Traffic trouble rolls on as light meter goes live
(CNS): There was little relief for any drivers trying to get through the Hurley’s Roundabout junction on Wednesday, after the new light meter on South Sound Road went live earlier than expected. At around 5:30pm CNS conducted a straw poll of motorists stuck in traffic jams along Crewe Road, Old Crewe Road and South Sound Road, and found that they were as frustrated as ever, with the majority concluding that, if anything, the traffic was worse.
The new light installation went live Tuesday and not all drivers were aware that the light was in operation, as officials from the National Roads Authority had indicated that the light system would go live next Monday.
As a result, many were still using Old Crewe Road as a cut-through in an attempt to beat the traffic congestion along Crewe Road towards Hurley’s Roundabout. But with the new light slowing down the South Sound Road traffic, the jam was far worse for drivers along both of those roads, without giving much relief, if any, to drivers using Crewe Road.
Traffic was still backing up to the King’s Roundabout and the Linford Pierson Highway, which is the issue the new light system was designed to address.
CNS asked drivers what they thought about the new light system. Some thought that the situation had not improved and the congestion was as bad as ever, while others expressed significant frustration that it was a really dumb decision that had made things worse. None of the drivers we asked believed that, at this stage, the light is making any positive improvement to the evening commute from George Town to the Eastern Districts.
With less than two weeks to go before schools reopen, commuters hoping for some relief may be disappointed. Around 4,800 vehicles pass through the Hurley’s Roundabout during evening rush hour, and it now appears that the sheer weight of traffic in the area remains problematic.
Category: Local News
Upsetting! This calls for referendum against the lights! And I am prepared to verify my signature too!!!
Government announces that something new and shiny is being activated on South Sound road.
Curious people decide to flock and take that route, adding substantially more traffic on the road.
People declare corruption and a total waste of money and failure by all concerned.
Few days later the idiots causing the bottleneck finally stop bragging about how they love taking south sound road and old crewe road off the roundabout to get east.
A week later the traffic is noticeably better when two lanes stop yielding as much to one.
Good ol Cayman. Fighting change every day.
I declare the light a success! I don’t use the roundabout, but it is much more pleasant now that driving an extra 10 miles through South Sound is no longer considered to be a short cut from George Town to the eastern districts.
South Sound Road is just under 3 miles long.
Sure it is, but how do you get there?
From the centre of town to the Grand Harbour roundabout via Smith Road and Crew Road is approximately 3.6 miles.
From the centre of town to the Grand Harbour roundabout via South Church Street and South Sound Road is 14 miles.
Stop those racing down Old Crewe Road as it gas become a raceway. Speed bumps, make it one way, enforce the morning no turn sign no ody pays attention to.
Old crew road need to close at south side. Same with Prospect point drive.
Old Crewe Road is fine. It has no speed limit sign, no lines, and will be receiving whatever treatment it is going to receive as part of turning the OCR-SSR junction into a roundabout in good time. No need for speed bumps. How can it be a raceway when it is such a short road anyway.
The next Premier will need to be from the Eastern districts if anything is ever going to be done about the traffic on this island
The best thing that can be done to improve Cayman’s traffic problems is to get rid of the roundabouts!!!
The best thing to thing to do is to stop idiots like you from using them.
At the very least your dumb comments will stop!
Just wait till we get our 50 storey building. You ain’t seen nothing yet in terms of traffic chaos on Grand Cayman.
Okay … just one thing: what will the penalty be if you run the lights ???
I suggest an auto parking pole is used.
And what if an emergency vehicle has to pass through? The car parking pole may obstruct the way
An emergency vehicle either can’t get by or would have a potentially life-threatening delay getting by currently. There is nowhere for cars waiting to enter the roundabout to move aside.
You’ll have to ask the 5 or 6 idiots who ran it last night…
Maybe we can gift the govt some video game consoles so they can learn some basics from Sim City
The word is give not gift
Gift is grammatically correct
It doesn’t actually take any enforcement. In the UK they just make a road like that into a cul-de-sac by closing it off at one end. Yes, this would occasionally be frustrating for a small number (if they closed the south sound rd end and you lived next to it you’d have to go all the way around via Hurleys to get to South Sound rd) however the upside is you now live on a safe and quiet street (which normally increases property values).
