A friend of mine coming from the west on the M4, hoping to get to London
City Airport by around 6pm on a Sunday evening - what's the traffic
likely to be like?

Specific points I'm thinking of a

M4 from J3 into Chiswick - is this likely to bunch up much (we're
talking around 5pm or so at a guess), with people coming back into
London from weekends away?

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a real pain
at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going via Lambeth
Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or should it be
fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok heading
out?

TIA,

Peter

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

AstraVanMan wrote:
A friend of mine coming from the west on the M4, hoping to get to
London City Airport by around 6pm on a Sunday evening - what's the
traffic likely to be like?

Specific points I'm thinking of a

M4 from J3 into Chiswick - is this likely to bunch up much (we're
talking around 5pm or so at a guess), with people coming back into
London from weekends away?

Yes, the M4 on Sunday evenings does get congested, especially in the
summer. Generally I would say the earlier the better. 5 pm may be not
too bad, but 4 pm would be safer.

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a real
pain at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going via
Lambeth Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or
should it be fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok
heading out?

Both probably OK, but I haven't done the journey in that direction on a
Sunday afternoon/evening. One problem on Sundays in London is that some
shopping streets still have Mon-Sat waiting restrictions, so that people
park all over the place on Sundays. This not only clogs up those
streets, but diverts traffic to other routes that you would expect to be
clear.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In article ,
(Richard J.) wrote:

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a
real pain at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going
via Lambeth Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or
should it be fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok
heading out?

Both probably OK, but I haven't done the journey in that direction
on a Sunday afternoon/evening. One problem on Sundays in London is
that some shopping streets still have Mon-Sat waiting restrictions,
so that people park all over the place on Sundays. This not only
clogs up those streets, but diverts traffic to other routes that
you would expect to be clear.

I do travel the latter (The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc) on
Sundays occasionally, on my way to the M11 and Cambridge. I'd say it's
generally fine. I tend to reach it via the South Bank and London Bridge,
though.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:45:13 GMT, "AstraVanMan"
wrote:

A friend of mine coming from the west on the M4, hoping to get to London
City Airport by around 6pm on a Sunday evening - what's the traffic
likely to be like?

Specific points I'm thinking of a

M4 from J3 into Chiswick - is this likely to bunch up much (we're
talking around 5pm or so at a guess), with people coming back into
London from weekends away?

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a real pain
at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going via Lambeth
Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or should it be
fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok heading
out?

I would do the M40/A40 rather than the M4. The M4 leaving London is
pretty good but in the opposite direction you've got the dreaded bus
lane and it's usually pretty busy at that time. Use the M25 if
necessary to get onto the M40 then take the A40 all the way to
Marylebone followed by the A501 round the top of the city and down
onto the A13. The route through the city to get onto the A13 isn't
great but that area should be quietish on a Sunday I reckon.

--
to respond via email, visit:
http://tinyurl.com/e48z9

In message , Tom Robinson
writes
On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:45:13 GMT, "AstraVanMan"
wrote:

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a real pain
at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going via Lambeth
Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or should it be
fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok heading
out?

I would do the M40/A40 rather than the M4. The M4 leaving London is
pretty good but in the opposite direction you've got the dreaded bus
lane

Best thing since sliced bread - for us taxi drivers! ;-)))

and it's usually pretty busy at that time. Use the M25 if
necessary to get onto the M40 then take the A40 all the way to
Marylebone followed by the A501 round the top of the city and down
onto the A13. The route through the city to get onto the A13 isn't
great but that area should be quietish on a Sunday I reckon.

Try this for a route

Spur Road
M4 East
leave by J3 (next one along)
N on A312 follow until you get to
A40 then all the way through to Euston Rd,
Pentonville Road
City Road
L at Old St Roundabout
Bear right Great Eastern St
Forward Commercial Street
Aldgate one way
then follow signs for A13.
You then get the choice of staying on East India Dock Road or going via
Lime House linkway until you get to roundabout for City airport (where
you cross the meridian from W to E) and just follow signs.

Of course if you really knew London you'd go straight through via the M4
then Cromwell Road, etc to get to Victoria Embankment from Trafalgar
Square but you must be prepared to make diversions if there are
demonstrations or other diversions (strangely enough one of the
straightest routes takes you over Lambeth Bridge and then via the
Rotherhithe Tunnel, but you really must know London for that!)

