After enduring an hour in a traffic queue I found the cause was that the roadworks contractors had set up a four way traffic light system with equal duration for each of the four directions. Two of the roads were from small local roads which had no cars come out during the four sequences in which it was visible while the other two were the main road from Salisbury and Andover to Swindon. This used an extra half gallon compared to the amount I usually use on that trip but multiplied by the number of vehicles in a two mile queue the wastage is enoumous.

This sort of stupidity is inexcusable but looking at how often it occurs I am beginning to wonder if it is a deliberate government policy to make road use as unpleasant as possible an therefore a match for rail travel.
Am I just unlucky or have other road users noticed similar ocurrences?

Absurd roadwork traffic light phasing like this seems to be endemic. You mention fuel waste - then factor in emissions, loss of productive time, frustration (leading to accidents?) etc and the scale is indeed enormous.

A few years back, the government appointed a "transport czar", Rod Eddington ... he was supposed to deal with this kind of avoidable stupidity. Another broken promise.

My opinion (only)

Of course its deliberate government policy

If anything isnt government policy I think you will
find its been banned.

They even have a minister in charge of it,
Thus ensuring continueing chaos and no
hope of improvement.(forever)

On the bright side "We are the Brits" hurrar

(Try not to fall into their traps)Ha Ha.
:)

A few facts for you

Some years ago the M4 motorway was left in a state of complete chaos as a result of roadworks around junction 23. This caused jams for miles through the tunnels between 25 and 26 in both directions.

When the Welsh Office set out their strategy for building the 'Malpas Road Relief Scheme' (which was nothing more than a ploy to get traffic to drive from Newport to Pontypool WITHOUT going through Cwmbran to use the free parking there to shop) guess what was on the front page of the "white paper" ? Yup. The pictures of the traffic chaos caused by the welsh office's mucking around miles away.

The Malpas Road Relief Scheme would, the welsh office admitted, cause an increase in traffic over the old trown bridge. Yet what was the first thing Neport Council relished doing ? Shoving in damn BUIS LANES that snarl it up even more.

THEN they built the "Southern Dstributor Road" marketed as a fast dual carriageway road joinging junction 24 to junction 28. They spent the best part of two *****y YEARS mucking about and in the end we had a road DELIBERATELY DESIGNED to have a speed limit of 50 - ten miles an hour SLOWER than the road it b*****y well replaced.

THEN they went on to dig up the whole road network through the middle of Newport and as a result the "city" (sh*thole more lioke) is in chaos daily.

It is, of course, a plot by the friends of Jonathan Porritt to snarl the motorist up to the point where they die of boredom.