Works by Thames Water bring double trouble for drivers
Drivers and bus passengers on New Kings Road and Fulham Palace Road are being warned to expect long delays from today, with two different sets of roadworks expected to bring traffic grinding to a halt.
Until September 18, works by Thames Water around Putney Bridge Station mean that Fulham High Street will be closed southbound at the junction of Putney Bridge approach, with ony lane remaining open on Putney Bridge Approach. Gonville Street, which runs east to Putney Bridge Station, will be closed westbound for five weeks.
As we reported earlier, Putney Bridge bus stand is also closed. This means buses on routes 39, 85, 93, 265, 270 and 414 are all ending their journeys on Putney Bridge Approach, causing further congestion.
Separate roadworks being carried out from Monday by Thames Water in Mortlake promise further congestion from Monday July 27.
Thames Water's work replacing Victorian means that Clifford Avenue, the A205 South Circular will be closed to all southbound traffic for six weeks.
Cars, vans and small lorries will be diverted from Chalkers Corner via the Lower Richmond Road and Sheen Lane and back to the South Circular at Upper Richmond Road West. But because there are a number of weight and height restrictions in the Barnes area for railway crossings and low railway bridges, a separate diversion is to operate for vehicles weighing seven tonnes and over.
These vehicles will be diverted towards Hammersmith Broadway, then down Fulham Palace Road into Fulham High Street and over Putney Bridge, before rejoining the A205 in Wandsworth.
Nick Morris, Director of Road Network Performance at TfL, said: "We have liaised with Thames Water and ensured that they carry out the works during the summer holidays when there will be ten per cent fewer road users on the A205.
"We ask motorists to bear with us while Thames Water carry out these upgrade works and we will do our best to ensure that disruption is kept to minimum."
Neil Franks, Senior Project Manager at Thames Water said: "We will be replacing over 300m of old Victorian cast iron water mains as part of our essential work to reduce leakage in London.
" We appreciate that work of this nature does bring inevitable disruption, but this work will bring benefits to the area for years to come, as we should not have to carry out repairs here in the future.
" We are working closely with TfL to reduce the impact on traffic and thereby minimise disruption. We apologise for any inconvenience these works will cause road-users."
July 27, 2009
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