Motorists 'sick to death' of congestion in town

The Cross Rifles roundabout is one of the busiest road junctions in Bridgwater

Motorists are "sick to death" of traffic after the upgrade of a key roundabout was scrapped, a councillor has said.

The Cross Rifles roundabout - one of the busiest road junctions in Bridgwater in Somerset - links the A38 from Bristol and Taunton to the A39.

A total of £10m from the former Conservative government's Levelling Up fund was allocated to the project in 2021 in a bid to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion and increase capacity. However, the scheme was delayed in 2023 and scrapped completely in August 2024.

Somerset Council said the scheme "could not be resurrected in its original form due to funding constraints".

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council had been granted the money to deliver improvements to the Bridgwater northern corridor, which runs from the Dunball roundabout to the Cross Rifles roundabout via the A38 Bristol Road.

Councillor Richard Wilkins said rising construction costs had left the council with little choice but to move funds away from the Cross Rifles scheme in order to secure improvements on the "higher priority" Dunball roundabout.

He said: "The government funds secured were for the whole A38 northern corridor programme, which encountered inflationary cost increases and significant project risks around land acquisition and delivery for the Cross Rifles element."

'Additional pressure'

Councillor Diogo Rodrigues said: "People in Bridgwater are sick to death of the traffic in the town and the decisions that the council takes which make life harder for people just to go about their everyday lives."

He added: "If developments or road layout changes were approved on the assumption that this roundabout upgrade would help mitigate their traffic impact, does the council accept that cancelling it has removed a piece of mitigation intended to manage that additional pressure on the road network?"

Following weeks of criticism, council leader Bill Revans said a review into the one-way systems put in place as part of the recently completed Celebration Mile in town would be carried out.