£78m motorway scheme 'makes no difference'

Ian Leadsam said he believed residents had been sold a dream

Multimillion-pound improvements to a busy motorway junction have made no difference, unhappy residents claim.

People living close to the junction 10 roundabout, on the M6 in Walsall, said they believed a £78m scheme to cut congestion had been a waste of money.

Neighbours said traffic problems had persisted despite three years of work to install a four-lane system and widened slip roads.

National Highways defended the project, which is close to completion, and said its full benefits would become clear later this year.

The improvements were designed to support economic growth by reducing journey times for drivers on roads surrounding the island.

But Ian Leadsam, who has lived in the area for two decades, believes the outcome is not what residents were promised.

Mr Leadsam said residents had to navigate more than a dozen lanes to cross the junction

The engineer claimed there had not been a notable difference in the levels of congestion, adding his family had been forced to endure years of night-time noise for nothing.

"I don't think it has been worth it," the 52-year-old said. "The money could have been better spent elsewhere."

Mr Leadsam explained his main concern was pedestrians being forced to cross the new junction.

He says the work involves crossing more than a dozen live lanes and fears the danger increases because drivers often jumped red lights.

"I truly believe someone will get badly injured," he said.

Semi-retired driver Steve West-Mullen believes drivers treat the new sliproad like a race track

Semi-retired driver Steve West-Mullen also said congestion levels were not noticeably different.

Despite a 30mph speed limit around the junction, the 70-year-old claimed his road, which leads up to roundabout, has become a race track.

"People are racing down to try and beat the lights," he said. "For us along here it's worse now than it has ever been."

Mr West-Mullen said residents had made multiple complaints to National Highways about the project.

"In our opinion the whole thing has been a total waste of money," he added.

"They have not achieved anything other than making four lanes on a roundabout that still get clogged up anyway."

The project is nearing completion but some locals have noticed no difference

Andy Jones, 58, who has lived within touching distance of the junction for 11 years, said the already-busy island had simply been made bigger and more confusing.

"We've got four lanes of chaos now, rather than two lanes of chaos," he said.

"Whatever we say or have said in the past, they [have] just carried on doing what they are doing anyway."

'Complex project'

Ashfaq Hussain, National Highways programme manager, said the project had increased capacity on the junction and improved safety by replacing decades- old bridges.

He said increasing the number of lanes to four was helping tackle delays for thousands of drivers.

He rejected the suggestion pedestrians were unsafe and said the scheme included improved accessibility for them and for cyclists.

"This has been a complex project and we appreciate it has caused some disruption, but we would ask people to bear with us," Mr Hussain said.

"We are now in the final straight, with the full benefits of the scheme due to be realised [in the coming months]."