You may remember that about a month ago TfL closed the inbound lane of the Finchley Road and put all the trafic down Fortune Green Road/West End Lane. This was done at the same time that there were two sets of extra traffic lights on West End Lane as people were digging up various parts of it - and on a weekend of heavy tube and overground closures - with lots of extra rail replacement services.
The result was horrible!
I complained to them at the time - asking why they put all that traffic down into West Hampstead when they should have known it would cause massive congestion.
They have finally replied - see below for their response.
In summary - they say the works on the Finchley Road, but were responding to an emergency. I have to say - when I got up close it seemed the equipment they had looked like heavy tarmac laying equipment - rather than the kind of thing you'd expect to see for a burst water maine.
Can anyone else remember and maybe email me (russell.eagling@camden.gov.uk) or commet here?
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Dear Councillor Eagling,
Re.: Finchley Road (A41), NW3 - closures & diversions on weekend of February 20
Thank you for your e-mail of February 22, concerning the above. Please forgive the delay in responding to you on this occasion. Our engineers at TfL have investigated the queries you raised, and drawing upon their report, I should like to answer your particular questions in turn.
1) The work was due to burst water mains. It was not possible to put in contra-flows in what was an emergency situation.
2 & 3) The work was done on demand. There was no opportunity to re-schedule it as it was required immediately.
4) Signs that gave notice of road closures were in place. You may appreciate that TfL is not in a position of responsibility for the actions of individual drivers, and nor can we reasonably comment upon them.
5) Thames Water is the water provider in this area and as such organised an emergency traffic order to implement the emergency works required. To mitigate further disruption, Thames Water completed four further pieces of work in the southbound lanes while this closure was in place. By their nature, future emergency works cannot be co-ordinated any further in advance then when the situations arise, but we at TfL seek to put measures in place - and monitor their effectiveness - so as to minimise disruption.
Thank you for raising these issues with us. I shall be pleased to assist if you have any further queries.
Yours sincerely,
David Goudge
Customer Service Advisor
It certainly looked like a planned closure to me - even if it was an emergency, surely they could have temporarily suspended the works on West End Lane to compensate?
ReplyDeleteAs for point 4), 'we are the road authority but we have no responsibility for the routes drivers take when we close roads' that is such a tragic abdication, TfL should withdraw that comment and hang its head in shame.