Bexleyheath town centre road network to see substantial closures and changes

Work is set to begin next week on changes to roads and roundabouts across Bexleyheath town centre only installed a short number of years ago.

A total of four roundabouts to the south of the Broadway as well as major roads will see “safety improvement work” so it “continues to be sustainable”.

This stretch of road was only put in place around 2016-17 when Place Services worked with Watermans Group and Bexley Council. The authority have given a list of dates starting next week:

Phase one begins on Monday 7th October until Friday 11th October at Townley Road roundabout beside Bexley Central Library.

Traffic travelling east/west along Albion Road will be unaffected however traffic heading down Townley Road (such as the Superloop buses) will be diverted either via Oaklands car park roundabout or the Highland Road roundabout and make an about-turn at these.

Phase two will begin on 14th October at Highland Road roundabout near new homes and Bexley Magistrates’ Court with traffic travelling east/west unaffected but turns into Highland Road will be via Townley roundabout and the Gravel Hill roundabout.

Phase three will begin on 21 October southbound on Gravel Hill. Gravel Hill will be shut southbound between the Broadway roundabout and the Albion Road roundabout beside the Marriot hotel.

Traffic and bus disruption

Phase four will begin on 28th October at the Albion Road and Broadway roundabouts. That has the potential to cause large-scale traffic disruption including to many bus routes.

Work will see Albion Road closed eastbound from the Albion Road car park as well as Gravel Hill between Albion Road and Broadway and westbound into Broadway from the roundabout.

Phase five will begin on 4th November at the Albion Road and Broadway roundabouts. The council state “further details will follow on any diversions needed once known.”

No exact reason is given by the council in their notifications of exactly why a road layout less than a decade old is seeing work which could cause major disruption.

In terms of bus impacts, the council notes “no bus stops will be closed during any of the safety improvement works. TfL buses will follow the main diversion routes and journey times may take longer”.

I’ll chase up exactly what and why these changes are happening. Major town centre changes lasting only a few years is a continuing problem. Woolwich has seen numerous major projects lasting a short period of time, and recently I covered how the current £25m project is already looking less than great.

Running a site alone takes time and a fair bit of money. Adverts are far from enough to cover it and my living costs as a private renter.