1 October (Part 2) - Oh no. Not again!
It’s
only a couple of days since my New Road correspondent was complaining that
Bexley Council is constantly wasting our money by rarely getting anything right
at the first attempt.
But his fence posts are relatively small beer.
This morning Bexley Council announced that all the Albion Road roundabouts are to be
remodelled because they are not safe. It is only seven years since they were installed with
a fanfare of positive publicity. (PDF)
The redesign was
widely criticised at the time and the cycling representative at
the Transport Users Sub-Committee has criticised them ever since. Too many cyclists in hospital apparently.
Without a hint of humble pie
the Council has announced that work will start to try to fix the problems next Monday.
To minimise disruption the work to upgrade safety features will be
carried out in phases however road closures and diversions will need to be
in place.
Phase one starts on Monday 7 October and lasts until Friday 11 October at Townley Road roundabout. Traffic travelling east/west along Albion Road will
be unaffected. Traffic needing to turn and travel down Townley Road will be
diverted and will need to go either to the Oaklands car park roundabout or
the Highland Road roundabout and make an about-turn at these.
Phase two will begin on Monday 14 October at Highland Road roundabout –
Traffic travelling east / west will be unaffected but turns into Highland
Road will be via Townley roundabout and the Gravel Hill roundabout.
Phase three will begin on Monday 21 October southbound on Gravel Hill.
Gravel Hill will be shut southbound between the Broadway roundabout and the
Albion Road roundabout. Diversions will be signposted.
Phase four will begin on Monday 28 October at the Albion Road and Broadway
roundabouts. Albion Road eastbound from the Albion Road car park, Gravel
Hill between Albion Road and Broadway and westbound into Broadway from the
roundabout will be closed. Diversions will be signposted.
Phase five will begin on 4 November at the Albion Road and Broadway
roundabouts. Further details will follow on any diversions needed once known.
No bus stops will need to be closed during any of these safety improvement
works. TfL buses will follow the main diversion routes and journey times may be longer.
Road designs in Bexley were once described by the Chairman of the European Union’s Transport Committee as recipes for head on collisions.
Will they get things right this time?