Watford ring road: Traffic lights to be revised after delays

Drivers have faced delays into the town centre in recent weeks - with queues snaking back towards Watford Arches on some days.

Central Watford county councillor Stephen Giles Medhurst says a set of traffic lights on the ring road is to blame for the delays.

But following a site visit from a Hertfordshire County Council on Friday, it has been agreed the timings will be switched to how they were before the pandemic.

An exact date for the changes is yet to be confirmed with the council's safety team still to be consulted.

Cllr Giles-Medhurst said: "We all agreed that we needed to revert the lights back to pre-Covid timings which means taking out the suspended banned right turn out of the High Street.

"This will at least get us back to the same flows that we had pre-Covid. It will not stop all the issues, but as it stands, the congestion, stop-start traffic, and queue jumping is a concern here."

Traffic on Watford ring road between Water Lane and Lower High Street

Last spring, when restrictions were introduced on Watford High Street due to Covid, the phasing of lights at the junction of the ring road and Lower High Street were changed.

Pedestrians were given more time to cross and ring road drivers had to wait to allow Lower High Street motorists make a right turn that was previously banned.

The new timings had a knock-on effect on other junctions on the ring road.

Related: Traffic light timings on ring road blamed for delays in Watford

Cllr Giles-Medhurst told the Observer last month: "The issue is the lights from Stephenson Way go green but the lights at the junction with Water Lane then go red, so traffic just joins existing traffic.

"But there is already traffic held there because the lights at Lower High Street are also red. Nothing appears to be linked to allow for one of the three junctions to clear totally.

"It takes most vehicles three changes of lights to get through these sets as they do not appear to have any alignment."

The Watford Borough Council traffic marshals currently in place to stop drivers getting onto the High Street are set to be moved to the junction of High Street and King Street as part of the latest change.