A SOLUTION to Evesham’s chronic traffic problems could be drawn up later this year after highways chiefs revealed the £100,000 examination into the problem had passed a significant milestone.
A traffic monitoring exercise conducted by Worcestershire County Council, which began late last year, into the congestion has concluded.
As a result, transport chiefs can now feed the data from the exercise into software which will allow them to embark on the task of tackling the misery faced by Vale drivers on a daily basis.
Coun Ken Pollock, cabinet member for Economy, Skills and Infrastructure said: “This model will enable us to test alternative options to tackle the gridlock and severe congestion which is becoming increasingly commonplace in the Evesham area.
“All being well, once these investigations have been completed, we should be in a position to propose and recommend a number of solutions to lessen the traffic problems in Evesham,” he added.
The progress in the long-running saga came in the week the boss of a major Evesham bus firm told the Observer that congestion was hitting her company in the pocket.
Mary Shephard, a director at NN Cresswell, said the numerous roadworks springing up around the town and congestion on the roads was causing problems for the firm and their customers.
She claimed customers were arriving late for appointments and meetings due to delays faced by drivers and estimated takings plummet 30 per cent in just one day when the town is gridlocked.
“This is the worst I’ve seen it,” she said.
“If there is any incident on the bypass, the town becomes gridlocked.”
“And then you think things are getting back together, more traffic lights spring up somewhere.
“If we had a bit of pre-warning it might help the situation, but it’s still not good that we’re running late,” she added.
The firm, based on Worcester Road, has been operating in the town since 1960 and run two bus services everyday, as well as school services and coach hire.
“The traffic which comes off the bypass needs to get out of the town much better, because you can drive down into town, sit there and not move,” she added.
“I’d say they need the traffic to go down Swan Lane like it used to.
“Even if they made the town a one-way system where you drive down Swan Lane and drive up Abbey Road to get the traffic out of the town, you wouldn’t have so many traffic lights to get past,” she added.
