Traffic misery for Kettering to Corby drivers set to continue till December

The cones are blocking the left hand lane of the A43 northbound carriageway between the hamburger roundabout next to Prologis, and the new A43 / A6003 roundabout.

There are no roadworks planned for the A43. The lane closure is ain place to make it safe for vehicles from Network Rail contractors Carillion to access a makeshift car park off the A43. The workers are creating an extra railway line to increase capacity between Corby and Kettering.

But the lane closure will be in place until December and fed up road-users are already facing long delays at rush hour - which are only set to worsen when the school summer holidays end.

Northants County Council road bosses asked the contractors to shorten the planned lane closure before work started, but say they will now ask them if they can come up with any other solutions to help motorists.

Drivers have phoned the Northants Telegraph and have taken to social media to voice their displeasure.

Corporate affairs manager Tracey Davies from Corby said on Twitter: “I witnessed a lorry nearly take out the cones earlier trying to merge and it’s bound to happen again.

“Until December is ridiculous. Any other route for me is a big diversion so I’ve little choice.”

The lane closure is placed at a point where the right hand lane also closes, meaning traffic from all three lanes has to merge into the middle lane.

A spokesman for Northamptonshire County Council said: “A lane has been coned off on the northbound carriageway of the A43 north of Kettering to allow site access for works traffic.

“This traffic management is there for the safety of the public and traffic having to exit a dual carriageway, with a 70mph limit, into the site

“The site has large vehicles entering and exiting through what is effectively a field access point off the A43.

“We received proposals for this work some weeks ago and after reviewing them, saw the potential for the coned-off lane to be reduced so that it didn’t cover such a long length of the A43. We raised this with the works promoter who is undertaking work on behalf of Network Rail and they amended their plans.

“It is planned that the traffic management will be in place until December this year. We will raise the concerns with the contractor so that they can review whether there is any potential to amend the layout.”

The road that is closed was formerly part of the A6003 but was reclassified as part of the A43 when the Corby Link Road opened two years ago. The A6003 now starts at the Corby Link Road roundabout and goes north to Corby.

Although road users will have seen Network Rail vehicles on Barford Bridge, the Cariliion contractors are working on the Glendon Iron Coyes bridge, just off the A43 north of the hamburger roundabout.