Sadlers Farm gridlock as junction shuts

8:20am Saturday 30th June 2012 in Castle Point By Jacqueline McMillan

Sadlers Farm - the work goes on and on Sadlers Farm - the work goes on and on

POLICE had to be called to Sadlers Farm after contractors caused chaos on the roundabout.

Motorists saw red on Wednesday night after being stuck in nose-to-tail jams when two major areas of Sadlers Farm were closed to traffic.

The new bypass, linking the A130 with the London-bound A13, has been closed this week between 9pm and 5am due to ongoing roadworks, forcing drivers travelling between the two roads to use the main roundabout.

However, on Wednesday, workers closed almost the entire roundabout, leaving drivers with nowhere to go.

Hundreds of cars stood stationary for more than two hours, before police came to move traffic.

A 49-year-old motorist, from Broadway, in Thorpe Bay, said: “It was absolute chaos last night because we just couldn’t go anywhere.

“The only exit open was the A130 to Chelmsford – everywhere else was closed so everyone was bottlednecked around the roundabout to go back towards the A127.

“We didn’t move for two hours – not even an inch.

“In the end, it was so bad, the police had to come. About seven officers stood and overrode the traffic lights.”

He added: “I think this thing has been one big fiasco from day one. It seems like everything is so badly organised, and especially now they know they have missed another deadline, they probably just think to hell with the trouble they are causing.”

Yesterday, Essex County Council bosses said they would hold crisis talks with contractor Birse on Monday to discuss poor management of the scheme and when it is likely to be completed.

Angela Mitchell, 52, of Leigh Road, Benfleet, said: “My daughter was stuck in the traffic and she said it was dreadful. “She was so frightened, because everyone was shouting and swearing, bibbing their horns and even abandoning their cars.

“In the end I rang the police.”

An Essex Police spokesman said they were contacted shortly before 10.30pm following reports of faulty traffic lights. He added: “Officers found the lights were not faulty. Motorists were ignoring them.

“Officers stayed at the scene for nearly two hours to maintain traffic flow and closed several roads to ease congestion. The police helicopter flew over the area several times. All roads were fully open by 12.30am.”

Derrick Louis, county councillor responsible for highways and transportation, said: “I’d like to apologise for the disruption. I would like to reassure drivers we have taken steps to prevent this situation happening again.”

Comments(32)

whataday says...
8:50am Sat 30 Jun 12

I just hope the two ambulances with their blues on were able to get to their call destinations before anybody died or were their conditions were severely worsened due to the delays
These roadworks have caused absolute chaos for local residents and have left a system which will continue to cause severe delays for local residents. Why didn't they leave Sadlers roundabout as it was with its mini roundabouts - the traffic flowed much better then. They only benefit is for users of the new A130 who want to get on to the A13 and vice versa. Life for travellers to and from Canvey and Benfleet has worsened considerably
I trust residents of Benfleet and Canvey will not have to pay the portion of council tax which goes to Essex County Council for many years to come. I hope they will also be compensated for the disruption and cosnderable extra air and noise pollution they have had to suffer whilst these "improvements" have been goling on and for future air and noise pollution suffering

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caroljb says...
9:45am Sat 30 Jun 12

WHY were penalties not given to the contractors if they ran over time?? So fed up with hearing the workers have no jobs to go to after this so they are dragging it out. Yesterday on the A13 was a man in his digger, feet up, reading a paper. Another 2 workers sitting on the side of the road on their phones. How I wish I had my camera with me!!

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Terry2says says...
10:24am Sat 30 Jun 12

dont understand why people go on and on and on over the deadline. my sons surface gang was told september 1st and then he moves on to braintree and this has been posted on this website everytime time theres a article on this issue. why dont people listen. this was never going to be finished when you were all told it was as it was rumours. there was never a council deadline or a building contractors deadline. my son is paid until 30th august and if by chance it finishes earlier my son still get paid and has free time with pay.

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GentleGiant says...
10:35am Sat 30 Jun 12

Time for Derrick Louis to resign - he clearly has no interest in the people he is supposed to be serving.

ECC are clearly employing idiots to both work and manage this chaos.

A complete joke.

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Terry2says says...
11:41am Sat 30 Jun 12

GentleGiant wrote:
Time for Derrick Louis to resign - he clearly has no interest in the people he is supposed to be serving.

ECC are clearly employing idiots to both work and manage this chaos.

A complete joke.
Agree with you. My son lost a days work again over this chaos and this aint the first time this has happened, There are 4 companies involved and they dont talk to each other. One makes a decision and it ffukks up the other 3 companies. One job one boss but not here, one job and 4 separate decision makers without every having a meeting or a discussion and then a debacle !

