‘Horrendous’ Bath Road congestion could be caused by faulty traffic lights, council says

‘Eighty car’ traffic jams on Bath Road in Taplow could be caused by faulty detectors on traffic lights at a busy junction, Slough council has said.  

Frustrated drivers have battled problems at the Huntercombe Lane crossroads for months and have faced ‘horrendous’ congestion as traffic piled up along Bath Road.  

Delays at the junction have seen vehicles back up past the roundabout beside Sainsbury’s Taplow superstore in one direction, and up onto the M4 slip road in the other.

“It’s horrendous,” said Taplow resident Kuldip Pipial. “All the time, day in day out, the road is heaving with traffic. It’s just crazy.”

“Comfortably, I would say about 80 cars easy [can be stuck at the lights],” he said.  

Kuldip Pipial

The 57-year-old said problems with the traffic lights' phasing – the length of time lights switch between red and green – was creating an ‘artificial situation’ and posed a safety risk.

Kuldip works as a courier and sometimes has to transport ‘time-sensitive’ medical packages to hospitals.

He said he had to be ‘professional’ when stuck in the ‘frustrating’ tailbacks, but added other road users were not so cautious.

Kuldip said: “I see drivers in cars and other vehicles getting aggravated and annoyed – and then they’re deliberately ignoring the rules of the road because of the traffic.

“Deliberately waiting in the keep clear areas of the Bath Road.”

The critical commuter also raised safety concerns over traffic buildups on the M4 exit slip road, which joins Bath Road at Huntercombe Roundabout.

M4 exit slip road view from Huntercombe Roundabout (photo: Google)

Drivers exiting the 70mph motorway can quickly hit standstill traffic.

“The traffic is horrendous at the junction on the M4 when you come off,” Kuldip said.  

“There would [usually] be a bit of a tailback - you’re coming off a motorway at the end of the day – but not to the degree that it’s backing up to the slipway coming off the motorway.

“Now you’re going to hit that bottleneck. It’s absolutely dangerous because if you’re coming round that camber and you’re not aware – you’re having to take evasive action.”

There had been gas works in the area which Kuldip said could have added to delays.

But he added since work had finished, 'it hasn’t caused the level of the disruption in the last eight weeks or so'.

A spokesperson from Slough Borough Council - the local authority responsible for managing the traffic lights - said they were ‘not aware of any changes to the traffic signals at the Huntercombe crossroads’.

The spokesperson said problem delays could be caused by ‘faulty detectors’ – used at the lights to monitor traffic and determine when to turn lights green and red.

They added a consultant team are set to investigate the lights.