FROM diabetic patients who have had to change their insulin times, to people late for kidney dialysis, to schoolchildren having to miss breakfast, to nurses desperately trying to change their shifts, the misery being caused by the A338 roadworks can be laid bare.

The Daily Echo has been inundated with stories of lives disrupted, relationships under stress and hard-pressed families having to fork out up to £100 a month extra in fuel.

Since early September motorists who use the A338 Spur Road’s southbound carriageway have seen their lives turned upside down as the council embarks on a seven-month project to widen the road.

Laura, an intensive care nursing sister who lives in Bournemouth and works in Southampton, said: “Me and my partner are having to live in Bournemouth while my flat sells. It’s adding over an hour if not more to his already long journeys to get to work.

“We originally timed it as 30 minutes when making the big decision to move here. We didn’t know the road works were happening until after we had moved.

“His children live and go to school in Hampshire and we are having to commute to get them and take them to school two days a week. They are asleep by the time we get them home as it’s taking nearly two hours.

“I do a mixture of clinical and non clinical work and usually finish at 5pm. It’s now taking until 7pm at least to get home. Doing this four days a week is killing me – I get up at 5.45am each day. If I work night shifts I’m not getting home now until two hours after my shift which is dangerous.”

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She said the commute was taking its toll on her partner’s father, who is on dialysis and can’t visit because he doesn’t have enough free time to sit in the traffic. “I have spent hours in my car crying at the traffic,” she said. “I have worsening back pain due to the long car journeys each day so I’m spending money on chiropractors. The children are fed up. It’s ruined my life so far and I never thought I would see the day I was happy to be selling up and leaving Bournemouth.”

Mike Harvey has kidney failure. “I need four to five hours of kidney dialysis three times a week,” he says. “As I live in Verwood the A338 is a vital route for me. The drive used to take 25 minutes but now it’s at least an hour going southwards and a good 35 minutes northwards.

“All together the road works create a huge nuisance for me even to the extent of having reduced time on the dialysis machine if I have been delayed too much, which, in an extreme, could be life threatening.”

Simon lives in Iford and he and his partner work in Ringwood and say they have both had to take annual leave to get jobs done because they can’t get home before 6pm.

“The disruption has doubled our journey home from work,” he said. “We have missed appointments for vets and doctors as well as appointments to meet trade people.

“My partner is a type 1 diabetic, who has had to adjust his insulin dosage and sugar in take to counter delays and inconsistencies in how long it takes us to reach home.

“We have attempted multiple ways of getting home but every one is much the same. Social activities with friends, two of whom travel from Verwood, have been delayed, pushed back and in some cases, abandoned all together because of traffic disruption.”

Kym, of Ringwood, has autism and recently moved from Southampton in order to cut down a stressful commute to work in Bournemouth.

“What was the point? It now takes me longer to drive the eight miles from Ringwood than it used to take me to drive 28 miles from Southampton where I could avoid the queue by using the A35, not an option from Ringwood,” she said.

“I have had to switch my working hours to 10am-6pm to ensure I spend less time sat in the queue but the change in routine and unpredictable journey times cause me much distress, which leads to more tiredness, poor work productivity and more autistic meltdowns which are painful and exhausting,” she added.

Catherine Cluett lives in Ringwood and has to rely on her Poole-based parents for childcare. “The arrangement was that they would collect y son around 8am and then I would collect him from Poole in the afternoon. However, due to the traffic, my father has to collect my son at 7am now, meaning he has to leave home well before 7am and I have no time to give him his breakfast before sending him off,” she said.

She said the additional commuting time means her father spends an average two hours a day on journeys which should take 20 minutes each.

“The level of stress this has caused me, my parents and disruption to my son has led me to consider leaving work, but thankfully my employer has been supportive,” she added. “This level of disruption so soon after the last round of works is disgusting and I still fail to see what benefits they will bring.”

Tanya Faramus lives in Bournemouth and works as a teacher in Southampton. “I leave my house at 6.30am to get to the school for 7am to miss any traffic. After an 11-hour day it is taking me 1.5-2.5 hours to get home,” she said.

“I am constantly tired because of these road works, I constantly have a headache and it’s costing me over £100 extra a month in fuel. I am 23 years old and as a newly qualified teacher my wage is minimum. The fact this is going to continue until June worries me.”

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Verwood mum Liz Keep uses the road four times a week and says the delays are affecting her son who has to use the hospital where he’s been late on more than two occasions. “I will not be coming to Bournemouth to do my Christmas shopping this year,” she said.

Nick of Ferndown says his boss has bought a motorbike because she is so fed up of the delays and a friend’s daughter has rented a flat in town to avoid them. “It takes me at least an hour every morning to drive to work the 7.5 miles from Ferndown to Westbourne,” he said. “It’s actually quicker to get to Portsmouth.”

Jams hit small businesses

SMALL businesses are among those suffering because of the A338 roadworks.

Jess owns a shop in Ferndown which has lost nearly 35 per cent in trade since the roadworks began. “We have to open at 10am and close at 4.30pm instead of 9-5 to give ourselves a chance against the traffic,” she said.

“It takes over 75 minutes every night to get home in a journey that used to take 20 minutes in rush hour.”

John Gaffney of Connect Business Technology in Pokesdown said: “It takes me over an hour to do a journey that usually takes 10 minutes and this equates to nearly a month of working time that I will personally lose over the course of these works.

“I feel that the transport department is clearly not fit for purpose and the traffic management and road planning is appalling.”

Kevin, a taxi driver, said his colleagues were constantly searching for different routes to avoid the works.

Bournemouth Borough Council responds

THE A338 work is one of two seven-month roadwork schemes taking place simultaneously in Dorset – the other being at Poole’s Hunger Hill.

The work is being carried out by contractors for Dorset County Council but is part of a multi-million pound package of improvements won by Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership.

Gary Powell, head of highways and transportation at Bournemouth Borough Council – which is in charge of communications about the A338 work – said in a statement: “The aim of the £20million A338/Blackwater scheme is to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion in the long-term.

“In the short-term there will be some disruption while improvement works are taking place. However, since the commencement of the works, off-peak traffic queues have significantly reduced and are often non-existent.

“We do encourage drivers to allow extra time for their journeys or consider alternative routes and we apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

“We are working to open all lanes over the Christmas period by December 10 until the New Year.’’