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John T Pharro says...
3:49pm Sat 30 Jun 12

Terry2says wrote:
dont understand why people go on and on and on over the deadline. my sons surface gang was told september 1st and then he moves on to braintree and this has been posted on this website everytime time theres a article on this issue. why dont people listen. this was never going to be finished when you were all told it was as it was rumours. there was never a council deadline or a building contractors deadline. my son is paid until 30th august and if by chance it finishes earlier my son still get paid and has free time with pay.
People keep going on and rightly not because nearly everyone from months back knew it wouldn't be finished on time, but because we were constantly being told it would. Even just a few weeks ago Essex County Council were saying it, when it was obvious to anyone using Sadlers Farm there was no chance.
If people don't keep going on as you call it Essex County Council and the contractors will just get away with it.
They probably will anyway, but boy I for one won't forget it come elections.

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Rumcove says...
3:55pm Sat 30 Jun 12

I do not believe that gridlock and congestion will cease even when (if) these roadworks are finished. The only advantage is to those coming eastwards on the A13 then onto the A130. However, most motorists approaching the roundabout wish to go onto Canvey or continue on towards Tarpots. Where is the "improvement" in adopting systems (a single roundabout and lights at Tarpots) that were deemed unsuitable 30 years ago when traffic volumes were far smaller than today. And don't give me the "intelligent traffic light" argument, we saw how effective they were on Wednesday night.

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The Cater Wood Creeper says...
5:22pm Sat 30 Jun 12

someone just told me that they're going to fill in all the bits they've dug out and put it back exactly as it was before they started. Should be finished by 2075....

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GentleGiant says...
6:08pm Sat 30 Jun 12

If anyone wishes to complain the contact details are on http://cmis.essexcc.
gov.uk/essexcmis5/Co
uncillors/tabid/62/c
tl/ViewCMIS_Person/m
id/480/id/99/Default
.aspx

The guy lives in Hatfield Peverel so is probably not experiencing any issues first hand. Perhaps add his mobile number to your phone and then next time you get stuck in jams, give him a buzz and see if he has any suggestions :)

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mr_happy says...
6:32pm Sat 30 Jun 12

And all for the poxy olympics....

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Rumcove says...
7:06pm Sat 30 Jun 12

Terry2says wrote:
dont understand why people go on and on and on over the deadline. my sons surface gang was told september 1st and then he moves on to braintree and this has been posted on this website everytime time theres a article on this issue. why dont people listen. this was never going to be finished when you were all told it was as it was rumours. there was never a council deadline or a building contractors deadline. my son is paid until 30th august and if by chance it finishes earlier my son still get paid and has free time with pay.
Well all the signs on the approach roads have been, and still are, telling us that the work will last until spring 2012. Although, perhaps ECC has decreed that it is still winter?

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CLARKY123 says...
7:18pm Sat 30 Jun 12

..... I actually think this will work once its all completed. There used to be tail backs all the time in the evening on the A13 - Sadlers farm. Now I never come across traffic. It does become a nightmare when lanes are closed though. Everything used to bottleneck at tarpots... Either way time will tell and once the works are completely more lanes will be available in nearly all sections.

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lost_scotsman says...
9:13pm Sat 30 Jun 12

Although the whole thing has been a bit of a nightmare for the area. I must say I myself am quite impressed how, despite the size of the project they have managed to keep the junction open (mostly) although it has caused traffic problems, which to be fair is to be expected. They could have decided to close the whole junction down and diverted ALL traffic via alternative routes, this would probably have allowed the project to finisih much quicker but would likely have caused more headache to drivers.

The only bit i dont like is the lay out at the moment, coming from southend towards london, they have opened the new link road but at the moment you merge on to the right hand lane of the A13. Really dont like it, moving into the left with a very short slip road, indicating to move over, no one slowing to let you in.

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bob7 says...
10:58pm Sat 30 Jun 12

I can't believe it has taken 3 days to report on this. Maybe the reporter was stuck in traffic.

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Touch79 says...
7:40am Sun 1 Jul 12

Rumcove wrote:
I do not believe that gridlock and congestion will cease even when (if) these roadworks are finished. The only advantage is to those coming eastwards on the A13 then onto the A130. However, most motorists approaching the roundabout wish to go onto Canvey or continue on towards Tarpots. Where is the "improvement" in adopting systems (a single roundabout and lights at Tarpots) that were deemed unsuitable 30 years ago when traffic volumes were far smaller than today. And don't give me the "intelligent traffic light" argument, we saw how effective they were on Wednesday night.
It doesn't look like they've put 'intelligent' traffic lights in at Tarpots.

