Birmingham City Council admitted last week that the £11million scheme to widen the Chester Road is to continue until Christmas, and that some elements might not be completed until 2016.
Drivers who have been contending with jams for over a year were left seething by the news that the project’s completion date has been pushed back for a third time.
When contractors started work on the site in June last year, the council had said the project would be finished by the following July. They then revised their estimate to October and, with that now behind us, it has been confirmed that the schedule has been put back yet again.
The latest admission that some of the work may drag on into the New Year will mean that the project has lasted over six months longer than originally suggested.
And it follows farcical scenes last Thursday, when a road was resurfaced overnight only for the tarmac not to have dried in time for the morning rush hour – resulting in hour-long tailbacks.
The No 71 bus, one of the main services through Chelmsley town centre, was among a number of routes affected by the congestion.
Many road-users have taken to social media to condemn the way the authorities have handled the situation.
Simon Hague said: “The Spitfire Island roadworks are an absolute joke, taking far too long and days go by with seemingly nothing happening.”
Another irate motorist tweeted the council direct, asking if the scheme would be completed “before the turn of the next ice age.”
A council spokesman pledged that the “bulk of the work” would be finished before the festive break, blaming the repeated delays on complications moving utilities.
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