Motorists say their lives have been made a misery by temporary traffic lights causing tailbacks on one of the main routes through Fife.
Drivers have reported being stuck in queues for more than half-an-hour at a time on the A915 at Scoonie roundabout in Leven as a result of roadworks. The lengthy waits have prompted calls for urgent action to alleviate the situation.
Contractor SGN is manually controlling the signals between 7am and 7pm and are said to be working seven days a week to try and speed up the process, although the traffic light arrangement is expected to remain in place for weeks.
With drivers reportedly “jumping” the red lights and blocking traffic at roundabouts further up the A915, the result has been chaotic, particularly at peak times.
The issue has now been raised by local Conservative councillor Linda Holt, who said motorists’ “road rage” is evident on a regular basis due to the jams.
She said: “Three community councils I have attended in the last week have been up in arms about the traffic delays on the A915 at Scoonie.
“Being stuck for 30 minutes-plus is unacceptable for commuters and must be costing businesses money they can ill afford.
“The contractors have clearly not given enough thought to the impact of their work on road users.
“I hope Fife Council will now urge them in the strongest terms to keep the duration of the work to the absolute minimum and explore ways apart from the current inadequate operation of manually operated lights of keeping traffic moving.”
Kevin Smith, lead professional for roads network management at Fife Council, said talks have been held with the contractor in a bid to ease the problems experienced.
“These temporary traffic lights are in place for SGN’s mains replacement scheme and unfortunately this section cannot be completed without using temporary traffic lights,” he noted.
“Generally, this is a very busy section of road and the temporary lights are slowing the traffic down with peak times proving especially difficult due to the sheer volume of traffic.
“We have raised the length of time drivers are waiting with the contractor and have had assurances that workers on site will monitor the build ups and make every effort to try and reduce the congestion.”
