Coach company dreading delays amid road closure

A Warwickshire coach company says the closure of a major A road has left its staff dreading traffic chaos when children return to school after their Easter break.

The A46 in Kenilworth is closed until 1 May for HS2 works, with drainage and resurfacing projects to follow a completed bridge installation.

Luke Lewis, operations manager at Ridleys Coaches, said the closure had already meant heavy traffic in nearby towns and villages, causing the company delays. He added the issue would be exacerbated when the new term started.

HS2 said it recognised the closure would have a major impact on drivers, but suggested that two years of disruption had been avoided.

"By building the [bridge] to one side and sliding it across during a solid three-week closure, we can avoid two years' worth of lane closures and speed restrictions – and get traffic moving again as soon as possible," a spokesperson said.

The closure has been in place since Friday 11 April, just as schools broke up for the holiday.

Mr Lewis estimated the closure had already cost the family-run company - which provides services to schools, businesses, clubs and other private hire bookings - thousands of pounds, adding everyone in the office was "dreading" the first week of the new school term.

"We've had to accommodate all of our school runs with a half-hour earlier departure time to accommodate the road closure, but I'm sat here thinking about it now, after the bank holiday weekend, thinking it's not enough," he said.

"I may have to adjust it again which is more and more time for us all here, and more and more expense."

Mr Lewis said the company had to send out replacement drivers because delays on the roads meant some were approaching the maximum amount of time for which they were legally permitted to be at the wheel.

The company ran several coach trips over the Easter bank holiday, heading to destinations including Rome, Pompeii and Tuscany.

"We had one vehicle... we bought it in 45 minutes earlier to accommodate for the road closure and it was still late picking up passengers, because of the volume of traffic through the local villages," Mr Lewis said.

"It's taken so many hours trying to plan for, bringing additional drivers to accommodate the change which is at our expense, nobody else's expense."

Mr Lewis suggested the road closure could have been implemented overnight, a time when they had fewer service departures.

"To avoid that road completely, it's having a massive knock-on effect on us as a business," he said.

A signed diversion route is in place, and once the works are complete, there will be lane closures on the north and southbound carriageways, with a speed limit of 50mph until Thursday 31 July.

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