Gloucester A40 roadworks causing 'huge upheaval' for commuters

Roadworks set to last nine months on a key road into a city are already causing "huge upheaval and massive congestion", an MP has said.

The A40 Over Bridge in Gloucester carries an estimated 5,000 vehicles an hour at peak times, and is currently undergoing maintenance and repairs because of visible wear and tear.

The route is used by people travelling from the Forest of Dean, some of whom have told the BBC that pupils have arrived hours late for school and hospital staff have had to change their working hours.

Writing on Facebook, Forest of Dean MP Matt Bishop said: "The works along the A40 have already caused huge upheaval and massive congestion."

He added: "For many of you, these closures will have affected, and will continue to affect, your journeys to work, access to healthcare appointments, school runs, local businesses' operations, and everyday life."

Bishop said he has asked the government for financial support and investment to help ease congestion.

The £7m project began on Monday is expected to finish in March 2027, with a mixture of full and partial closures planned over the course of the nine months.

Ewan Greenhill, National Highways route manager, said: "We know delays are frustrating, especially on a route as busy and important as the A40, and appreciate the impact this [Monday] morning's congestion has had on people's journeys."

Lee Hill, who lives in Westbury-on-Severn and travels into Gloucester most days, said his journey time had increased by more than one hour, and added his wife's journey is supposed to be 35 minutes but lasted two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday.

Hill, who is also the chair of governments at The Crypt School, said some pupils have been arriving on buses more than two hours late.

"At the best of times you're looking at 40 minutes to one hour of traffic," he added.

"You add these roadworks and the comments I hear are three hours of traffic that didn't clear until the early afternoon."

Hill added: "It don't know how we're going to cope with it. We can't sit in that everyday. For June, it's taken me three times as long [as usual]. I'm incredulous.

"They're building more houses and all the other stuff they're doing, but there has to be a solution somewhere.

"The single lane model is back-breaking for that spinal road."

Hilary, who lives in Bream and works at the Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, told BBC Radio Gloucestershire her line manager has allowed her to change her hours to minimise disruption.

She said: "For this amount of time I hope the repairs are done well, and will last for many years to come. Otherwise people really, really won't be very happy."

Rees Keene from Over Farm said the road is its "life-blood".

Rees Keene, who runs Over Farm next to the A40, has launched a webcam service on the farm's website to show the eastbound and westbound traffic.

He told BBC Radio Gloucestershire the webcam has been so popular that it has been "overwhelmed".

He said: "The road is our life-blood, we can't do without it. There's no direct compensation from highways.

"It will definitely have a slow down in trade unfortunately, but we'll wait and see. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.

"The traffic would be normally be flowing a lot better, people would be looking a lot less stressed.

"At the moment it's all just tailbacks and people are fighting to get into position."

Greenhill said the road's capacity was reduced by 50% on Monday meaning increased disruption was "expected".

"We've planned these works to balance the need to keep the road open while carrying out the works safely and minimising delays as far as possible," he added.

"We're constantly monitoring traffic flows so we can make any changes needed once we have enough data to do so reliably.

"This essential work will extend the life of the Over Bridge, keep the route safe and reduce the risk of unplanned emergency closures in the future."

Drivers have been advised to plan ahead and use alternative routes where possible, particularly during peak hours.

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