Hammersmith Flyover Closure
West London braced for Traffic Chaos
Transport for London accused of poorly publicising works as Mayor say no to request for Piccadilly service at Turnham Green
Expectations
of severe traffic disruptions across West London on Monday morning are
widespread as the impact of Hammersmith Flyover's closure on the first
rush hour hits.
So far there has been relatively little disruption from the closure which took place from 9pm on Friday. However, motorists are being advised to steer clear of the area during the working week and some are predicting tailbacks beyond Chiswick roundabout on the A4.
TfL has come under heavy criticism for the notice that was given about the works and the level of publicity about the flyover closure. Andrew Glass of Hammersmith said that he felt that there was very little local awareness of the problem. "The closure is well signed on the A4 itself but the impact will surely be far wider than that. Many people will get into the cars on Monday morning and have no idea why there is such a log-jam."
Philip Croker, an IT consultant from Shepherd's Bush said, "The Mayor can afford to spend millions on publishing the Londoner to tell us what a wonderful guy he is but when we he needs to keep us informed about something that there is no votes in he suddenly has no money. Maybe they have done simulations that show that the disruption won't be that bad but I doubt it."
Residents of Chiswick were hopeful that a Piccadilly line service would be introduced at Turnham Green during the closure. Cllr. Ruth Cadbury who has executive responsibility for transport matters at Hounslow Council had written to the Mayor urging that it be temporarily introduced but the request was turned down.
Hounslow Council have introduced a range of emergency measures in Chiswick to facilitate traffic flow particularly of public transport. Parking restrictions have been extended on Chiswick High Road and bus lanes will operate on a 24 hour basis.
We are trying to make sure the site is as up to date as to the progress of the work and likely impact but TfL are not notifying us of the latest developments. The jam cams which are usually available on-line are not operational at the moment because TfL have taken them off-line for some technical work.
August 2, 2003