The old Hospital Roundabout on Egerton Road has long been a nightmare for anyone trying to move in any direction, especially at morning and evening rush-hours.  Everyone dreaded having to go through it, especially the people who live in the area.  I was always being reminded by patients and visitors to the Royal Surrey County Hospital and workers at the Research Park of the length of time it took to “escape”.  As the local county councillor, I commented on the situation at every opportunity.  I was delighted when, eventually, the then Leader of Surrey County Council announced that Surrey and the University were each going to put in a large sum of money to take out the old roundabout and replace it with traffic lights.

There were times when the work was going on when I wondered how it was all going to end.  At times it took literally hours to get through the roadworks system but the contractors tried to manage that as best as they could.  The chaos itself proved the need for a change in the area.

I have used the road system a few times since it was completed and my impression is that the situation is better than before.  I hope that will continue to be the case and that people living and working in the area as well as those just passing through to get to other places will spend less time sitting in a queue and wondering when it will be their turn to move.

I will say it is very rewarding to be able to be involved in finding a solution for such a long-running problem.