A STORM of protest has been heading Somerset Council’s way after the authority tried to blame Storm Goretti for six-mile traffic queues on the A39.

The queues built up on Friday due to work to replace ageing traffic lights at the Dunster Steep junction.

The council claimed the storm had damaged a temporary traffic light sensor despite no other reports of the storm causing damage in West Somerset.

Motorists who had been caught up in the delays on Friday reacted furiously on social media, with one, Mark Wilson, posting: “Local council officials in denial over poor traffic management planning.”

Another, Paul Mansfield, said: “Took well over an hour to get from Watchet to Dunster this afternoon, and we are promised four months of delays.

“Wow, could build a new housing estate in a shorter time than that.”

Peter Spiers said: “Nothing whatsoever to do with the storm, most of which passed us by.

“There were long delays, one hour plus, from start of play on Monday, and still are right now.

“I have just seen it backed up to Ellicombe roundabout.”

Others complained they had been late for work and their children late going to school and that the delays had been going on since the work began on January 5.

On Monday (January 12), traffic was queued from Dunster Steep across the Ellicombe roundabout, along the length of Seaward Way, Minehead, and to the gates of Butlin’s, as weekend guests tried to leave.

Carhampton resident Alan Hemsley said Monday’s delays should not have come as any surprise for anybody who knew the area.

Mr Hemsley said: “I presume no officer thought to look at the problems we had when the cycle path was under construction to know that no works can take place on the A39 on a Monday or a Friday.”

Another West Somerset resident David Parkes said: “If a scheme requires months of traffic disruption, it is by definition under-resourced.

“Either the workforce on site is insufficient, or the working hours are unjustifiably restricted, or both.

“For a project of this nature, for an intersection such as Dunster Steep on that main arterial road, you need an accelerated/night or extended-hours scheme.

“This is best practice and what major authorities use on critical routes.”

“While an unfair comparison, if this project was in China, it would be completed within one day.

“In the US it would take two to three days over a weekend.

“Trenchless methods would have been used, reducing open excavation work by at least 50 per cent, work would be done at night and temporary lights, a lazy option, would not be used.

“The contract would also reward fast completion, which I doubt is at work here.

“Residents deserve infrastructure that is competently delivered, proportionately planned, and professionally managed.

“At present, this scheme meets none of those tests.”

Somerset Council said the Dunster traffic signals were 30 years old and needed to be replaced to avoid them breaking down.

It estimates the work will take until May, with temporary traffic lights controlling vehicle flows and a ‘no right turn’ ban for drivers leaving Dunster.

The Free Press has approached the council for comment.