I've been spending some time in various parts of this area recently... apart
from a few small spots like South Kensington, which could maybe be solved by
redesigning the one-way network, is any sizeable part of it even the
slightest bit congested? Nearly all of the roads I've been down are
virtually traffic free.

John Rowland wrote:
I've been spending some time in various parts of this area recently... apart
from a few small spots like South Kensington, which could maybe be solved by
redesigning the one-way network, is any sizeable part of it even the
slightest bit congested? Nearly all of the roads I've been down are
virtually traffic free.

Holland Park Avenue and St Ann's Villas are congested in the evening
peaks and on Saturdays, on the approach to Holland Park roundabout (as
is Holland Road, although that forms the boundary of the zone). I
imagine the CCEX will reduce this congestion (on weekdays), perhaps
allowing an adjustment of signal timings on the roundabout to favour
Holland Road.

Cromwell Road is frequently congested in the evening peaks (and on
Sundays!) westbound, and Fulham Road and King's Road appear congested in
the appropriate direction in both peaks, along with the appropriate part
of Beaufort Street on the approach to Battersea Bridge.

Brompton Road on the approach to Scotch House junction seems to get
congested throughout the day, which delays bus services significantly
(although once they pass through the junction, the approach to Hyde Park
Corner is swift, as is Piccadilly - which is great now in the day but
gets heavy traffic in the evenings and weekends!)

I used to frequently see long queues of traffic forming on Gloucester
Road's southbound approach to the Cromwell Road in the evenings when the
stop-start traffic on that road would always block the box junction. I
also cycle regularly along Marloes Road, where traffic queues form in
both peaks on the approach to Cromwell Road.

As regards the South Kensington one way system, Harrington Road is
always congested in the peaks, but I blame that on the school run to the
French schools. The rest of the system seems to perform OK-ish.
Incidentally, the whole one-way system will be rearranged if the
Exhibition Road plans go ahead, with Thurloe Place reverting to two-way
(and Thurloe Street closed to through traffic - an extremely sensible
move given the overcrowding in the area around the bus stops).

Congestion throughout the area seems to be concentrated on particularly
links, whereas other links appear traffic-free throughout the day.
Notably, Kensington Road is very rarely congested, along with Bayswater
Road, Sussex Gardens, Old Brompton Road and Pembridge Road/Westbourne
Grove amongst others. Kensington High Street is always busy throughout
the day, with traffic flowing slowly (as one might expect on a busy high
street) but rarely blocking up.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

John Rowland wrote:
I've been spending some time in various parts of this area recently... apart
from a few small spots like South Kensington, which could maybe be solved by
redesigning the one-way network, is any sizeable part of it even the
slightest bit congested? Nearly all of the roads I've been down are
virtually traffic free.

Earls Court Road is pretty bad a lot of the time, if the zone will
extend that far.

Colin McKenzie

Colin McKenzie wrote:
John Rowland wrote:
I've been spending some time in various parts of this area
recently... apart from a few small spots like South Kensington,
which could maybe be solved by redesigning the one-way network, is
any sizeable part of it even the slightest bit congested? Nearly
all of the roads I've been down are virtually traffic free.

Earls Court Road is pretty bad a lot of the time, if the zone will
extend that far.

Earls Court Road, south of Pembroke Road, will be outside the extended
zone. That means that traffic can travel from the A40 Westway down
through Earls Court and over Battersea Bridge without charge. Should
make Earls Court Road even worse!

Map at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/cc-ex/pdfs/wez_A3Map2.pdf
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Richard J. wrote:
Colin McKenzie wrote:
John Rowland wrote:
I've been spending some time in various parts of this area
recently... apart from a few small spots like South Kensington,
which could maybe be solved by redesigning the one-way network, is
any sizeable part of it even the slightest bit congested? Nearly
all of the roads I've been down are virtually traffic free.

Earls Court Road is pretty bad a lot of the time, if the zone will
extend that far.

Earls Court Road, south of Pembroke Road, will be outside the extended
zone. That means that traffic can travel from the A40 Westway down
through Earls Court and over Battersea Bridge without charge. Should
make Earls Court Road even worse!

Mind you, that's what everyone said about the current perimeter roads
like Edgware Road.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

Dave Arquati wrote:
Mind you, that's what everyone said about the current perimeter roads
like Edgware Road.

Before or after the traffic light retiming?

On Sat, 08 Apr 2006 19:55:57 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

Earls Court Road, south of Pembroke Road, will be outside the extended
zone. That means that traffic can travel from the A40 Westway down
through Earls Court and over Battersea Bridge without charge. Should
make Earls Court Road even worse!

That's what Kensington&Chelsea think too, links to PDFs off
www.rnkc.gov.uk where it's simply referred to as "ECOWS" (EarlsCt
one-way system). They've been having a right old ding with the
chiseling.. sorry mayor on cameras and ping-pong about if the zone is
good or bad for business. ECOWS was apparently a temporary scheme
until the various now-cancelled motorways came into play, it's been
"temporary" for a long time now and RBKC would like to undo the
one-way setup to restore the area to a civilisation. Doesn't fit the
mayor's revenue needs though.

Fact is the extension is not going to cover a congested area with
exception of specific streets; it may add to congestion as people
entitled to reductions per week minimum make most use of that. But as
it's a revenue scheme for bonds it has some merit despite the
misleading terminology.

*some* merit, as I'd prefer the Madrid or Apeldoorn methods: close off
streets to locals or access only, none of this 50mil quid malarky to
make 100mil with Big Brother overtones. Or should we just get Polish
car reg numbers and be done with the hassle?!

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com

Maybe Ken will stay in China, a country whose style of "democracy" he
clearly appreciates.

Anyone who knows anything about Kensington & Chelsea (to say nothing of
those of us living just outside the Western extension zone in Fulham)
will know the massive opposition that was shown in the response to all
of the consultation, questionnaires, etc., all of which was dismissed
at a sweep by Ken as "well they would say that wouldn't they" thus
making our views wholly irrelevant. I am sure that his new-found
Chinese friends would totally endorse that type of democratic
conclusion.

Marc.

On 10 Apr 2006 16:33:08 -0700, "
wrote:

Maybe Ken will stay in China, a country whose style of "democracy" he
clearly appreciates.
He has shown his spots there but voters were given poor choices in the
last 2 elections. Just as with France, voting for the least worst
candidate (gawd help us) is taken as 100% support for the least
worst's policies - straight hijacking if ever I saw it. No wonder the
non-vote is a growing movement.

If only we could let any old fool in but then limit their power with
referendums etc. Have yer Kengestion charge but voters decide it's 10p
a day. See how well Crapita do on that budget.

Anyone who knows anything about Kensington & Chelsea (to say nothing of
those of us living just outside the Western extension zone in Fulham)
will know the massive opposition that was shown in the response to all
of the consultation, questionnaires, etc., all of which was dismissed
at a sweep by Ken as "well they would say that wouldn't they" ...

You paint too rosy a picture! He fired up both nostrils to say he had
to do all that consulting but what passes for his mind was already
made up. His Prince Phillip imitations are going to sink the whole
mayor setup no matter how occasionally an outpouring might make sense.

--
Old anti-spam address cmylod at despammed dot com appears broke
So back to cmylod at bigfoot dot com