28 October - Good progress but dangerous
Once a week, usually early on a Saturday morning, I walk the length of Harrow Manorway to see what progress has been made with
turning it into a tree lined avenue; or whatever the idea is!
It’s been chaos down there all week because Greenwich Council has been resurfacing Eynsham Drive. It’s the major route out
of Abbey Wood and it certainly needed to be repaired. The speed cushions had broken up to the point that they were little
more than tyre slashers but Greenwich set about doing the job without a thought for residents and the effects of a total
lack of access all day long. At least when Bexley resurfaced the fly over they did so at night.
Each week I take the same route along Harrow Manorway and cross it where gaps have been provided in the barriers.
On Saturday I went through the long standing gap that leads to a pedestrian refuge, and from there, protected by the barriers, took the usual gap to cross the other half of the road.
When I did so yesterday there was nowhere to go. I had wondered why people were running in the road and walking across the roundabout itself.
I mentioned the problem to one of the Conway men and he went to take a look but when I drove by this afternoon (Sunday) things were no different.
Approach the new works from the East and the long detour was signed (Photo 1) but the barrier gap on the north side of Eynsham Drive (Photo 2)
led only to a barrier (Photo 3) which compelled pedestrians to take their lives in their hands and run for the relative safety of the roundabout.
There is no warning that traffic is using the ‘wrong’ carriageway in Yarnton Way so pedestrians who look only one way as they have in the past could come a nasty cropper!
Something should be done about it before Bexley adds to its already deteriorating road accident statistics.