Shrewsbury traffic chaos as Dobbies Island lights fail again
Motorists have been facing major delays on one of the busiest routes through Shropshire after traffic lights on a major Shrewsbury roundabout failed a number of times.
Drivers eager for a weekend getaway were stuck in queuing traffic for almost two hours when the lights at the Dobbies Roundabout, which links the A5 and the A49 at Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury failed to synchronise properly on Friday.
Queues stretched back for miles around leading to angry and confused drivers, who were not given any warning or information about the hold-ups.
The lights were switched off on Sunday evening, causing further delays during rush-hour yesterday.
Tom Edwards had been trying to get home to Oswestry from Telford.
The 32-year-old office administrator was caught up in traffic for almost an hour and a half.
"It was ridiculous," he said.
"The traffic just wasn't moving at all. The lights were hardly changing and seemed to be stuck on red which wouldn't allow any cars to get through.The road was totally snarled up.
Flows
"It took 85 minutes to get from the one island to Dobbies, which is no more than a mile in distance. People were just going though on red and there was nobody there to help or direct traffic."
Jim Williams, 45, was on his way home in Nesscliffe, near Shrewsbury, after a week working away.
"I was tired and wanted to get back home," he said.
"This isn't the first time there have been problems with these lights. They are always going wrong. To be honest the roundabout flows better when the lights aren't working at all.
"But this time they just stayed on red so no one knew when to go."
Engineers from Highways England had been working on the problem since it first came to light in the middle of last week. The lights were eventually switched off while the situation was dealt with.
