Frustrations boil over as Costessey roadworks continue

Neighbours in Norwich Road in Costessey – a key route into the city - say that near-constant traffic lights and on-and-off closures make driving through the area a “nightmare”.

They say it has now been made worse by a sudden and unannounced closure of Longwater Lane, just around the corner.

Roadworks along Norwich Road and Longwater Lane have reached a fever pitch, according to locals (Image: Newsquest)

But the council says the work, which is currently being carried out by Cadent Gas to replace and repair pipes, is “unavoidable”. 

'IT'S CAUSING MAYHEM'

Barry Wooldridge, who has lived along Norwich Road for 30 years, said: "Sometimes I have to wait 10 minutes to get out of my driveway.

"We've never had issues like this before. They've always left places to divert the traffic around so why they have to work on the two main arterial routes through Costessey at the same time I have no idea."

Barry Wooldridge has trouble getting out of his own driveway some days (Image: Newsquest)

Norwich Road and Longwater Lane are two of the largest roads in the area and connect the town to Bowthorpe, Easton, Hellesdon and the city centre.

Disruption along both of these roads causes major difficulty for commuters and motorists.

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"You get a lot of people doing the rat run from Taverham to get into the city but with the closure, there's going to be a lot of people not knowing where they're going," Barry added.

"There are traffic lights all over the place. It's causing absolute mayhem."

Eileen Fish, 82, said the situation is worse than she has seen in five decades.

"It's been a nightmare with how busy it's become," she said.

"When I moved in 55 years ago there weren't all the new builds nearby so it wasn't as bad but they keep putting up new estates.

"And we have buses come up and down every half an hour which is making things worse.

"I think they're doing the works all at once to save money which is what everything comes down to at the end of the day."

Eileen Fish has lived along Norwich Road for more than five decades (Image: Newsquest)

BUSINESS BOTHER

Local businesses are also feeling the brunt of the disruption, reporting less trade and drastically reduced footfall.

Mark and Nai Hawkes, who have run the Crown pub along Norwich Road for the past three years, said these works were the worst they had seen so far.

"The works have slowed business down without a doubt," Mark said.

"We're seeing far fewer people come in after work because people would rather go home than deal with traffic lights and road closures.

Mark and Nai Hawkes run The Crown pub along Norwich Road (Image: Newsquest)

"And when the road is closed completely that definitely affects us because nobody comes up the small roads to get here, because why would you?

"It's taking its toll."

CLOSURES ‘UNAVOIDABLE’

But Norfolk County Council is claiming the ongoing restrictions and closures are "unfortunately unavoidable".

A spokesman said: "We fully understand the inconvenience this may cause, but the constraints of working in a residential area limit us further, as all work must stop after 10pm to avoid disturbing residents.

"Night-time closures would be less disruptive for most, but unfortunately, due to the location, this is the only viable solution.”

MORE CLOSURES

Even more disruption is expected from Monday when Norwich Road will be closed again for another week.

A council spokesman said this will "undoubtedly" affect bus routes, rubbish collection and general traffic in the area.

Because of the widespread frustration, Costessey councillor Gary Blundell has weighed in taking aim at the "disorganisation" of the projects.

Gary Blundell has taken aim at the disorganisation of the work (Image: Newsquest)

"It's frustrating that it seems to be constant roadworks caused by Cadent," he said.

"This, in my opinion, is the issue with private companies having more powers than the council.

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"They need to talk to each other and sort it out so everything's not all happening at once."

But Cllr Blundell said that after October 21 there shouldn't be any more need for work along Norwich Road which has seen Anglian Water, Cadent and Norfolk County Council's highways teams work on it repeatedly since the beginning of the year.

"I think almost all of Costessey has had its gas pipes replaced at this point," he said.