Motorists in Ipswich have shared their damning verdict on the town’s road network in our online survey, with 94.7% of nearly 1,900 participants reporting that they do not believe Ipswich’s road network is better than it was five years ago.
Launched on the Star website last week, the campaign quizzed Ipswich motorists on their hold-ups and what they think of recent roadwork projects.
Of the 1,899 people who responded, 95.7% said the roadworks had not been well managed, while 92% felt the work wouldn’t improve the road network.
Just 6.4% said roadworks around town hadn’t held them up, with 92.9% reporting hold-ups from roadworks where no contractors appeared to be on site.
James Finch, Suffolk County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Suffolk County Council handles some 175,000 electronic communications relating to around 21,000 work activities on the county’s highway network per year. It takes a significant amount of co-ordination to keep disruption and inconvenience to a minimum.
“The majority of works are carried out by public utilities to repair, upgrade or provide connections to gas, electric, telephones, water mains or sewers – all essential services for local residents.
“The main cause of ‘problem’ roadworks seems to be emergency work, such as repairs to faulty cables, burst water mains or collapsed sewers, which by their nature are unplanned and our team doesn’t receive advance notice.”
The results come as the Star today launches a campaign backing calls for a northern bypass in Ipswich, to help alleviate pressure on congested roads.
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