HOW on earth was it possible for the pathetic little changes made to the Little Eaton roundabout to take more than six months?
Excuses such as crayfish (a few hours delay at most) and weather simply don't stand up – just compare the period with the bad weather a year previously. Consider the impact for thousands of road users, with all the additional pollution of standing traffic, frustration, lost appointments and a cumulative cost to individuals and transport businesses which must have run into tens of millions. Has anyone done the sums?
On some days, traffic backed up for five miles. For weeks, the Little Eaton to Derby route was closed for hours on end, during which periods almost nothing happened on the scheme.
Diversion signs were mostly completely absent or at best uninformative. If common sense ruled, flyovers would have been built at the Little Eaton and Markeaton junctions even before the main sections of the A38 were constructed.
By contrast, in 1958-59, more than 55 miles of the M1 was built from scratch in 19 months.
Ian Thomas
Barley Close
Little Eaton