On balance this is a net positive for everyone. Yes, people would grouse about it at first because people don’t like change. Trial it with temporary barricades for a week or two and see if people long for the days their residential street was an urban speedway.
You are so right. But watch this space for no action.
From reading the comments it sounds like there are some hopeful signs that this will have a positive impact. However, plenty of comments indicate it doesn’t go far enough to prioritise the main route. Having said that it is good for them to introduce one change at a time to see whether it has a positive impact or not. Kudos to the NRA for finally showing a willingness to experiment.
There are lots of other opportunities for temporary traffic lights (i.e. traffic lights that are only active at peak times) or layout changes o be used to allow traffic to flow more efficiently. NRA, please take note.
Here are some other examples:
1. A light for west-bound traffic turning right into Hurleys. Let traffic going straight or left flow but hold up cars turning right until several can all go at once. This minimises interruptions to the eastbound flow. (Rush hr only)
2. A light for west-bound traffic turning right into Crewe Rd or the King’s centre. Same logic as above. (Rush hr only)
3. For the love of God, make Agnes Way for access only. This completely pointless “short-cut” of a road just gums up the traffic going West in the morning AND East in the evening. Better to force drivers to choose either Crewe Rd or LPH, rather than letting them switch half way for no particular reason.
Simply put, there are far too many routes to get from George Town to Hurleys. Each route fills up and has to give way to the others. A whole line of traffic needs to stop to yield to one single vehicle from another route. Better to stop the whole line less frequently to yield to a whole bunch of cars at once. i.e. a traffic lights on the minor routes.
It takes time but eventually people will learn to take the major routes rather than trying to skip the lines on the minor routes.
Same thing in the morning going the other way. Have one main route along which traffic flow is prioritised. Any interruptions should be prevented (eg by making residential roads access only), disincentivized (eg traffic calming) or minimised by the use of temporary lights.
Agnes Way is part of the fastest route, in normal traffic conditions, from the east up to SMB, via the road next to the runway and the new connector road to the CNB roundabout, and up the bypass from there. Same coming back. You can get from Grand Harbour to Camana Bay in under 10 minutes that way. The alternative is going all the way to the end of Linford Pierson and then up Bobby Thompson where you can get stuck at the light, and I have observed that if you get stuck at that light, you tend to get stuck at the Jacques Scott light too on your way up. Adds five minutes to your journey. So one vote here for keeping Agnes Way.
If you’re going towards the airport or Fosters, you should be using Crewe Road. It doesn’t make sense to use Agnes as a cut-through – it causes more traffic as cars stop and try to merge into the right lane where Agnes turns onto Crewe.
I love the way you think it should stay open because it’s the fastest route FOR YOU! Had it occurred to you that it saves you five minutes because it costs another hundred drivers 10 seconds each? And that if everyone did it, it would cease to be faster.
This isn’t about keeping the fastest route for impatient douchebags, it’s about achieving the best possible traffic flow.
Unfortunately for you that means closing apparent shortcuts that allow people to jump the line.
I may be an impatient douchebag but did you not read where I said “in normal traffic conditions” i.e. not rush hour? I am talking about daytime, nighttime and weekend driving, when one car does not inconvenience another simply by using a particular road. The roads – all of them – are for all of us to use.
If you want an example of disproportionate inconvenience to many that benefits only one or two, look no further than the blocked north exit to the new roundabout by the runway. That road was cut up, paved, connected to the roundabout, marked, everything, with public funds, and just because there is a house next to it, the government has closed it to traffic from the south. They knew a house was there, and the occupant(s) knew a road was going in. Having built the road anyway, now the government closes it. In the process they’ve given the occupant(s) a new parking space with the use of signs and barriers, on top of what was supposed to be public road. Not that I have no sympathy for the elderly man and anyone who lives with him, but the entire motoring public takes precedence.
I live off Old Crewe Rd, i purposefully left work after 5:00 yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly i made it to the Kings roundabout, i had a guest arrive at 6:00 who used Crewe Rd. He said there was very little traffic.
Be patient, its going to work, just don’t expect Old Crewe Rd to be a short cut. It should be no left turn there during rush hour.
Make old Crewe Road local access only. It shouldn’t be that hard.
MOCRGA!
Brilliant
Traffic Lights, really? When has that ever solved a traffic problem? If anything it contributes to further delays.
