I refer to the Dorset Echo story about the county council going to take up to four months to modernise and improve the traffic light crossing at the Abbotsbury Road junction.

Oh dear!

My mind goes back over 40 years ago when I lived in Bielefeld, Germany which is a comparable sized town to Weymouth. A notice was erected at a busy crossroads informing everyone that on this particular Monday they were going to install traffic lights which would improve the junction and make it more safe for all road users.

It advised everyone to try and avoid using the junction on that Monday. Although it was the main road into the town centre. I should add that this very busy road junction was used by all types of vehicles, including trams on rails with overhead electric wires, and of course pedestrians. On the Monday in question at 6am all the workmen and their equipment arrived and began work.

While there were digging up the road temporary traffic lights were erected to keep all types of traffic moving. I don’t know how many men were working on the project but by 6pm on the same day the busy road junction had working traffic lights for motorists, trams, and pedestrians. Quite incredible when you think they completed the whole project in just 12 hours.

It just goes to show that if things are planned ahead properly with all the necessary equipment and workforce then it does not take four months to upgrade a junction. Of course what you have to consider is that time is money, and if a project can be completed in one day instead of four months that is a big saving.

Also I recall a few years ago in Weymouth when the Morrisons traffic lights were modernised to enable heavy traffic to turn right from the store. That project also took over three months.

M GRANGE

Southill Weymouth