Cllr Joanna Biddolph today urged Cllr Katherine Dunne (Hounslow cabinet member for climate, environment and transport) to act to stop the gridlock experienced throughout Chiswick during the closure of Acton Lane. Jo had been lobbied by residents and business owners, one of whom said, "Chiswick used to work. It doesn't work now" and another who described the consequences of the closure as "an absolute shambles". The problems were included in an article on Chiswickw4.com. Jo's email to Cllr Dunne and the link to the article are below.
Dear Katherine,
This full closure of Acton Lane, without warning and in the middle of its planned partial closure, has been a disaster. I have attached photos that show the inadequate signage, the barriers and the total gridlock that resulted from the full closure. This cannot be allowed to happen again.
Further, this closure coincided with tube closures because of planned works on the District Line between Earls Court and Ealing Broadway and Richmond. Was there any co-ordination that considered the lack of tube travel options - options that will inevitably have increased road travel?
Chiswick roads are already affected by displaced traffic because of the closure of Fishers Lane which has restricted internal north-south driving. Apart from supporting around 48,000 residents, Chiswick has been an east-west through-route since Roman times and its extensive retail and hospitality economy makes it a significant destination for people in towns nearby, from well-beyond Chiswick and from outside the borough who come here to spend their money here. The council should be proud of that. Instead, it is actively working against it with scheme after scheme damaging Chiswick's economy and restricting its residents' and businesses' lives.
As one trader said to me on Friday, "Chiswick used to work. It doesn't work now."
Travelling east-west and north-south must be supported to enable Chiswick to work for everyone - residents, businesses, services, visitors, the council which derives income from its council tax payers, business rates payers, its CPZ and parking charges - and to enable all forms of transport to work. Instead, bus drivers and passengers were stuck in gridlock, too.
Road closures must be monitored, with transport and/or highways officers at the site assessing what needs to be done to compensate for the damaging effects closures have on movement of traffic and, therefore, the lives and livelihoods of residents, business ratepayers, people and business workers who support its residents and businesses, people and business traffic travelling through, tourists and others.
Residents showed common sense by recognising that temporary traffic lights could have been installed at the roundabout to regulate driving from all directions. Temporary traffic lights would also have enabled north-south travel on Acton Lane along one carriageway during partial closure. Drivers are used to this method of traffic management and a well-organised scheme will be respected and appreciated, with moderate delays expected and accepted. There is no evidence that this option was even considered. Instead, barriers went up causing anger and intolerable gridlock.
Traffic lights on Turnham Green Terrace at the junction with Chiswick High Road could have been adjusted to improve traffic flow. Instead, they continued to let three to four cars through at a time - nomal operations for normal traffic were not adjusted for exceptional operations and exceptional traffic.
Was Scoot functioning on Chiswick High Road or anywhere in Chiswick? If so, why didn't this result in improvements in traffic flow?
Another option would have been to re-open Fishers Lane to alleviate the gridlock on Turnham Green Terrace which became the only north-south route as a result of Acton Lane being closed in both directions. Again, ideology overruled practicality.
In short, there were no compensatory actions to help traffic keep moving. Instead, blockades went up.
I am very sorry that SSE workers were verbally abused, and I do not support breaking the law, but abuse and ignoring the directional signs are symptoms of the enormous frustration local drivers feel after being not only disregarded but also actively discriminated against by a council with a one-sided narrow view of road transport. Drivers within Chiswick set off on necessary journeys, assuming that a traffic management system would be in place, only to find that a five or 10 minute journey took 40 minutes or more because traffic flow was not being managed. Drivers from outside Chiswick will have set off on essential journeys not knowing about the local Acton Lane closure only to find themselves caught up in the ideological anti-car policies of a narrow minded council that erects barriers, instead of implementing positive traffic management measures. No wonder tempers raged.
There is now no flexibility in the heart of Chiswick. Residents and businesses are being abused by rigid restrictions driven by ideology, not practical traffic management. The consequences are even greater anger. It is in the council's power to change this.
Shouldn't the council be working for its residents, its business ratepayers, its local economies, its visitors, its future - not against them?
Jo
Councillor Joanna Biddolph | Chiswick Gunnersbury
Article in chiswickw4.com: http://www.chiswickw4.com/default.asp?section=info&page=contube077.htm