Close down the short cut roads, improve traffic circle entry/exits and get to work building the by-pass road!! The volume of traffic coming from the Eastern Districts has increased dramatically over the past 10 years, yet our MLA’s do nothing about it (but add a traffic light – Jesus help us). Get off your arse and start doing something about the problem. Eastern Districts need help too. It can’t all be about West Bay Road. (mic drop)
What is really needed, but a bit late, is for the Government to plan Cayman and to plan it for the peace, progress and safety of us the Caymanians. When they do that we will have a peaceful, progressive and safe place where we feel a sense of pride and identity and where foreigners will still want to visit and stay forever. Is there anyone else out there who feels that our interests and needs are not Government’s priority?
Thank you DART.
You want a solution that is costly but is worth it: BUILD A BRIDGE OVER THE NORTH SOUND. We got water space – use it 👍🏼
Unsightly. Build a tunnel underneath it.
Expensive. Start a decent bus and water taxi/ferry service.
Unity Govt. printing money Bobo.
Build a Star Trek transporter..problem solved. Thank you.
Build a second generation teleportation station at the Duck Pond. Exit at the Camana Bay roundabout. Problem solved.
Just bring in Lyft.
All that is required is a causeway from the Head of Barkers to Rum Point. Incorporate one bridge to allow boats to pass in and out of North Sound and the problem is solved.
causeway no. that single bridge would act as a funnel and muck up the north sound. a bridge might be doable but not a causway.
The sign indicates there is red amber and green. There is only red and amber. Both Red and Amber mean stop. When exactly can you proceed? Or does Amber in Cayman mean something different. Metering lights in the USA are red and green. Could we not have at least gone by convention?
Amber means proceed with caution
No it doesn’t. In the USA it is a flashing amber light that means proceed with caution. In the UK it means stop, unless you have passed the stop line.
This is Cayman. Amber means floor it.
1.15pm In actuality in Cayman, it is red that means “floor it”.
Read the road code. You will find you are wrong.
Road code schmoad code
They make this stuff up as they go along, not following the UK as they should (because we drive on left and we are a BOT). Made even more confusing by US-style turning on red traffic lights, and the appalling standards of driving and enforcement of the road code here. Clearly if they are reading it, nobody understands it including the police it seems.
With this particular traffic light; Amber means go.
Therein lies the problem. Not following the standardised convention. Perhaps we can think of more ways to confuse tourists.
The Cayman road code says Amber means stop. The NRA has now decided amber can have two purposes. Not exactly a good safety culture to promote.
The NRA and RCIPS are a bunch of idiots who do not communicate with public much less them selves.
Green would indicate to tourists that you can just proceed freely and they wouldn’t stop to yield.
You aren’t required to jam brakes and stop if you see yellow but can clear the intersection.
Amber means stop so how does that help? Green has never meant to proceed freely, it means ‘go’ if safe to do so.
It is actually the opposite. You are required to stop at the intersection unless you have already passed the stop line and the light turns amber. Your post explains a lot about driving standards in Cayman.
I think for everyday purposes for most people, the rule is in-between this and what the poster above said. It’s more like ‘if you would have to come to a screeching halt because the light has turned amber when it was green until just before you got to the line, you may proceed through’. I’ve also never heard of someone being ticketed for ‘running an amber light’.
I agree with you, but there are many that also believe that even though they have time to stop, it is better to accelerate.
Time to stop all debates.
Public buses! Overpasses! Nothing else would work! When a delegation going to Bermuda?
Solution – Make that little stretch of old Crewe Rd undesirable to drive down. Four big fat juicy speed bumps. It would be even more brilliant if they could be raised/lowered depending on the time of day. Like say, 4p-7p
Movable speed bumps do exist but that would take someone to physically do it twice a day.
I use that road several times a day so no thanks to the speed bumps. There is no speeding problem there and that’s the only problem speed bumps are indicated for.
no speeding problem?! I live on that road… cars routinely go 50 mph down that road. Cars pass other cars. It is RIDICULOUS with speeders!
I defer to you because you live on that road and I am merely around the corner from it. I personally have never had a car go past me at quite that speed but the odd car will do 40+, you are right.
People just need to learn how to use a darn round about! Use your indicators! People cannot read minds! Police should be enforcing the use of indicators Island wide, but that’s too much work. let’s just install a traffic light at a round about! I wonder who came up with that bright idea….
