Opinion : Can you spot the workman?

Delays caused by roadworks can be most infuriating.

However there’s one thing that works me up even more, and that’s roadworks where there the workmen aren’t anywhere to be seen.

On Friday 10th August 2018 my good self was in Chorley Road in West Wycombe when I came across some ‘Mary Celeste’ road works, so called because the traffic lights are operational and the road is coned off but there is no sign of any workmen anywhere to be seen.

The traffic lights were doing a most impressive job of holding up the traffic to avoid the possibility of a collision since one carriageway of the road was closed with cones. Indeed the traffic control measures for these road works were so massive that even the pavement, close to the old garden centre, was closed.

So you would expect that with such palava these would be massive roadworks? I mean there are multiple ‘Single file traffic’ signs, umpteen cones and a set of temporary traffic lights. Not to mention the closure of one carriageway of the road and the pavement too.

However the picture below reveals what all the fuss is about :

Yes, it’s all over a single stop-cock in the pavement!

Surely the traffic management in place is making a mountain out of a mole hill? Did they really need to close half the road just for a little hole on the pavement?

Couldn’t they just have closed the pavement on one side of the road instead rather than causing so many motorists delays with the traffic lights?

Even if they do need to have to road up as part of these works the simple fact is that the road is not up now so why close it before they need to?

Back in the 1970’s these road works would have been done by a couple of blokes working under a small stripy tent and the traffic management would have been a couple of road signs and some flashing yellow lights.

Do you agree with me that’s it’s mad there are no workmen present? Surely the companies who dig up the road should be compelled to get the job done as soon as possible rather than stringing things out to cause unnecessary delays to motorists?

I don’t know if you have completed the consultation questionnaire on the ‘Draft air quality plan‘ on the local Council website? Ironically question 27 in the consultation asks for your views on the following :

‘No lane closures resulting from unstaffed roadworks will be permitted within the High Wycombe and Marlow Air Quality Management Areas during peak traffic hours (7am to 7pm). Any works during the pre-stated core hours must either have workers on site or manually operated stop/go signs.‘

Well, the roadworks in Chorley Road are definitely ‘unstaffed’ as my pictures prove.

It’s about time there was a clampdown on ‘Mary Celeste’ (or ‘unstaffed’) roadworks in the Wycombe District. Yours truly is left wondering how much unnecessary pollution and delays the Chorley Road roadworks have caused?

Incidentally you may be interested to know that a notice near to the hole that had been dug proclaims that the roadworks may last until Tuesday 14th August 2018. Maybe if there were some workmen present the job could be completed far sooner?

What do you think?

My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

You can also follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ivor.wycombe or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Ivor_Wycombe.