8 February (Part 2) - Are we done yet? Not quite
In October last year Bexley Council announced that the road works that have been in
progress around Abbey Wood station since March 2017
would be completed by
Christmas with just the odd bit of tidying up to be done in the New Year.
They were almost right; there were only a couple of carriageway pinch points left after December
but photographs show that nothing much has been improved since then. Not in Harrow Manorway anyway.
Gayton Road is a lot less cluttered with building materials and
work recently
restarted on Felixstowe Road. Presumably the negotiations with land owners
blamed for
the delay fewer than three weeks ago have been resolved. Even on its revised
schedule Felixstowe Road is running five months late and 19 months late on the original estimate.
Around
the station parking is severely restricted by ever more draconian rules; maybe they are needed given the behaviour of some motorists.
In Photo 3 the dark area to the right is provided for station pick ups. There is another out of sight on the left.
Five minutes maximum waiting time is not enough given that trains are very
often late but the restriction is not likely to be strictly enforced and drivers should stay with their vehicles.
It is an OK sort of compromise given the demand for parking space and the lack of it nearby.
However there is no end to the laziness of motorists, they have to park as close
as possible to the station. Can’t have someone walking a few yards more than absolutely necessary can we?
I have so far only seen one parking ticket issued for pavement parking where shown in Photo 3.
There is a better solution for the terminally lazy. Park in the bay provided and
get the passenger to use the station lift. Even less effort and it empties straight into a correctly parked car.