Forum Topic

Who Gets the Traffic from the New Wandsworth Gyratory Plan?

It is very generous of these nice property developers from China to fund a new design for the roads around the centre of Wandsworth. It will be interesting though to see how the people who live in roads that will get the traffic displaced by the new more pedestrian friendly design that is promised will react.

David Parker ● 3922d11 Comments

The consultation report is out now and it claims that 57% of people responded generally positively to the proposals.However, there were only 700 responses and only half of these came from the immediate area. This is too low a response rate to reach a firm conclusion as it wouldn't take much effort from those with a vested interest that the project proceeds to distort the results.Interestingly the majority of people who responded to the consultation did so because they were registered emailed due to having an Oyster card in the Wandsworth area. There doesn't seem to have been any other publicity for the consultation other than this which is problematic because by definition this would tend to target public transport users.There does seem to have been some concern from local residents with people from Fairfield Street, Armoury Way, Broomhill Road and St Ann’s Hill raising concerns about displaced traffic. However, there weren't many of them.What is likely to happen is when the changes start taking effect people who live on these roads and others in the area will ask why didn't anybody warn them what was going to happen.

David Parker ● 3209d

It would be interesting to see details on this but the consultation seems to have come out in favour of the new plan. Given that the questions were a bit slanted to try and manipulate the answer they wanted a 61% response in favour is a bit lukewarm but they are likely to press ahead. I think the real opposition will kick off once the full implication of the plans becomes more widely know.See: http://lookwestlondon.com/waandsworth-gyratory-removal-gets-positive-reception/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

David Parker ● 3515d

I think the point is that cyclists and pedestrians aren't necessarily a good mix and that collisions do occur quite a lot because bikes have no engine noise and, to be frank pedestrians can be dozy. I say this both as a dozy pedestrian and regular cyclist. Hugh's point about Oxford Street is one that would be best illustrated by a visit to an area in which courier cyclists play a game of dare with tourists by racing through crowds of people. They tend to be very aggressive if any one gets in their way. Collisions occur regularly but clearly are far less likely to end up resulting in a serious injury than one involving a car.

David Parker ● 3627d

Exactly how fast are these "hurtling" cyclists going exactly??! It does seem rather ridiculous that we are happy for cars to go through the one way system at speeds that cyclists can never get up to but not happy to make it safer for cyclists and pedestrians with these proposed changes.

Naomi Hobbs ● 3696d

To me it's simple arithmetic. Basically, we currently have 4 lanes coming in from the east and four lanes going to the west. The proposal is to reduce this by half which is going to cause chaos. Armoury Way which has a lot of flats is going to bear the brunt of it whilst the fairly seedy Wandsworth High Street with its take-aways is going to become some bucolic pedestrianised zone. You only have to look at Oxford Street which is for buses and cycles only (allegedly) to see how dangerous it will be with cyclists being given free rein to hurtle through at great speed. The clue to all this is a TFL document which can be found on line "The financial viability of the whole Ram development depends on this new traffic system". The developers wouldn't have gone ahead if there was the slightest doubt that the scheme isn't a foregone conclusion. I urge people to have a look at the leaflet that you have probably had through your door - it just doesn't make sense. Some roads like Buckhold Road appear to be completely blocked off with nowhere for people to go when they get to Southside. My guess is that we're stuck with it whether we like it or not.

Hugh Walton ● 3703d

The thing is demand is not actually rising. Vehicle movements in London have been on the decline for sometime probably due to the increased cost of motoring (car purchase prices have fallen so car ownership has increased but people are using their cars less due mainly to the cost of petrol and parking). The average speed of a car in London (i.e. the level of traffic) has increased despite there being fewer car journeys. If you could reduce the amount of traffic you would reduce the amount of cars on the road because journeys would be quicker. It is highly debatable that the benefit of the reduction in traffic would be outweighed by more people suddenly deciding to start reusing their cars again.

David Parker ● 3752d

People will adjust travel plans and traffic management and calming measures can be introduced to ensure that displaced traffic is not an issue. You can't solve London's traffic problems by constantly expanding road capacity to meet demand.

Mark Evans ● 3829d

I'm not dismissing the potential of better routes for cycling to reduce traffic but if road 'improvements' involve reducing the capacity of existing trunk roads leading to an inevitable increased use of residential streets by displaced traffic more people on bikes will be little comfort to the people who live in the new rat runs.

David Parker ● 3830d

Or that walking/cycling short trips will become much more attractive choice than getting in a car and people will choose accordingly. For most people cycling isn't a viable choice today given the horrific street environment.

Jon Irwin ● 3830d

So basically what you are saying is that the traffic will get so bad in and around Wandsworth that a certain proportion of vehicles on the road will simply give up and the traffic will then get better?

David Parker ● 3921d

Traffic won't necessarily go through local side roads. Most through traffic in Wandsworth isn't starting or finishing in the local area and this will look for alternative trunk roads to reach its destination. Other traffic will simply evaporate because there is no longer an easy way for it to get through the area.

Mark Evans ● 3922d