No “safety valve” in Ipswich town centre road network – MP Ben Gummer

Roadworks on Star Lane in Ipswich. Archant

Thursday’s rush-hour road chaos in the heart of Ipswich showed how vital it is to invest in the town centre transport routes, MP Ben Gummer said.

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Traffic in the town was brought to a halt by the closure of one of two lanes in Star Lane Ipswich.

Vehicles heading into the town were backed up along Wherstead Road, Burrell Road to London Road, and along Civic Drive towards Norwich Road.

Journeys from the ski slope on Wherstead Road to Fore St, which normally take about 10 minutes, took 45 minutes or longer.

The lane was closed while engineers repaired a traffic light that had been damaged in a road accident.

The problems came just three weeks after town centre roads were thrown into chaos after a water main collapsed in Grafton Way.

Mr Gummer said the incidents showed the need to go ahead with building a wet dock crossing and – ultimately – a new road to the north of the town to ease traffic pressures.

He said: “The problem in Ipswich is that there is no spare capacity on the road network in the town centre so if a road is close or a carriageway is narrowed, it almost immediately comes to a standstill.

“It is absolutely vital for the town that traffic can continue to move. This is why we need to press the case for the Wet Dock crossing and the northern road.”

A spokeswoman for the county council said it had been vital to close one lane to allow the work on the traffic light to be completed safely.

She said: “It is acknowledged that this invariably means, as in the case at Star Lane, some temporary inconvenience to passing traffic. However, creating those safe working conditions also helps to ensure that work can be completed more quickly as the operatives can focus on the work in hand without unnecessary distraction.

“Given that the repair work includes electrical connections for the traffic signals, working in daylight hours is far more effective than night-time working.”