Gridlock

On Tuesday evening on my last trip coming back from Cockington I got to the Redcliff Hotel at 16:45. That meant fifteen minutes to get to the bus stop in Torbay Rd to do the 17:00 trip to Beverley Park via the Zoo. On all the earlier trips it had taken only 2 or 3 minutes to the stop from the Redcliff but I hadn't realised that Paignton was just about to shut down, a real serious gridlock. I finally got to the bus stop at 17:05, loaded up and headed for the Zoo. 17:15 I made it to the bus station which is a two minute walk from our bus stop. The whole trip to Beverly Park took an Hour. Now I know covering two and a half miles in an hour at rush hour would be good going in some places in the world but this is Paignton, not London or Tokyo or Mexico City. So what had caused this attack of gridlock in the middle of beautiful Torbay. Tweenaway Cross is being resurfaced and no more than 3 or 4 vehicles can move through the lights at anyone time. The matter is made worse by the fact that in the evening most traffic entering Paignton is coming from Torquay and heading for either Brixham or Totnes and alternative routes don't exist. So we either need a speedy end to the roadworks or better still some one with a bit of traffic management know how to get the traffic moving a bit faster through the roadworks. But that's too easy and isn't going to happen.

I get a lift to the depot in the morning and this involves going through the roadworks. Early in the morning it is usually fairly clear but a couple of hours ago I got a phone call. "I pick you up half an hour earlier than usual in the morning, it's been hell getting to work." said my lift provider. That is bad. And it6's going to rain as well. Will not be fun.