| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Low Traffic Neighbourhoods | |
| Posted by: | Ron Lewis | |
| Date/Time: | 21/09/20 13:15:00 |
| 1. I am not saying Goldsmith and Horn Lane are interchangeable, I never said that. Horn Lane will always have vastly more traffic than Goldsmith Road. But should the level of traffic on Horn Lane be built to unreasonable levels just so the residents of Poets Corner can have car-free roads? 2. Does the fact that Horn Lane has the title A4000 mean that the people who live there have no protection to traffic and pollution? 3. Why block Acacia and St Dunstan's but not block Lynton Road, which is much more of a cut-through than Acacia, or Noel Road? Over that side of Horn Lane, the lack of blocked roads means the cars are spread out. On the "Poets Corner side" by blocking routes previously, a problem was created on Acacia Road. 4. I don't believe for one second that overall traffic will be reduced by 15 per cent. How much do you know about LTNs in Walthamstow? I am talking about specific points faced in Acton and you are using as "proof" an area across the other side of London that none of us knows well, merely because it is a convenient talking point given by the council. My brief look at a map of the Walthamstow scheme showed that it seemed to be a rectangular area, so there was little distance saved by going through it. As the area covered by this LTN is basically triangular and cars are now forced the long way around, along two edges of the triangle rather than one, it adds to congestion. 5. Yes it would be great if more people cycled, but the council are tackling a small local problem by adding to a bigger problem and washing their hands of it. 6. Would anyone ever cycle up Acacia Road? It is one of the steepest roads in Acton. Lots more people cycle down Horn Lane than through the LTN. Yet there is no protection from traffic there. And there is no real way of cycling through the LTN to bypass the route of going down Horn Lane, unless you are going from Acton Main Line east. But that would not have been a dangerous route in the first place. 6. One thing that will change is that buses and lorries (vehicles which were already blocked from your gated community) will take longer to get through the Horn Lane-Churchfield Road/High Street route, thus pumping out more pollution. For years, councils across the country have tried to keep traffic out of their town centres, Ealing Council is actively pushing congestion into our town centre, even trapping people trying to avoid it. 7. Yes, there will always be traffic in Horn Lane. This has added to it. Also now, whenever there is any problem (accident, roadworks, broken down bus) there is no escape route for traffic stuck in it, so there will be gridlock. If Crossrail ever opens, and when overall traffic levels return to normal, this will get even worse. 8. That the council would implement this without even attempting to address the problems on the surrounding roads is a disgrace. But this is the latest in a string of short-sighted interventions by Ealing Council's urban planners that have made traffic worse in Horn Lane. There was the roundabout outside Morrison's and the decision to ban the left turn outside the Red Lion and Pineapple. Going back further there was the decision to let TFL sell off the Bus Garage/Tram Depot for housing and use the bottom half of Horn Lane as a bus station. Turning Grafton Road one-way merely forced more traffic onto Acacia. They haven't even had the brains to turn the junctions of Horn Lane/Churchfield Road and Horn Lane/Steyne Road into box junctions to stop them being constantly blocked. This has been done with a big two-finger salute to the residents of Horn Lane and Churchfield Road. The council's only hope seems to be that traffic becomes so bad that some of the through traffic will go another way. But if that happens that doesn't really help us. My fear is that they] council use lower current levels of traffic, caused by many people working from home, to claim some sort of proof that this has worked to reduce traffic, by comparing it to pre-pandemic traffic. I wouldn't put that past them. |