J19 - six sets of traffic lights in half a mile - madness?

MOTORISTS travelling out of Portbury will have to encounter SIX sets of traffic lights in less than half a mile as part of their journey from the village into Bristol.

People travelling through the village will no longer be able to turn right from Portbury Lane onto the A369 towards Bristol as part of a £3 million package of improvements being carried out to the Portishead motorway roundabout.

Currently there are two sets of lights on the roundabout to control traffic coming off the M5 motorway on to the roundabout, but a further four sets of signals are to be added as part of the overall scheme.

Lights will be put at the junction of Portbury Lane and the A369 and a further set of lights will be put on the junction of the Portbury Hundreds and the roundabout to regulate the flow of traffic coming out of Portishead.

Further lights will be put at the junction of the A369 and the roundabout on the Portbury side and another set of signals will be installed further up the A369 at the junction of Martcombe Road and St George's Hill.

The additional lights will mean that drivers turning left out of Portbury Lane to get into Bristol along the A369 will have to encounter six sets of different traffic signals.

Lights on the roundabout are being fitted with a high tech computer controlled MOVA system which enables the lights to sense approaching and queuing traffic and programme light changes to clear congestion.

It is hoped that the system will mean traffic will not have to stop at each set of lights.

The changes have angered local councillors who say the extra lights will cause stop, start traffic and are unlikely to improve congestion in the area.

Councillors have written a letter to North Somerset Council highways chiefs outlining the issue with the lights - and other concerns they have about the scheme.

Portbury Parish Council chairman, Councillor Les Summerfield, said: "It seems ridiculous to have so many traffic lights on a stretch of road just under half a mile.

"It will mean that people wanting to get out of Portbury will have to turn left onto the A369 then encounter all these sets of traffic signals on the roundabout and on the A369 to get into Bristol.

"There is a real nervousness about how these changes are going to impact on people living in and travelling through Portbury.

"I feel that this improvement scheme will not benefit Portbury in any way."

Portbury Parish Council is also concerned about the introduction of a high occupancy vehicle lane out of Bristol (HOV) on the A369.

Parish leaders say that traffic will struggle to rejoin the main carriageway when the HOV ends just before the junction with Portbury Lane.

They are also concerned that a footpath  - used by residents to get to the services - has been diverted along Portbury Lane by a third of a mile.

The second phase of the work started earlier this month and is expected to take 17 weeks to complete.

The scheme also includes widening Martcombe Road and the Portbury Hundreds on the approach to the roundabout.

The northbound on slip road is also being widened and the lane marking on the A369 approaches will also be altered.

Most of the work will be carried out on land next to the slip road, which should keep disruption to a minimum.

The work is being jointly funded by North Somerset Council and the Highways Agency.

North Somerset Council's deputy leader and executive member for highways, Councillor Elfan Ap Rees, said:  "Traffic flows have already improved as a result from phase one of the work and by the time all the improvements are in place the misery of prolonged hold ups for motorists in this area should be a thing of the past."

The first part of the work started in September last year and finished before Christmas.