Contractor in M4 jam fiasco by Sally Nash • The
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Highways Agency has promised to review its communication pr,0 cedures over roadworks follo ing a 25-mile traffic jam which built up when motorway contractors started work earlier than agreed.
The westbound carriageway of the M4 was brought to a standstill when Crawley-based Prismo started resurfacing work at lunchtime, instead of the evenirg as had been planned with Wiltshire County Council and the police.
A spokeswoman for Wiltshire County Council admits: "There was a breakdown in communication."
The Highways Agency, which has apologised to drivers caught upin the delay, says: "We are not in the business of creating traffic jams. We will be looking at what happened to see how to improve communications between our agents arid the contractors themselves."
El A week later, on 1 April, several hauliers were caught up in long delays while contractors appeared to be rearranging a contraflow on the M23 at 21:00hrs. In the resulting jam several trucks took more than an hour-and-a-half to cover the 10 miles between Junctions 8-9 northbound. Even a police car attending an emergency with its blue flashing lights took 15 minutes to get through the section.