GRIM predictions of the gridlock which has paralysed Bishop's Stortford town centre for the last two Saturdays were given to planners and developers two years ago - and ignored.
In May 2005, the town's civic federation first warned that the entrance and exit plans for the £80m redeveloped Jackson Square's multi-storey car park were certain to cause chaos.
When it was first suggested drivers would enter from The Causeway and leave via Adderley Road the message to officials was clear: "We believe the conflicting movements which this will cause will rapidly bring that part of The Causeway to a standstill, which in turn will cause gridlock throughout the town centre."
Since then the organisation has repeatedly told East Herts district and Herts county councils that reversing the access proposals was one way to avoid the worst of the traffic turmoil which has seen motorists queuing for up to an hour to exit the car park - only to join another queue waiting to clear the traffic lights. A second alternative was switching the one-way flow along Adderley Road, Station Road and Dane Street.
Federation vice-chairman John Rhodes told the Observer: "The only surprise about gridlock in the new car park is that it happened as early as the first Saturday following the opening of the enlarged Jackson Square shopping centre."
He was scathing about the response to the alerts from the local authorities. As early as June 2005 he warned that the county's traffic projections were short-sighted, especially because they did not factor in the impact of developing the railway goods yard.
In January last year, once the entrance and exit roads were installed, he repeated his concerns and pressed again for a reversal of the one-way system as a substitute solution, but to no avail.
"We never received a satisfactory reply," he said. "If Herts Highways can't be relied on to foresee a traffic jam as predictable as this one, perhaps our planning authority should seek expert advice from another source before sanctioning any further developments in the town centre."
This week, the district and county councils pointed the finger at each other and denied responsibility.
hollands@hertsessexnews.co.uk