GAS works outside two Wokingham borough supermarkets have caused gridlock on the roads today – and the firm behind them have apologised for the delays that they are causing.
On Monday, SGN started the next phase of its gas main replacement works on Reading Road in Winnersh. Over the next six weeks, the crossroads have been fenced off, making it impossible for drivers coming from King Street Lane to turn right into Reading Road or go straight on to Robinhood Lane.
And today, a second set of works was launched at the junction of Finchampstead Road with Molly Millars Lane. They have just finished however, motorists have been reporting heavy delays all day, with some saying it has taken them 30 minutes to exit the Tesco car park.
A Wokingham Paper reader contacted us to say: “The temporary traffic lights at Molly Millars junction with Finchampstead Road means traffic chaos as people trying to leave Tesco try to merge with traffic on Finchampstead Rod. This is on top of the chaos caused by lane closures at Winnersh crossroads affecting people using Sainsbury.”
Another told us: “Today is yet another good example of the lack of resilience in the traffic system in Wokingham. There are emergency gas roadworks at the junction of Molly Millars Lane and the Finchampstead Road. It is mid-morning without peak traffic and the traffic is backing up past the Ship Inn on the London Road.”
And people have taken to Twitter to share their frustrations over the delays caused by the works.
@Tesco Tesco Wokingham are letting people drive in without warning there is gridlock on exit.
— Katy (@Katysambrini) July 24, 2018
@Tesco @WokinghamBC @TVP_Wokingham can anyone come and sort out the complete mayhem that is going on around Tesco’s in Wokingham? Or I may have to move in.
— Angela Harkness (@Angela_Harkness) July 24, 2018
@WokinghamBC @SGNgas
There's clearly a problem with the traffic lights synchronisation and the ability for traffic to flow. Please sort this out. Queuing around the supermarket car park for 20-30 mins to access the main road is unacceptable!#Wokingham#trafficmanagement pic.twitter.com/StKr5rcqZ7— Luke ???????? ????????????️???? ???????? (@Labour_Luke) July 24, 2018
Dan Brown, spokesperson for SGN, said: “Our engineers are carrying out emergency repairs to our gas network at the junction of Molly Millars Lane and Finchampstead Road.
“For everyone’s safety around our work area, we’ve needed to install temporary three-way traffic lights at the junction. The traffic lights will be manned during the day to minimise travel disruption.
“We’re working to complete several repairs to our gas main at the junction. At this stage, it’s still too early to say how long it will take to complete the repairs.
“We are sorry about the inconvenience caused and thank road users for their patience while essential emergency works are carried out.”
