25 June - Crossrail to take over more Abbey Wood parking spaces
Those
of us who live in the north of the borough are going to lose our train services
for each of the next three weekends. It’s probably a pretty safe bet that the
track realignment that was done ten days ago
is going to be extended all the way back to Abbey Wood station. With the station demolition due soon
nearby roads will inevitably suffer. Large vehicles can at present only reach the
station site via a difficult reversing manoeuvre. It’s far from satisfactory.
To alleviate the problems Gayton Road which runs parallel to the railway
line will lose all its parking spaces, the terminating bus stop for route 224
and the exit from the Gayton Road car park. Wilton Road will lose parking spaces
at its northern (railway) end from both Bexley and Greenwich sides of the road.
In a second phase of alterations Wilton Road, currently a one-way street, will
be changed back to two-way working as it was until ten years ago. Wilton Road is currently
only just wide enough for single direction traffic so further parking restrictions are planned. A new exit
from the Gayton Road car park will be constructed in Fossington Road.
Two Wilton Road traders have confirmed to me that they received no advance
warning of these changes. They may well be inevitable but even fewer customers are
in prospect for them for the next four years; except perhaps for the
take-aways which seem to be popular among Crossrail workers.