3am this morning, three vehicles travelling eastbound waiting at Tarpots (one in each lane), nothing coming from either High Road or Rushbottom Lane, and yet all vehicles had to wait over a minute for the lights to go green.

Come on ECC, you did quite well with the lights at Kents Hill Road, the Pound Lane lights (for eg) have the same sensor and recognise traffic, and yet at your major project at Tarpots the lights can't sense where the traffic is coming from? Please please sort this out.

Also, once (if) the Sadlers fiasco is completed (and the Olympics are a distant memory) please can you either remove or revise the ridiculous Bus Lanes approaching Kents Hill Road? Eastbound is totally futile as you run out of road and nobody will let you in. Westbound is a deathtrap... Turning right into Kents Hill Road is a very scary experience as cars approach you head-on, as is using the correct lane coming down Bread and Cheese Hill to have vehicles chop across you without looking as they suddenly realise they're in the wrong lane.

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Curbishly says...
7:58am Sun 1 Jul 12

I wonder if the Romans, building their roads, had to put up with a load moaning t0ssers.

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Touch79 says...
8:43am Sun 1 Jul 12

Curbishly wrote:
I wonder if the Romans, building their roads, had to put up with a load moaning t0ssers.
You calling me a moaning tosser? Brilliant.

The Romans wouldn't have spent this long fannying about to make such a **** up of it.

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Touch79 says...
9:00am Sun 1 Jul 12

Interesting that you can say tosser and fannying but you can't say c0ck ;-)

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soul man says...
10:42am Sun 1 Jul 12

when the works done, this mob should be put on rogue traders so as nobody would let any of them even sweep a path let alone build a major rd system, failing that, send them to the funny farm as they are all stupid, i dont think you could make a bosseyed numpty out of all of them put together

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Seasider90 says...
8:46pm Sun 1 Jul 12

Don't blame the contractors blame Essex County Council. There is not a brain cell between the overpaid planners in that building. We'd be better of scrapping ECC and having one government department that specialises on improved traffic flows. Just remember its not actually that long since they made the previous "improvements". Sack the lot of them and get some planners with brains.

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Truth Will Prevail says...
9:40pm Sun 1 Jul 12

"We'd be better of scrapping ECC and having one government department that specialises on improved traffic flows." I agree that some of the recent traffic projects look like they were given to the office trainee but I suspect that giving the lot to central Government would result in even worse lash ups. I have seen more real common sense on the Echo website comments section so I'd suggest the ECC planners should consider giving us, the public, more input but then would they have the brains to discern between sensible public suggestions and the trolls who sometimes inhabit these websites? Somehow I suspect not.

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Brunning999 says...
7:41am Mon 2 Jul 12

This is a public disgrace and has caused untold misery for the public hurting the people that have paid taxes to have this road improved.
However all the complaining in the world will not achieve what is required quickly and lessons must be learnt to avoid further public waste.
Firstly the main contractor should be added to a list of bad and unreliable contractors, secondly the planners should be made to explain publicly if the improvements fail to achieve their objectives during the construction and after completion.
Thirdly the person/s who selected the contractors shoul give their reasons why and how they selected that contractor plus the recommendations and examples of their previous work should be looked at.

If they fail on those three issues or fail to give sufficient excuses for this disgraceful mess HEADS SHOULD ROLE!!

Public servants should be held accountable for bad working practice and heads should roleashas happened with Barclays bank rates fiasco, State ownership must not have blank cheque books anymore.

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streetboy75 says...
8:42am Mon 2 Jul 12

this is just a joke now, how are the coucil letting these contactors get away with this,

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michaelbri says...
9:38am Mon 2 Jul 12

personally if I were ECC,in today's meeting I would officially sack Birse from today.Reduce their payment amount and get someone else in to finish the job.Why,because in the last f month hardly a stroke of work has been done,other than to patch up the strategic links.As soon as the bridges were belatedly open,almost all the workers have gone.Go past the car park at Birse and see how few cars are there compared to before.The A13 ,A130 etc all need rersurfacing as does the roundabout.Yet noone is doing anything.It would take a company a week at most to finish off with a large gang.The person above who mentioned about September is right,all the contractors I have spoken to as well as a Birse manager ,who has now left the job told me September.So maybe someone at ECC needs to go also,oh she has her name is Tracy Chapman,perhaps Mr Norman Hume should join her has he did not get a penalty clause in for late delivery.Remember this come election time folks,who ever are the sitting councillors,out them.