Since the police don’t seem to know how to use their indicators themselves on roundabouts….
I’ve had the joy/misfortune of following a few police cars through roundabouts and watching them change lanes in the last couple of weeks and I saw them use indicators once in the approx 10 mins I was following them for. Plus they were speeding!
I would question if they even know how to use indicators themselves either at roundabouts or in general. If they can’t use them themselves, how can they enforce that law?!
I get your point, but Police speed too (don’t know how to stay within the speed limit) and still enforce the penalties. The true problem is, that if it involves to much work, in the eyes of the RCIPS officers, they aren’t interested in fixing the problem. They’d much rather hide behind/ under a tree with their speed gun out, ironically on a round about (by pass heading to morgans harbour, WB) and give tickets for going 3-5 mph over the limit, but do not bother to ticket people for not indicating. Blows my mind!
Thank you 🙂
It is a little ridiculous and a lot hypocritical! I have no issue with them speeding when they have their sirens on – that’s their job and they do that to protect us/help people – but general driving around breaking laws – how can they expect others to follow it if they don’t set the example?
And giving tickets out for 3-5 miles over the limit is ridiculous!
I agree that they don’t seem to want to fix the problem. I saw them blatantly ignore someone on a dirt bike, sans helmet. do a wheelie going in the other direction the other day. The mind boggles!
The idea all along is to frustrate drivers using south sound road. They dont want you driving through there. Remember the house on the seaside near the newly installed light that had rocks in front of their wall to stop you from parking by their wall? They dont want you down in south sound.
Dont blame the NRA workers. They take instruction from the Ministry.
Nice conspiracy.
At the end of the day, one south sound lane is taking priority over the highway. Something needs to be done to prevent the unnecessary merging.
anon 0818 you do realize that if we do away with the south sound road the traffic line coming through the Lions center straight will line up to beyond west bay. They need to leave the traffic and let it flow. I would deal with old crew road as there are many cars that come through there that force themselves into the traffic including some that drives on the edge of the road until they find space.
You sound like one of the people that speed up to block people that are on a merging lane.
Anon 0320 it’s real obvious that you know nothing about what you are saying. Ps if your meeting lane comment had to do with traffic coming through old crew road to south sound. There is no meeting lane just the one you make.
Unnecessary?? Please explain.
Cutting down old crewe road causes all cars on south sound road to have to stop to let in the cheaters who increase the amount of yielding needed from the highway lanes. People using south sound road instead of going down the highway also increase the need to yield.
BOTTLENECK. Say it a couple times.
How hard is this to comprehend?? Jeez.
Actually with this new system traffic may flow in the opposite direction on old crew road.
I have never seen such ignorance. Whoever came up with dumb idea of a traffic light on a road that has the right of way is either so stupid, he has his head where his “you know what” is suppose to be, or, he is not brave enough to get the police to stop the illegal use of Old Crew Road, by those selfish m***ns, who think they have the right of way when they come to South Sound Road. God help us.
You’re the stupid one lol. Stopping people from cutting through old crewe road is only part of the problem. There’s still a steady stream coming from walkers road. The light makes perfect sense and just needs fine tuning.
Maybe you’re the one with your head up there.
i agree. at 5:30pm yesterday it took me less than 5 mins to get from downtown reach roundabout to hurley’s roundabout. Usually it would take up to 10mins or so.
give it a chance
The cars in that “steady stream” represent tired working people just like you who want and need to get home. A lot of people live in South Sound and need that road to flow freely to be able to access their front doors, never mind how long it takes to get to them. A traffic solution for the civil servant, middle management classes living between Prospect and Bodden Town that creates an unbearably long, painfully slow commute from George Town *to its suburb* South Sound is not fair or sustainable for any period of time.
When pulling out of the schools onto walkers, head north towards LPH instead of the southern mouth of walkers.
Thank me later.
I already learnt my lesson Tuesday night when I sat on South Sound Road for an hour. Last night on the advice of friends I took the bypass. It was indeed very quick for rush hour in Cayman. I didn’t have to stop or even slow behind any car until I actually got to the bit of South Sound Road I live on. What’s funny in my case is that if I take the bypass, I actually have every right to cut into traffic from Old Crewe Road *because I live on South Sound Road in-between Old Crewe Road and the roundabout*. But if I do that, I get stuck in the cars at the light. So I now have to drive past my destination, along Crewe Road, through and around the roundabout and *then* down South Sound Road going west in order to get home. It’s a strange thing when you can’t use the street you live on to get to your home.
