County council officials boosted of having “hit the milestone of joining up the Ely bypass from end to end” but not even they could explain this extraordinary bit of ‘parking’.
The white van man’s calamitous driving was captured by Ewan Logan but even he could only speculate about how the vehicle came to park up on a newly built – and unopened – roundabout.
The photos have been shared widely on social media in recent days but neither the contractors building the bypass or the council – facing a £13m overspend on the project – have offered an explanation.
Meanwhile the council is relieved we are nearing completion following the installation of the final viaduct beams over the River Great Ouse.
The southern bypass will connect the A142 at Angel Drove to Stuntney Causeway, including bridges over the railway line and the River Great Ouse and its floodplains.
The bypass will ease congestion in and around Ely by providing a new link between Stuntney Causeway and Angel Drove to the south of the city. It will remove the need for heavy goods vehicles to use the railway level crossing, and avoid an accident-prone low-bridge.
“There is still a lot to be done but great work from all the teams involved,” said a council spokesman.
Surfacing on the east roundabout (Stuntney Causeway) and the east embankment has now started. The work to finish the roundabout will involve moving traffic on to either side so that the centre can be accessed by site teams.
This will be managed using temporary traffic lights during off-peak hours of the day and occasional night closures of the A142.
The spokesman said: “This work has been planned to minimise the number of closures required to keep disruption to a minimum.”
The bridge deck will be constructed throughout the summer and the council say disruption to the public will be minimal with small closures of the footways on each of the flood bunds and the river.
“We’d like to thank people for their patience in advance and consider this when planning any journeys,” he said.
There will be short periods during which temporary traffic lights will be in place on A142 Stuntney Causeway and Angel Drove. These will operate between 9:30am and 3:30pm to avoid disruption during peak hours.
There will be overnight closures on the A142 to finish work on the roundabouts. This will be carried out from Monday 4 until Friday June 8, between 9pm and 5.30am.
The council says overspend on the bypass was due to having to sink piles deeper into the soil to avoid the massive sections of the overpass sinking.
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