Roadworks to continue at Black Cat roundabout after National Highways got caught on the hop

It was very much caught out over the weekend with motorists stranded for SIX HOURS as the Government company failed to anticipate the volume of traffic.

And the A421 eastbound between Renhold Interchange and Black Cat roundabout, and the A1 southbound between Wyboston and the Black Cat roundabout will be closed overnight from:

9pm tonight (Tuesday) to 5am tomorrow (Wednesday)

9pm tomorrow (Wednesday) to 5am Thursday (July 10).

Diversion routes will be in place.

One driver caught in the nightmare traffic, T J Higginson, wrote to North Bedfordshire MP Richard Fuller and said: “It took me 6 hours to travel the few miles from the A421 Great Barford roundabout to Black Cat roundabout.

“My day was written off. Once past this junction there is no exit until Black Cat, and no access to services or facilities of any kind.

“I thought at first there must have been a serious road traffic incident, however it appears the delays can be attributed to the A428 works on the A1 this weekend. The knock-on effects for traffic appear to have been massively underestimated.”

While another, John Kelley, said: “There had been no diversions or warnings of this so we were caught in a traffic jam.

“We finally got over the Black Cat roundabout … six hours later. My daughter had missed her train needless to say and was quite distressed.

“Other people in the queue were visibly distressed, a woman in her 80s we spoke to was desperate for the toilet and did not know what to do.

“Another family handed their children over to their father on other side of the A421 - he dodged traffic carrying children, which could have been fatal. People were going to the toilet on the road as well.

“No police were around to help or give guidance so we were left abandoned.”

A National Highways spokesperson said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to all road users affected by the congestion and delays on the A421 eastbound over the weekend.

“We did not sufficiently anticipate the volume of traffic using the A421 eastbound towards the Black Cat roundabout.

“The traffic signals were unable to manage the volume of vehicles from both the A421 and A1. This caused severe delays at the roundabout and significant knock-on congestion between Renhold and the Black Cat roundabout.

“Our team is ensuring lessons are learned and this situation is not repeated.

“We will continue to monitor all future closures closely and apply improvements to traffic modelling, signal phasing, and diversion route planning as needed.”

Mr Fuller said in a post on social media: “I caught up with the guys from National Highways about the extreme disruption over the weekend.

“There were no excuses or attempts to abrogate responsibility. They recognise that mistakes were made and are solely focussed on understanding why this happened and ensuring that it never happens again.

“I have asked them to investigate a couple of areas where I think mitigation measures could have reduced the scale of the issues on Saturday. These involve better communication and signage and the roles and responsibilities of the Traffic Control Safety Officers on duty.

“I will also contact the Chief Constable of Bedfordshire Police to better understand their involvement during the day and to see if they have any thoughts on measures that could have alleviated the congestion.

“None of this will be of any consolation to those who were caught up in the mayhem, however this project, including dozens of previous closures and diversions, has been managed very well and I am encouraged that even tighter controls will be in place going forward.”

National Highways has confirmed there will be more roadworks:

A1 southbound between now (Tuesday and July 10

A421 eastbound between now and July 10

With two weekend closures - one on the A428 between July 11-14 and another on the A1 northbound between July 19-21

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