Cuckoo Corner latest

The new junction is not yet fully operational, but will be completed soon.

Executive Councillor for Transport and Planning, Councillor Mark Flewitt, said: "We want to reassure residents and visitors that contrary to recent reports, when the junction works at Cuckoo Corner have all been completed the traffic signals will definitely make a major improvement.

"Although the construction works are well on schedule for completion at the end of March they are not finished yet, and inevitably there will still unfortunately be some delays as we undertake the final parts of the project.

"We want to make it very clear that the causes of these hold-ups are the lane closures - not the new traffic lights.

"We fully understand that when people saw the new lights working they may have believed the junction works were virtually finished. However, we still have more work to complete.

"For the safety of pedestrians crossing Prince Avenue (close to the junction) our contractors installed and switched on the lights before the Pelican Crossing was removed.

"This allowed them to remove the old crossing in Prince Avenue and replace it with the new one to make sure pedestrians still had a safe, controlled crossing available. 

"It also means that we have been able to introduce the new pedestrian crossings on all approaches to the roundabout. There are now controlled crossing points over all of the roads.

"Work is now under way on Prince Avenue to complete the new third lane and resurface the footway.

"To minimise disruption to residents we are using off-peak lane closures between 9.30am and 3.30pm and we are monitoring the use of the junction throughout.

"As the construction work progresses we will be able to start to maximise the capacity of the junction and also take full advantage of the advanced controls these traffic lights are capable of.

"We ask motorists to bear with us during these final few weeks of the project. You will be able to experience a huge improvement there very soon."