Rush-hour reduced to crawl at Mumps

TRAFFIC chaos struck the town centre as commuters struggled to make short trips to work yesterday morning.

Motorists complained that their usual five or 10-minute journeys took almost an hour, blaming Mumps roadworks for the delay.

Major changes at Mumps are well under way as a traffic-light controlled junction is created and new road markings in place.

Vehicles can no longer get straight on to Yorkshire Street. A new link road — Prince Street — joins Oldham Way and Union Street.

Drivers say the delay at red traffic lights on Huddersfield Road is too long and that there is no need for Lees Road to go into one lane on the approach to the old roundabout.

Alun Whitehead from Waterhead said: “I came from Stamford Road down Huddersfield Road and it took me just over 40 minutes to get to Mumps — it usually takes about five or six minutes.

“I also drove along it on Sunday morning, but then the lights were only letting one or two cars through at a time.

“This morning people were coming along Cross Street trying to join our road — they must have seen it was too busy on Lees Road.

“And then there was all the traffic joining the road from Shaw Road and Ripponden Road — it was really bad.”

A Springhead resident said it took him 45 minutes to get to Mumps.

“When coming from Cross Street to the new junction, the traffic flows into one lane on Lees Road but there’s no reason why it can’t run two lanes of traffic to feed into Mumps,” he said. “There are boulders everywhere but no significant roadworks going on.

“The traffic was queued all the way back for miles — it took me 45 minutes to get from Springhead into the town centre. I can normally get to work in under five minutes.

“The delay from the old roundabout on to the bypass is twice as long as it used to be. It’s just not free flowing at all and it’s illogical.”

A council spokesman said traffic officers were yesterday assessing the problem.