FURTHER changes are coming to Bruce Street Bridges, but this time they won’t involve digging up the ground or lengthy periods of roadworks.

Ever since the major overhaul of the junction was completed early last year, critics have been calling on Swindon Borough Council to change the way priority is given at the point where Kemble Drive and Rodbourne Road meet.

As it stands, traffic leaving the roundabout to join Rodbourne Road must yield for cars making their way from the direction of the Designer Outlet along Kemble Drive.

At busy periods, the roads in the area, particularly Rodbourne Road, can become snarled with traffic. Residents have argued that changing the priority would instantly produce improvements but until now, their calls have appeared to fall on deaf ears.

Mannington and Western ward councillors have also applied pressure on the council to re-think the road layout and this week they welcomed a decision to switch the priority around.

Jim Robbins, ward councillor and Labour spokesman for highways, said: “It is clear that Rodbourne residents have been disadvantaged both by the ridiculous overrun of the roadworks at Bruce Street Bridges and by the road layout which caused long tailbacks on Rodbourne Road.

“We hope that the changes will allow Rodbourne residents to save time on their journeys and make Rodbourne Road less congested.

“With the new Aldi store being opened soon, the changes will be needed more than ever.”

His fellow Mannington and Western councillor, Kevin Small, added: “At long last the council has come to their senses and agreed to make the alterations to the roundabout layout that ward councillors and residents have been demanding since the new roundabout system opened.

“It was obvious they had got it wrong, it’s just disappointing that it has taken so long for them to admit their error.”

The work is programmed in for August 30, the contractor will be on site after 9.30am to avoid peak traffic.

A spokesman for Swindon Borough Council said: “Whenever we complete major highways schemes we always monitor traffic flows to see if any improvements can be made.

“In the case of this junction we also spoke to residents, shop owners, motorists and the local ward councillors about the effectiveness of the new road layout to see if changes could be made to ease congestion.

“Following this we carried out a series of trials over a number of months to evaluate traffic movements, while further traffic modelling was also undertaken to take into account the new Aldi development off Rodbourne Road.

“All this work showed that changing the priority would benefit the effectiveness of the junction.

“The change to the priority will take place next Wednesday and we would urge motorists to use caution when using the junction until they become more familiar with the new road layout.”