A COUNCIL boss has admitted a multi-million pound roundabout near Worcester opened to drivers before safety issues were publicly exposed because of a series of administration errors.
The full extent of the fiasco surrounding the £8million Ketch island improvements was revealed at County Hall during a meeting of Worcestershire County Council’s scrutiny committee.
Director for business, environment and community John Hobbs told councillors an internal investigation had discovered three areas of concern.
A key safety assessment document containing a warning about a serious risk of ‘head-on’ accidents because of its initial layout was not passed on to the designers of the scheme for their response, according to Mr Hobbs.
He also told councillors the island was signed off as complete despite there being a ‘significant’ number of incomplete jobs such as road markings.
The island was also opened a week ahead of schedule before senior council bosses expected, leading to members of staff being disciplined.
The Ketch Roundabout – used as one of the main routes into city – opened to the public last May but safety issues were exposed when Powick county councillor Tom Wells uploaded a video on his Facebook page.
Viewed by more than 86,000 people, the video showed drivers having to stop suddenly, after realising they were in a merger lane, to avoid a head on crash at the Carrington Road Bridge exit.
The video prompted the county council to make vital changes to the scheme so any potential crashes would be avoided.
Speaking at the meeting on Friday (January 22), Mr Hobbs said: “Critically, the addendum to the safety audit included the following words: ‘Problem traffic travelling towards Malvern from eastern direction have just prior to Carrington Road Bridge a short length of carriageway in which they have to merge.‘Summary, west bound traffic whilst competing for road space maybe subject to side swipe collisions as the two lanes merges into a single lane. Moreover this could lead to a potential head on collision should the traffic fail to merge’.”
Mr Hobbs added the fiasco had ‘sharpened’ up the council’s work force and said vital improvements were put into place .
“We’ve never had a safety glitch like this before and there’s no brilliant explanation for why it happened,” he said.
“The project management of major projects has been reconfigured and the role of ‘clerk of works’ has been introduced which is supportive of the project team. And we now conduct a driveability test for all major projects.
Coun Wells told the Observer he was pleased the council had responded but said it could have lead to devastating circumstances.
“I’m pleased the director has accepted my criticism and will now ensure there is proper strategic management of future major road schemes in place.
“Without my campaign it may have taken a tragedy which would have prompted the council to take action,” he added.
