The closure of a major roundabout in High Wycombe caused traffic chaos over the weekend – with drivers flooding single-track country roads instead. 

The Handy Cross roundabout, connecting Wycombe and Marlow to the M40, was closed from 9pm on Friday, September 13, to 6am on Monday, September 16.

The usually busy interchange was shut off to all motorists during the timeframe, including access to entry and exit roads onto the motorway.

National Highways indicated a diversion route through Cressex Road, Mill End Road, West Wycombe Road and Wycombe High Street, but some travellers took measures into their own hands and embarked on more ad-hoc routes through Buckinghamshire’s country road network.

Normally picturesque, leafy green lanes lost their charm when great swathes of drivers all had the same idea, however.

(Image: NQ)

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Michala Fry was stuck in “gridlocked” traffic on Winchbottom Lane in Little Marlow on Saturday after several lorries decided to re-route down the narrow roadway and were forced to navigate “an abandoned vehicle (that was already) in a passing place”, causing vehicles to be “stuck in both directions”.

Locals also got stuck in queues through residential area Seymour Plain – with cars trying to use it as a diversion forced to U-turn on the single-track road, causing “mayhem” for fellow drivers.

The weekend only marked ‘phase one’ of National Highways’ plans to address “the deteriorating condition of the roundabout surface”, with ‘phase two’ consisting of weeknight closures between 9pm and 6am starting today, Monday September 16.

They are expected to continue for nearly three weeks, until Saturday, October 5.