Instead of complaining about the traffic on a single laned South Sound road, why don’t you ignoramuses just stop trying to go that way and use the new double lane highway??
Old habits die hard but if everyone took the highway and didn’t have to yield to the right, it would actually have a higher throughput.
See, here is proof. They want you to stop using south sound road. You are destroying the peace and quiet of their road that you pay for and making too much noise when they using their new boardwalk that you paid for too.
By the way, the traffic light that has been installed to make you stop using south sound road, you paid for that too.
Thanks Alden and Joey.
Road authorities want traffic to be mainly on highways instead of residential roads.. and you call that corruption.
Idiot.
If that was true Fairbanks road would not be the racetrack that it is.
In that case tbey should have built the LPH and Grand Harbour roads with 8 lanes instead of 4
You need to ask Alden why he didnt think of that.
That explains it! For the last two days I’ve been home in a flash (under 10 minutes) – but I’m not one of the selfish people who rat runs down residential roads to get priority at the roundabout.
keep in mind children are still out of school so those 10min will change very soon
The traffic light will only work if there is also one stopping vehicles from the eastern districts when the South Sound light is on green. Otherwise, South Sound traffic will never be eased.
I think the round about lights will work.
the traffic from eastern district at that time of the day is not heavy and doesn’t usually cause any issue.
There’s more of it than you think and with most drivers not indicating whether they’re going through to Crewe Road or around to Grand Harbour just one car coming from the east means in practice South Sound cars stay put; no one wants to be the cause of a rush hour collision in the middle of that roundabout.
Due to this being the only way in and out of town towards bodden town it makes this roundabout a high-traffic situation. I suggest lights at each entry point into the roundabout as-well as lights within the round-about just before entry-points to the roundabout. Lights needs to put a high-priority to those heading into bodden town in the evenings and high-priority to those heading into George Town in the morning to increase traffic flow. Currently we have a yield situation which doesn’t scale well and is more ideal to low-traffic situations. Take for example, the Eastrop Roundabout in Basingstoke, UK or the Chiswick roundabout in Chiswick, UK which utilizes this format.
There’s also the fact that we need a proper public bus service that can reduce the amount of cars on the road but, that’s another problem.
why not just put darn normal X intersection and normal lights. Gee, works for the majority of the US, Canada, and europe. But hey…england one small island does it this way, so …so should we.
Right, Anon 9:29! Roundabouts are creations of the Devil!
Roundabouts are a lot safer than other intersections. No chances of head-on collision on a roundabout. You will also find most of Europe uses them not just England, I think France is the leader.
Not safer when 90% of the population does not know that an indicator is a standard feature on any car, and meant to be used! Idiots!
A decent bus system and a charge for parking would solve the problem and help slow down global warming.
The worse traffic I ever faced on South Sound thanks NRA and Ministry of Planning and Infrastructure.
That’s the point to discourage people from using South Sound to give the two lane highway priority, seems to be working!
Glad to see a lot of positive comments and can’t understand why people coming out of the Lions Centre Road (sorry – is that part of Crewe Road?) at Hurleys are still being held up when there’s nothing to stop them free-flowing at intervals…? NRA need to block Old Crewe Road at rush hour except for residents, and if they won’t it’s up to the South Sound lot to stop letting drivers push in. Those drivers are the sole cause of the back-up on the South Sound route.
There are still the cars coming from East that are turning into grand harbour or not using their indicators so you have no idea where they are going.
Wait till Alden and Austin put in their Selkirk to Grand Harbour connector if you think that’s a problem now…
I admit that I am not regular user of that road – but, the few times I have been up there at rush hour – there is very little traffic coming from the east.
The indicator problem seems to be island wide, and I see that on a daily basis in and out of Camana Bay on to the large roundabout. People appear not to know where they are going and just use any lane they feel like. That is something the police should be addressing – but for some reason, don’t.
Which reminds me – I must ask Dart people to do something about the weeds on the fencing by Solaris Avenue which prevents people exiting that road on to the three lane road, from seeing what is coming. Apart from the fact that there shouldn’t be a junction at which cars have to stop – on to a three land road where traffic is going very fast – it makes matters even worse not being able to see what’s coming…
how can it make any difference you still have the same amount of vehicles leaving georgetown
Because they know they enter the roundabout first and then monopolize it so the crewe road drivers cant get on – hence the issue.
