Sutton Bridge roadworks misery starts in earnest

Four weeks of misery has started for motorists today as road works at Sutton Bridge get underway.

Drivers heading to Lynn this morning reported being stuck for more than 45 minutes with long queues of traffic building around the surrounding areas.

Some motorists have also reported seeing cars overtaking the traffic queues while others have parked up and walked to workplaces in the village.

Temporary three-way traffic lights are in place at the Cross Keys Bridge as a £100,000 refurbishment project gets under way to resurface the bridge.

One commuter Alison Plastow, a stop smoking practitioner for One You Lincolnshire, ended up abandoning her car on the side of the road in Sutton Bridge and walking to work.

She works from Sutton Bridge Medical Centre every Monday and left her home in Whaplode half-an-hour earlier than unusual in anticipation of the travel disruptions caused by the bridge works.

“Normally it only takes me 15 to 20 minutes to get there,” she said.

“I thought I would go through Long Sutton and avoid the A17, but traffic was queued back from the start of Sutton Bridge.

“I left my car at Tears on the side of the road and carried everything to the clinic. It took me ten minutes to walk and so I arrived late.

“Other people are arriving late too and patients are missing appointments, but hopefully it will calm down and people will be better prepared as the week goes on.

“It seems it’s not the case of people going via Wisbech it’s people trying to get to Sutton Bridge.”

Another driver, AJ Weir also encountered problems as she travelled from Lincolnshire to Lynn.

She said: "This is going to be a long four weeks of suffering. Looks like I’ll be leaving at 6.30 from now on then . Literally moving four spaces at a time."

While Nigel Chapman, who was also travelling from Lincolnshire to Lynn, had a different story.

He said: "My work commitments currently take me to King's Lynn four times a week so I was dreading the onset of this work.

"Today, I left home 35 minutes earlier than usual in preparation for any tailbacks. I got to Sutton Bridge at about 7.15am and it was hardly any different from normal but the picture on the Norfolk side was very different. There was already queuing and slow-moving traffic back to the A17 turning to Walpole Cross Keys, probably about three miles in total."