some time, advising motorists to expect delays. 

“We became aware of lengthy queues on Monday morning which indicated that the contractors may not have been adhering to the conditions on their licence to use the traffic lights. Following a phone call to the contractor, the queues were significantly reduced almost immediately.

“It is unfortunate timing that this work has coincided with other works in the area and we do understand the frustrations of drivers who have had to endure additional waiting times.

"These works formed part of a wider development scheme, not a county council development. We understand work should be completed by the end of this week with the lights hopefully being removed on Thursday evening.”