When Bonkers is busy the south of the borough tends to be
neglected, there simply isn’t enough time to report on meetings, attend to
personal matters north of the river and tour the whole borough with a camera over my
shoulder. However with most Bexley council activities taking a couple of months
off, a bit more time has become free.
As an occasional visitor to Bexley village I have been aware of the traffic
chaos sometimes seen on Gravel Hill while Bourne Road has been closed. It must have
been shut for nearly two months now.
Crayford is not often on my itinerary but I know that on the rare occasions I
have headed off in that direction via Bourne Road the reward is usually a long
traffic queue, sometimes as far back as Hall Place.
The cause is always the junction with London Road and the inability of traffic to
turn right into Crayford across a constant stream heading into Bexleyheath.
In my ignorance I assumed that Bexley council was getting rid of the space wasting
triangle of land in the middle of the junction and putting in something sensible, like a roundabout.
A resident who lives not far away suggested I took myself along to take a look
and see if I could see any sign of improvement that he had failed to see.
I confess I could not, neither could two residents of houses facing the works
who I overheard being critical of the chaos on their doorsteps.
Bexley council appears to have introduced their trademark road narrowing and
constructed a simple T junction where the large triangular island used to be.
Maybe Bexley’s road planners are masters of disguise but at the moment there is nothing
obvious that looks likely to improve matters.
A return visit is called for when the road finally reopens.