TAUNTON’S roads are the responsibility of the Highways Authority – Somerset County Council. One of their key jobs is to ensure that necessary roadworks are planned and managed to cause minimum disruption. The current gridlock is caused solely because Somerset Highways have failed to do their job, allowing multiple works across the town and on key access roads at the same time, tipping congestion into gridlock. I agree that opening East Street, at least temporarily, could ease the problems in one part of the town. The county council, as Highways Authority, could have taken this action already, had they wished.