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MilesBond says...
10:16am Mon 2 Jul 12

My office looks on to the (ex) double roundabout system at Tarpots. Whatever anyone says, it HAD to go, if only for safety reasons. Since September of last year I have witnessed several car crashes on it, two of them pretty major. I would ove to know what the insurance claim stats are for this little patch of Tarpots.

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John T Pharro says...
10:42am Mon 2 Jul 12

michaelbri wrote:
personally if I were ECC,in today's meeting I would officially sack Birse from today.Reduce their payment amount and get someone else in to finish the job.Why,because in the last f month hardly a stroke of work has been done,other than to patch up the strategic links.As soon as the bridges were belatedly open,almost all the workers have gone.Go past the car park at Birse and see how few cars are there compared to before.The A13 ,A130 etc all need rersurfacing as does the roundabout.Yet noone is doing anything.It would take a company a week at most to finish off with a large gang.The person above who mentioned about September is right,all the contractors I have spoken to as well as a Birse manager ,who has now left the job told me September.So maybe someone at ECC needs to go also,oh she has her name is Tracy Chapman,perhaps Mr Norman Hume should join her has he did not get a penalty clause in for late delivery.Remember this come election time folks,who ever are the sitting councillors,out them.
That there was all the activity I suspect that they were due for a bonus payment if that part of the contract was completed "on time". Remember ECC contract did not have any penalty clauses for late completion only bonuses for completion.
I for one am about to write to ECC and ask if any bonus payments have been made to date under the Freedom of Information Act.
Suggest everyone fed up does the same and show how angry they are.
Will the comments br printable if this contractor has received bonus payments?

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bob7 says...
10:59am Mon 2 Jul 12

I walked to Tarpots yesterday, first time since they put the pedestrian lights in near Barclays. I can't believe how long you now have to wait to cross the road. The lights outside the furniture shop used to change for the pedestrians within seconds of pressing the button. The ones by the bank are obviously designed so that pedestrians still have to wait for the traffic signal sequence to finish which takes ages.
I heard plenty of hooting as cars in the left hand lane for Rushbottom went straight on.

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No1biggestbrat says...
1:04pm Mon 2 Jul 12

whataday wrote:
I just hope the two ambulances with their blues on were able to get to their call destinations before anybody died or were their conditions were severely worsened due to the delays
These roadworks have caused absolute chaos for local residents and have left a system which will continue to cause severe delays for local residents. Why didn't they leave Sadlers roundabout as it was with its mini roundabouts - the traffic flowed much better then. They only benefit is for users of the new A130 who want to get on to the A13 and vice versa. Life for travellers to and from Canvey and Benfleet has worsened considerably
I trust residents of Benfleet and Canvey will not have to pay the portion of council tax which goes to Essex County Council for many years to come. I hope they will also be compensated for the disruption and cosnderable extra air and noise pollution they have had to suffer whilst these "improvements" have been goling on and for future air and noise pollution suffering
This is not just Benfleet and Canvey.....I travel from Pitsea everyday, we also get the bad traffic and hear the noise of them working early hours of morning.....The council won't compensate everyone

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Galaxy266 says...
2:32pm Mon 2 Jul 12

Problems like this occur because, right from day one of this project, nobody at Essex County Council will take responsibility for what is going on at Sadlers Farm. They prefer, instead, to just leave everything to the Contractor, Birse Civils. I'm afraid this isn't good enough, just leaving the Contractor to do exactly what they like, when they like. This is how an event like occurred last Wednesday can happen.

ECC should have their own people permanently down at that site monitoring every piece of work carried out and the daily paths for traffic flow. But they don't want to do that. They'd far rather just sit in their nice offices in Chelmsford and let Birse Civils deal with everything on the site, without any reference to them whatsover.

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michaelbri says...
12:29pm Tue 3 Jul 12

ECC should have their own people permanently down at that site monitoring every piece of work carried out and the daily paths for traffic flow. But they don't want to do that. They'd far rather just sit in their nice offices in Chelmsford and let Birse Civils deal with everything on the site, without any reference to them whatsover,
they have their own people,Ian Allen is down there,for whatever use he is,his oppo is Nico Wessels from Birse,laurel and hardy spring to mind,having spoken to both,neither has a clue what is going on

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echostretch says...
1:17pm Tue 3 Jul 12

Who's bright Idea was it to approve how the South bound A130 merges with the west bound A13 ? its an accident waiting to happen. Traffic on the A130 has to give way to the faster 2 lanes of the A13 & Canvey slip to the left, you have no right of way to cross those broken lines unless it clear to do so. Why are the two roads not kept apart & merge as they are when going North onto the A130 from the A13, do these planners have any idea of traffic in the real world?

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whataday says...
2:03pm Tue 3 Jul 12

echostretch - No

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