Residents and councillors in west Ipswich have spoken out of the frustration they felt waiting for work to begin on a new link road.
In September 2022, plans were revealed for a connecting road between Europa Way and Bramford Road to help ease traffic in the Whitehouse area of the town.
These plans were approved in February 2023.
Suffolk Highways announced that the work on the new road would commence on September 9 and last for several months with completion hopeful by the end of April 2025.
Traffic in the area has been a big problem, with the poorly synchronised traffic lights at the Sproughton Road junction, Jovian Way being closed off to cars and not having a link between the two roads.
Since the plans were approved, a number of projects have delayed the start of the work, including archaeological tests on the site.
Originally, there was hopes work would start in spring this year.
Charles Whitfield King, a resident who lives in Bramford Road, said: "It's an absolute nightmare
"Every step that has gone past, we seem to be told to wait until something else comes along and wait until that is finished, and then another project comes up.
"Although I’m very pleased a starting date has been established, this should have been completed long before they blocked off Jovian Way, which the council were only too eager to do as their priority.
"With the councils record on commitments, I will believe the scheme is completed when the road is completed."
Two years ago, motorists used Jovian Way as a bypass to get from Bramford Road to Sproughton Road quicker. This was raised as an issue by residents in the area and Suffolk Highways placed bollards last year to stop that from happening.
Ipswich Borough Councillor for the Whitehouse ward, Lucy Trenchard, added: "We were approached over this issue, and we were asked about the bollards to block access.
"We agreed it made sense, but only once the link road between Europa Way and Bramford Road had been created as this would ease congestion at the traffic lights.
"However, this didn't happen, and now the congestion at the traffic lights is terrible.
"Drivers going straight on have to wait for any cars turning right, but they are waiting for all the cars on the other side, so often traffic doesn't move quickly round there so the lights need to have better sequencing to relieve pressure.
"My fellow councillors for the area, Tracy Grant, Colin Wright and I are all in agreement that the delay in starting the work on the link road appeared to be extending beyond what is reasonable."
Suffolk Highways has revealed that the road will consist of a two-way single lane link road as an extension of Europa Way, and a mini roundabout will be created on Bramford Road to form a new junction.
There will also be a shared footway and cycleway facility on the road connecting Bramford Road to Europa Way.
The work is due to be carried out in six separate phases, with there being temporary two-way traffic lights present throughout the majority of the work.
To facilitate these, temporary traffic restrictions will be placed alongside Bramford Road.
A full road closure will also be implemented on Bramford Road for a short period of time towards the end of the works, anticipated to happen in early 2025.
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