Plans have been unveiled to fix "real problems" close to a popular Nottinghamshire retail park. Issues have been ongoing for a number of years with motorists blocking both lanes into Victoria Retail Park, Netherfield, as they attempt to go to and from Nottingham city.
As a result, a box junction close to the McDonald's at the site is set to be implemented at the end of April. The box junction was supposed to be in place between March 6 and March 10, but plans were pushed back due to poor weather conditions.
Conservative Mike Adams, city councillor for Carlton East, uploaded a video to Facebook in November 2020, saying the "backlog" traffic causes problems for motorists in Colwick, Netherfield, Burton Joyce and other parts of Gedling. He also stated the absence of a box junction creates safety issues - particularly for emergency services trying to get in and out of the area.
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Councillor Adams said: "We have a big problem with cars blocking access with cars coming inbound from Burton Joyce. It is causing a backlog into the city because there's cars coming in from Colwick Loop road from Gedling and pulling in. They end up blocking both lanes.
"So you end up with a massive backlog that keeps backing up and backing up because the people who just want to go straight on can't go straight on. What I did was a video quite a long time ago now, in November 2020.
"Once I recorded that video, I got lots of feedback at the time from people who say they have a real problem getting through the junction. I got so much feedback from that post that we were starting to look at measures right away.
"We've been talking to the Crown Estate, who own Victoria Retail Park, to look at alternative ways for dealing with the traffic once it ends up on their site. So we've been talking with them already to try and look at slightly better ways to deal with this.
"One example was to dual the inbound lanes going past McDonald's, so they'd both go one way. So then if there is a queue at McDonald's, people can still get into the retail park.
"We've also dealt with some of the traffic light syncing as well. So we try and improve things, but we've still got this issue."
Cllr Adams also suggested a new entrance as well as another exit to help ease congestion on the site itself. But he said the planned box junction would help people get around on the highway, which is a "priority".
He added: "It's causing big delays for people trying to get in and out of Nottingham as a result of these backlogs. It is a bit of a pain.
"It does provide a bit of a safety issue as well in terms of emergency services trying to get in and out. There are all sorts of knock-on effects.
"Also, we want to enforce it with a camera if we need to. If people don't adhere to it we'll need to look at how we deal with it, in that sense."
Conservative councillor Sam Smith, ward for Trent Valley, weighed in on the issue, stating that the congestion is "particularly bad on weekends." He said he was stuck near the retail park for more than 20 minutes last year.
He added: "I do think it's a very good idea. If you're coming from Gedling Village, particularly on a weekend, you come to the junction where it meets Colwick Loop Road.
"I was sat there for over 20 minutes last year. Because then you've got traffic joining Colwick Loop Road from the Stoke Bardolph, Burton Joyce direction.
"Then the queue to turn left at the junction down from there into the retail park is just tailed so far back that nobody can move. The tailbacks block off the Colwick Loop Road junction with Gedling and Stoke Bardolph.
"What this box junction will do is prohibit vehicles standing still at that junction, which will enable traffic to flow better."
Nottinghamshire County Council has also been approached for comment.
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