21 July - The Transport Users’ Sub-Committee : Road matters
With no Police presence at the Transport User’s meeting, roads was next to take centre
stage with Andrew Bashford the Highways Manager in the hot seat. There has not
been any significant progress on the proposed cycle track from Bexleyheath to
Erith. TfL is not keen on it crossing the Long Lane railway bridge and the safe
route is too long so cyclists probably wouldn’t use it. In practice cyclists
will go wherever they fancy as they always do. Whilst that is my comment,
Chairman Steven Hall, possibly more diplomatically, said the same.
About 400 electric vehicle chargers have been installed
“in the last few months”. Mainly lamp post units. The Chairman said that many of
them were effectively inaccessible because of road layouts. “Who does the
assessment?” (The contractor does.)
Some road resurfacing work has taken longer than expected and some deferred due
to the hot weather. Chievely Road was specifically mentioned. It had been
scheduled for June. In further bad news for gridlocked Bexley, Bourne Road,
Brampton Road, Chislehurst Road, Church Road, Crittals Corner, Erith Road,
Harrow Manorway, King Harold’s Way, Knee Hill, North Cray Road (twice), Pickford Lane,
Sidcup High Street, The Green, Watling Street and Woolwich Road are all due to
be disrupted over the coming months. Innumerable small roads too.
Mr. Bashford said he would be sending someone out to check on the invisible
traffic lights at the Woolwich Road Knee Hill junction. He was not sure who
might be responsible for maintenance but he would find out.
The situation
gets steadily worse and drivers cannot see whether they are facing a red or
green light when turning left.
The new Chairman seemed to be more sympathetic to the plight of motorists than his
predecessor and complained about temporary traffic lights being left in place
after work was completed. The Highways Manager said that utility companies can be fined for doing that.
In what was a big surprise, Councillor Hall said that it really was time that
Knee Hill was straightened and widened which would allow buses to use it. Whilst
it would be great to see Knee Hill made safe, to reroute buses from New Road
would be a devastating loss to local residents. Stops at the lower end of Knee
Hill, Florence Road, Woodland Way, Hurst Road and Woolwich Road would all
be lost. Even the SL3 stops at Florence Road on its way to Abbey Wood station.
The Highways Manager agreed to look into the legalities of a minor incursion
into ancient woodland whilst Steven Hall said he didn’t expect it to happen in
his lifetime but currently things are far too dangerous. Yesterday, behind a bus
at the Knee Hill lights I wondered whether to descend Knee Hill instead of turning
right, as I almost always do. Waiting behind a bus would block the junction. However the bus went down Knee Hill and I was able to turn right into Woolwich
Road without causing an obstruction. The bus must have been Not in Service.
As an aside, may I say that the red light jumping at that junction is constant?
Taking advantage of the Chairman’s invitation to me to speak I asked that
parking be banned opposite the Hurst Lane stop at the top of New Road because a moron resident leaves
his car there and causes chaos for buses and cars alike. Stand there for ten
minutes and see for yourself just how stupid the single yellow line is.
Not directly related but the Highways Manager referred to bus stops set in from
the road which prompted the question in my mind; why are some bus stops recessed
into the footpath and others stick out into the road. It makes no sense and
appears to be random, maybe according to which political party was in charge at the time of creation.
Mr. Bashford’s most interesting revelation was that his internal departmental mapping of the
borough’s road closures etc. would be made available graphically on the
Council’s website. Click on an area of interest and everything relevant to that
closure or disruption will be displayed. All within the next few weeks. That
really is the best thing I have heard about Bexley Council in a very long time.
Under Chairman Steven Hall the Transport Users’ Sub-Committee
looks like becoming even more interesting and progressive than it was in the past.