The closure of the city centre tunnels predictably brought traffic chaos to Birmingham as Monday's commuters had their first experience of the diversions.
The 40-year-old St Chad’s and Queensway tunnels were closed on Friday night and will remain shut for the next six weeks for vital refurbishment.
Birmingham City Council has urged drivers to either plan other routes, stagger journeys, take public transport or cycle instead.
That advice was put to the test during the first rush hour since the closures – and it became apparent that many motorists had indeed ditched their vehicles for the bike.
Accountant Martin Ludford, 55, left his car at his Selly Oak home and beat the lines of queueing traffic by cycling to his workplace in Newtown.
He said: “It’s taken me about 39 minutes to get into work while it would usually take about 25 minutes in the car.
“I normally come through both tunnels but I’ve avoided them by cycling through the city centre, using the canals, underpass and central roads. I love cycling anyway, and at the moment it’s faster on a bike.
‘‘St Chad’s Queensway looked a lot busier, it would not normally be crawling like it was at 8.50am.”
Gordie Houston, 45, cycled from Walsall to his Colmore Row company where he works as a manager.
He said: “I was thinking of driving in tomorrow, but will stick to cycling because the traffic looks horrendous on the Queensway flyover.”
Project manager Tom Holness, 34, cycled from Balsall Heath to his office near the central library.
He said: “I started at 8.30am and got into work at 8.50am. I use the National Cycle route which runs parallel to Pershore Road.
‘‘It was fine, it was no different to normal and there weren’t any diversions on my route.’’
But city centre taxi driver Brian Burns, 67, started his shift at 6am and said rush hour traffic in some areas was “horrendous”.
He said: “I’ve taken a customer from the back of New Street Station to Snow Hill Queensway. It took me 20 minutes, it would usually take me seven to 10 minutes as I would have normally cut through St Chad’s and Queensway.
‘‘From what I’ve seen the traffic coming from Bristol Road/Bristol Street coming into the city is horrendous. People are trying to find an easy route into town but there isn’t one.”
Trainee tax advisor Phil Jukes, aged 20 and his girlfriend Chloe Scheuber, 18, found their car journey from Bromsgrove to Birmingham extended by 40 minutes.
Mr Jukes said: “It wasn’t too bad until I got to the Mailbox, when it suddenly got slower.
"There was a diversion, so we went past the ICC and cut back in. It added about 40 minutes to our journey which makes me feel a bit frustrated.”
Other well-prepared commuters had left home earlier and planned alternative routes.
Accountant Jay Boyce, 54, travelled by car from Harborne to Edmund Street in the city centre.
He said: “I looked at brumtunnels.co.uk about three weeks ago and planned my route because I like to get in before 8am.
"I looked at where the traffic congestion was going to be which was Bristol Road and decided to come cross city from Spring Hill, Newtown Way. I started 15 minutes earlier and it has been OK.”
Abigail Evans, 26, drove from Selly Oak to get to her company near House of Fraser by 7.10am. She said: “I drove down the Pershore Road rather than the Bristol Road because that leads on to Queensway. I left about five minutes earlier and I was OK.”
Susan Bickerstaff, 52, is saving money and beating the congestion by leaving the car at her home in Solihull and getting the train.
The company secretary said: “When I heard about them closing the tunnels, I thought I would start using the trains for the first time.
“It’s taken me 25 minutes and I’ve halved my travelling expenses.
‘‘I bought a pass for the month for £72, whereas it usually costs £8 to park a day for four days and that’s excluding petrol. I may consider staying on the trains!”
It wasn't as bad as I had feared
BirminghamMail reporter CATHERINE LILLINGTON tackles the cross-city rush hour – with surprising results.
I had thought Monday mornings were set to get a whole lot worse.
And with the tunnels shut for the summer, it took me half an hour to crawl across the city centre.
Yet with carmageddon predicted, I had set my alarm 30 minutes earlier and imagined the longest-ever drive into work.
I pictured smoking bonnets and drivers beeping their hooters in frustration. But it seemed an earlier start, or maybe other drivers finding an alternative route, meant it wasn’t quite the carnage I expected.
And thankfully the searing temperatures of recent days had cooled in time for the first rush hour since the St Chad’s and Queensway routes shut.
To get into the office for 9am I set out from home, in Cotteridge, along Pershore Road at about 7.45am and didn’t hit any real traffic until just after Edgbaston cricket ground.
By 8.05am I was at Belgrave Middleway – no different from a normal journey. An alternative route pointed west, towards Broad Street.
With only three cars in front of me I turned right into Bristol Street and once I got to the other side of the tunnel under Pagoda island it was about 8.15am. It was a stop-start journey from then on as a line of traffic snaked above the tunnels.
Others around me were calm, perhaps, like me, surprised it wasn’t worse.
I parked up at Fort Dunlop a massive 25 minutes early.
