MOTORISTS have express their anger as they face TEN weeks of roadworks on a busy roundabout on the outskirts of town.

Traffic lights have been in place near the Cross Keys Roundabout, near Norton Fitzwarren, to allow for works to take place at the new BP filling station on the A358.

The lights have been put in place while construction of a right-turn lane take place.

But drivers entering the town were greeted with long queues as they made their way to work this morning (October 23) and say it cannot go on for ten weeks.

Somerset County Gazette:

The new BP filling station 

Maureen Berry, from Hill Common, said: “My journey to work normally takes me between 10-12 minutes on a normal day.

“But today it took me an hour and eight minutes to get to work because of the roadworks.

“Thousands of people must have been affected by the roadworks, there were long queues up and down the road.

“It is just ridiculous. It can’t be allowed.

“People coming from Wiveliscombe and Minehead into Taunton must have been affected.

“They need to put a proper diversion route in place as you can’t get anywhere on the road.”

Peter Chambers, a driving instructor from Cotford St Luke, said he has had to cancel lessons because of the traffic.

He said: "The Highways Department should have known how chaotic this would be.

"They're useless. What is going to happen?

"There are people who can't get their kids to school.

"They need to be brought to justice.

"We can't have this for 10 weeks, people won't be able to function."

Somerset County Council, which gives planning consent for roadworks, said the works could not take place without some form of traffic control.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: “The developer works currently taking place near the Cross Keys roundabout are to provide access to the new BP filling station and M&S food court in accordance with the agreed planning consent.

“It’s a very busy location and unfortunately the work cannot be carried out without some form of traffic management – either temporary traffic lights or a full road closure.

“Today (Tuesday) is the first day with the full traffic management in place and we are working closely with the developer to fine tune the manual control of the traffic lights and look at ways to minimise disruption, including reviewing the programme to see if it can be accelerated.”