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Video: Peterborough Garden Park: Traffic chaos continues
Monday, 9am: Furious bosses at the new Peterborough Garden Park plan to contact the Highways Agency after traffic chaos blighted their much anticipated opening weekend.
Monday, 9am: Furious bosses at the new Peterborough Garden Park plan to contact the Highways Agency after traffic chaos blighted their much anticipated opening weekend.The 20 million Peterborough Garden Park (PGP) has suffered from huge congestion problems since opening its doors on Friday.
Motorists trying to leave the new retail village found themselves stuck for more than 90 minutes on Saturday and yesterday afternoon, and before 4pm the entry road to the new centre was closed in a bid to ease congestion in the car parks.
The problems were blamed on new traffic lights on Peterborough Road designed by the Highways Agency, near to the Eye Roundabout which were switched on Friday ahead of the new centre's opening.
Eric Kirk, centre manager at Peterborough Garden Park, said that because of the speed traffic lights were changing, vehicles were struggling to exit the car park in sufficient numbers, he said: "There is clearly a problem with the lights – they are totally out of sync.
"The Highways Agency will be getting a call from us first thing on Monday morning to rectify this.
"We will work with the city council to ensure that improvement works at the roundabout are carried out as fast and effectively as possible.
"The problem is not because of the car park, as between green lights 15 to 17 cars can swiftly leave – it's just that the cycle for the lights seems to be totally wrong. We are really sorry for any frustration this has caused."
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The PGP drafted in three traffic marshalls over the weekend to assist vehicles in their car parks and also asked for police help to keep inconvenience to a minimum.
A police spokesperson said: "Our traffic officers spent quite a considerable amount of time dealing with the problems over the weekend.
"We are happy to help out with short term problems but in the longer term the issues need to be looked into by the council and the PGP."
Motorist Ray White (60) was one of the frustrated shoppers caught in the car park jam on Saturday.
He said: "It is the worst designed piece of road I have ever seen. I didn't move an inch for an hour and a half, and there must have been 200 cars in the same situation as me.
"Whoever designed it wants their head examining."
Evening Telegraph assistant editor Brad Barnes was one of the drivers caught in the congested car park yesterday.
He said: "There were hundreds of cars stuck there. I read 105 pages of my book waiting for traffic to move away in front of us!
"It took us an hour and 45 minutes to get out of the car park. I rang the company while I was waiting and they were very apologetic but said the Highways Agency had been contacted but that they wouldn't be coming out over the weekend.
"Some drivers were ignoring give-way signs in their frustration, others entering the garden park were spotting the big exit queues and doing u-turns to leave again.
"I saw several people go through red lights at the traffic lights as they tried to get out."
On Friday, lengthy queues built up on roads near the entrance to the garden park. Extensive delays were experienced by drivers on the nearby Frank Perkins Parkway and Paston Parkway.
In Saturday's Evening Telegraph Eye councillor David Sanders slammed Peterborough City Council over the lights' installation.
He said: "They couldn't organise a booze up in a brewery – it is a disgrace. If this is their idea of traffic management I am at a loss."
The Highways Agency was unavailable for comment over the weekend.
Related:
Parkway problems: Queues chaos at new lights, 6 February 2010.
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