31 January - It’s Bollox to Broadway Day
I got to the top of Gravel Hill around 2 p.m. yesterday afternoon, checked the
light was green and stopped at the boundary of the roundabout to wait for the
traffic coming up from Watling Street until a gap appeared, pulled on to the
roundabout and raised my gaze to look further ahead just as the next set of lights went red.
The driver in front of me decided to block a bus coming in from Broadway which
was lucky for me because I was able to stop against the central island and able
to claim it wasn’t me who was blocking the whole roundabout. It seemed to be
gridlocked for ages but when the light eventually went green I let the bus,
which had edged forward as far as it could, out in front of me, earning a quick
blast on someone’s horn for my patience.
The Highway Department’s expertise had done its job once again. It is absolutely sure it
knows what is best for us, something that became all too clear at
the last Transport Users’ meeting
when the cyclist took them to task for causing eight serious accidents in two years.
For my part I am sure of the incompetence because I have the expertise of the
UK’s EU safety consultant to draw on. (I wonder if he is losing his contract today, I
will ask when I see him tomorrow.)
I am not alone in thinking that Bexley’s Highway’s Manager is not really up to his job, a
Bonkers’ reader sent me this a month or so ago. He reveals that he is one of the
cyclist thrown off his steed by the lack of road design skills within Bexley Council. His opinion of them is
very obviously much the same as mine, isn’t everyoneֹ’s?
1) Bellway towers continue to climb skyward. Fortunately I cannot
actually see them from my house. Standby though for more traffic chaos when
residents start to move in and expose the obvious folly to anyone with even
half a brain cell but swallowed by Bexley Council planning that only a few
will have cars. Many more parking spaces over and above the few included in
the scheme will actually be needed from somewhere. Standby for even more
draconian parking measures in surrounding roads.
2) Still waiting to hear whether Bexley Council intend to reintroduce the
bee in their bonnet about closing Highland Road. For no particular benefit
that can be seen only because they can.
3)The magic roundabout opposite Trinity Church which Bexley Council insist
is a tee junction continues to cause confusion and a multitude of near
misses. Many drivers have been observed having exited Church Road towards
the Clocktower but actually wishing to go towards Welling then doing U turns
in the tee junction to the consternation of everyone. Even police cars have
been seen doing this!
4) The abnormally wide island on leaving the magic roundabout/tee junction
towards Welling only allows one traffic line and unnecessarily obstructs
traffic which wishes to turn into Church Road. It also continues to cause
tailbacks up the Broadway and Albion road
5) Still waiting to see the anticipated hoards of cyclists (even a single
solitary one) using the wide vastly expensive Albion Road cycle lanes. Even
my very occasional use has now ceased since its poor design caused me to
fall off and I do not bounce as well as I used to.
Between the vehicle lane and the cycle lane there is a line of kerb stones. No idea why since a white
painted line would suffice. In some places the two lanes are flush and in
other places the kerbstones are approximately two inches high. From a cyclists
elevation the different sections are not obvious and if they try to move
from the vehicle lane to the cycle lane where there is a two inch kerb then
the cycle wheels follow the kerb instead of crossing over it and the rider falls off.
In addition whilst vehicles are provided with a smooth top surface cyclists
are provided with a rough surface with granite chippings partially embedded
no doubt especially designed to scrape off maximum skin when they can induce
a cyclist to fall off.
The cyclist rep on the transport committee has been made aware of the above
and he agrees poor design but whether he has raised them with the Committee
is not known.
6) Mr. Bashford, the manager, promised wild flowers on the Albion Road roundabouts and the
verge near the Bowling alley. It was said though that it was not the right
time of year for planting and to be patient. That was two years ago. There
is still not much to see of wild flowers merely furious weeds.
7) The usual Bexley Council Highways Dept. inability to design roundabouts is
also very obvious as evidenced at the Albion Road roundabouts and the deep
ruts caused by heavy truck wheels mounting the kerbs.
8) The provision of roundabouts at Gravel Hill to replace traffic lights was
thought a good move. But then Bexley Council had to spoil it all by
installing traffic lights as well as roundabouts and then to doubly
complicate matters installed traffic lights both on and off the roundabout.
A recipe for gridlock.
9) Royal Oak Road where it circles round behind Central library and
Travel Lodge hotel was resurfaced recently but they omitted the section
between the Working Men’s Club and the side of Primark. Now whenever it rains
huge puddles form on the corner. This has been reported to the Highways Manager but no
action taken, not even an acknowledgement.
Not much of the above is likely to change until Mr. B. can be
induced to inflict his ‘talents’ on to some other local authority as far away as possible.