A BUSY Stopsley junction that was altered by Luton Borough Council just over a year ago is to be changed back again at a cost of thousands of pounds.
Residents were puzzled in October 2010 when the council’s highways department took away the slip road at the junction of Hitchin Road and Mount Grace Road.
Concerns were raised that vehicles would subsequently have to slow dramatically on the 40mph dual carriageway to make the right-angled turn into Mount Grace Road.
The council said at the time that the changes, costing £8,300, were made to reduce the speed that that vehicles entered Mount Grace Road, and to reduce the width of the crossing for pedestrians.
But a letter sent out this week to homes in the area said the former layout was going to be re-instated after “requests from local councillors”.
The council says it will also have to remove the pedestrian island it installed in the middle of the junction. Lib Dem councillor for Stopsley, Jenny Davies, said the issue had been “a real saga”.
“I have suggested that the mission statement for the highways department should be ‘if it ain’t broke then don’t try to fix it’.
“They only consulted about eight houses when they did it, and we said with the number of people that use that junction it should have been about 500.
“There have been some very close calls at that junction since they changed it, and you don’t want close calls on the A505.
“The slip road was very helpful as people could slow down before they made the turn.
“They’re talking about taking the pedestrian island away as well, but when you’ve got a road that’s close to a fast dual carriageway it doesn’t hurt to have that extra bit of safety.”