Road upgrades ARE underway in Greenwich
For years this site has highlighted the almost entire absence of work improving roads and street around Greenwich despite a plethora of new housing, shops and a rising population. Sections between established areas and the Peninsula are particularly poor.
TfL and Greenwich Council take turns in passing the buck. The reality is both have failed the area in their respective area of control (though 90%+ is Greenwich Council maintained).
Yet some work is now underway on Blackwall Lane underneath the A102 Blackwall Flyover approach. Some de-cluttering has occurred and a mirror attached to traffic lights for greater visibility. It’s certainly more appealing as a pedestrian even after modest changes.
Information on the wider scheme is extremely limited. All I could find was a notice of “Junction Improvement Works” with work due to end on July 13th.
How much of the area it will cover seems a mystery. Will there be improvements under the flyover I wonder?
Or anything to improve the approaches from the northern side of the flyover near the forthcoming 1,600-pupil St Mary Magdalene school?
If work is due to be wrapped up by the 13th July then the scope is presumably not very extensive.
We’ll have to wait and see.
It’s a bit of a disappointment if all that is to be done. This bit of road is heavily congested every morning with cars approaching the A102 slip road. This traffic blocks buses 188 and 422 taking commuters to North Greenwich station, and sometimes these buses can be stationary for 10 minutes or more waiting for cars to give way to them. In addition, many cars approach the junction in the right lane, and indicate left and sit stationary, thus blocking the travel of the buses. It’s very surprising to me that nothing is being done about this, and I would have expected that some form of earlier lane filtering would have been put in place by now. One more thing is that the bus lane on Blackwall Lane still does not come into effect until 7am, even though the tailback is usually already well-established by that time.
The aim seems to have been to widen the pavements (given the increased foot traffic to North Greenwich station from new developments in the area) and also, I believe, to stop vehicles using the right lane to make an illegal left turn onto the Tunnel approach slip road, albeit I’m not yet sure how the new design actually stops this. Completely agree with the bus lane times – this should be from earlier in the morning than 7 am as at times the bus lane is congested at that time, leaving the buses redundant.
I wonder who controls the exact road space there. Greenwich are unusual in that they have never approved using cameras to enforce traffic violations. It was due to be reconsidered but Im not sure it was. I asked Danny Thorpe but didn’t hear back. Will try again.
When I saw these works I hoped they were aimed at stopping cars leaving the A102 northbound and using the Tunnel Avenue lane (supposedly a straight on) to make an illegal right turn to then immediately turn left onto the slip road to rejoin the approach.
This selfish behaviour greatly delays cars trying to get onto the approach from Blackwall Lane in both directions.
The thing is, from looking at the works, I’m not sure they are doing anything about it!
I only know it there as a pedestrian, not that often but I enjoy the Tunnel Ave walk to or from Royal Standard.
Coming to the listed problems: make a right/left turn illegal, with a (smart) camera above the location. Second: which are very common in use at other areas/cities etc – sensor cameras at the bus lane. Ban taxis and when a bus comes, traffic lights go red and the bus can very quickly continue its road. With being it a hot spot, the fines will feed the kitty to establish it, but of course hopefully zero fines as a success