Yes 10.15, but those trying to barge ahead of the traffic by cutting through Old Crewe road are slowing/stopping the flow from GT area heading East.
It’s about the number of obstacles in the way. If you have 5000 cars who have to come to a complete stop and yield to a trickle of cars from South Sound, that takes time. But if you have 5000 cars who can pass through the roundabout without coming to a complete stop, it doesn’t take as much time.
Eliminate the roundabout completely.
Block of South sound. That’s residential.
Make hurleys supermarket an entrance/exit at RBC/
The more side roads the more traffic.
And 150$ ticket for not indicating, tailing or speeding.
A traffic police car visible at any location on the island.
3 tickets and goodbye license.
bring in mandatory car pooling for rush hour…
single occupant cars must pay $5 at certain check points…
easy, free, money making solution…
Public bus transportation like in Bermuda now. This nonsense has to stop.
It is simply not sustainable adding thousands of new vehicles to the road every year.
Have you used the bus system in Bermuda for any length of time? Buses that don’t show up? Or go on strike for a week or so at a time so that commuters can’t get to work except by taxi?
Yes, they have a great system there, _when_ it actually runs. Or the buses don’t drive by you and not pick you up…. I lived there 5 months and it was absolute hell to use the buses when trying to commute! Completely unreliable.
I agree we need a good bus system here, but not like Bermuda!
$5 to get home..? You mussa mad.
only if you are not car pooling….
lol, where do you live? I’m venturing a guess that it’s not in any of the Eastern Districts. You gonna give me a ride to my many destinations once I reach GT? Probably not. So Unless you’re suggesting mandatory car pooling for the entire island, your idea sucks!
people in cars complaining about taffic…..zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Crewe Road should be local access only eastbound from Jose’s to Tropical Gardens from 4:00pm to 7:00pm on weekdays. Problem solved.
it might help slightly but it is not problem solved…
You don’t know where I live. I can assure you, it’s problem solved.
Absolutely useless. Traffic was worse than it has ever been with South Sound travelkers backed up all the way back to Walkers Road junction, something that has never happened before
Totally agree but just do it permanently. There is no reason to be taking Crewe Rd no matter which direction you’re going when there’s a perfectly good two lane highway running parallel. If it was closed except for access then the traffic on the highway would flow much better in both directions.
This could at least be tried for a week or two at some point. Block it halfway along so that residents towards the east end have to go to the Kings centre roundabout. A slight inconvenience that would be worth it to have light traffic the rest of the time (surely a net benefit even for Crew Rd residents).
All this will do in the long term is push all the traffic back over to Crewe Road. Watch.
and since they are being given better priority, the flow from here will be faster.
thanks for your endorsement!
My commute home tonight shorter than in the past. Thank you CIG/NRA!
civil servant plant…
It was much better and movement of car was faster for sure. Thankful for this new light! It will in curb the use of those alternate routes that were a significant part of the problem.
I found traffic moved more smoothly this evening. I kept checking my watch, thinking it was 7pm, instead of 6pm.
Let’s see what happens when school is back in session.
Traffic was horrendous on Tuesday on South sound, backed up beyond Walkers road after 6pm. Today I was an hour earlier and it was definitely worse than usual as well.
because even if the light on south sound is on green, if traffic from the east is coming down you still can’t move………so you may sit several signal cycles before you can get out………..
There is no green light
The light will work to “tame” the ignorant, aggressive and impatient drivers.
I am shocked at these results….I thought for sure it would work
Where oh where is the lol button
lol
I drove through Crewe Road this evening as usual and it took me less time than it normally does for me to clear the Hurley’s roundabout.
Shhhhhh
Imagine you have idiots bragging they still use old crewe road despite knowing they are the cause the bottleneck
I know – I listen to people at work talking as if the sky has fallen in due to this traffic light without a shred of irony that they delay the clearing of traffic by using Old Crewe Road. Access only would help, but that takes enforcement!! Making that traffic light the biggest pain in the arse imaginable is the best solution.
I am no the original poster, but did you notice they said Crewe Road and not OLD Crewe Road?
Get rid of the roundabout. Put in traffic lights with turning lights. Time the traffic lights according the traffic.