Good luck with your chosen route

--
Mike Hughes
A Taxi driver licensed for London and Brighton
at home in Tarring, West Sussex, England

"Tom Robinson" wrote:
A friend of mine coming from the west on the M4, hoping to get to
London
City Airport by around 6pm on a Sunday evening - what's the traffic
likely to be like?

Specific points I'm thinking of a

M4 from J3 into Chiswick
snip
Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding?
snip
The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok
heading
out?

I would do the M40/A40 rather than the M4. The M4 leaving London is
pretty good but in the opposite direction you've got the dreaded bus
lane and it's usually pretty busy at that time. Use the M25 if
necessary to get onto the M40 then take the A40 all the way to
Marylebone followed by the A501 round the top of the city and down
onto the A13. The route through the city to get onto the A13 isn't
great but that area should be quietish on a Sunday I reckon.

Ewwwww - I'd do anything to avoid having to use the A501 from Marylebone
all the way through to Commercial Road as a through route, especially
when the central zone's free, but point taken regarding the A40.

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

"Mike Hughes" wrote:
I would do the M40/A40 rather than the M4. The M4 leaving London is
pretty good but in the opposite direction you've got the dreaded bus
lane

Best thing since sliced bread - for us taxi drivers! ;-)))

Try this for a route

Spur Road

You're assuming the journey starts at Heathrow? It doesn't, but
anyway....

M4 East
leave by J3 (next one along)
N on A312 follow until you get to
A40 then all the way through to Euston Rd,
Pentonville Road
City Road
L at Old St Roundabout
Bear right Great Eastern St
Forward Commercial Street
Aldgate one way
then follow signs for A13.
You then get the choice of staying on East India Dock Road or going
via
Lime House linkway until you get to roundabout for City airport
(where
you cross the meridian from W to E) and just follow signs.

Ok, well having just ridiculed using the Northern section of the inner
ring road, if a cabbie's recommending it I might have to eat my words!
So is it likely to be a pretty clear run around 5pm on a Sunday, all the
way from Marylebone to Whitechapel, then?

Of course if you really knew London you'd go straight through via the
M4
then Cromwell Road, etc to get to Victoria Embankment from Trafalgar
Square but you must be prepared to make diversions if there are
demonstrations or other diversions (strangely enough one of the
straightest routes takes you over Lambeth Bridge and then via the
Rotherhithe Tunnel, but you really must know London for that!)

Heh. Well I'm advising someone who doesn't know London all that well,
so a relatively simple route's going to be the best. Personally I'd
probably do the Lambeth Bridge route, either coming in via
A316/Barnes/Mortlake/Putney/Wandsworth, and crossing the river at Albert
Bridge, or just simply M4/A4, going through Beauchamp Place/Belgrave
Square, and cutting through Carlisle Place etc to end up on Horseferry
Road (used this loads of time and it's a bit windy but usually pretty
easy), but I wouldn't want to advise someone with virtually no London
knowledge to do this!

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

AstraVanMan wrote:

Ok, well having just ridiculed using the Northern section of the inner
ring road, if a cabbie's recommending it I might have to eat my words!

Cabbies can use the bus lane, and I don't know whether Mike has taken this
into account.

"Paul Terry" wrote:
Heh. Well I'm advising someone who doesn't know London all that
well,
so a relatively simple route's going to be the best. Personally I'd
probably do the Lambeth Bridge route, either coming in via
A316/Barnes/Mortlake/Putney/Wandsworth, and crossing the river at
Albert
Bridge,

I did almost that route last Sunday, although at about 2.00pm and I
crossed at Putney Bridge and then took the New King's Road route to
the
inner ring road, then embankment. Apart from the usual brief hold up
around Cheyne Walk, it was very fast indeed - 22 minutes from Mortlake
to Kingsway.

However, as was said earlier, it very much depends on the time of
day -
by 5.00pm expect it to be much slower, with the potential for big jams
if you take either the Upper or Lower Richmond Road.

What I've often done in the past is gone over the A306 lights after
coming out of Barnes, then cut up Common Road, along Queens Ride for a
bit, then up Gipsy Lane to join the Upper Richmond Road. That way you
avoid any queues through East Sheen and approaching the Priory Lane and
A306 (Red Rover) junctions. Going through the lights over Putney High
Street has never flowed too badly IME, and after that I've always turned
onto Oxford Road and Disraeli Road / Fawe Park Road, picking up Putney
Bridge Road for a much easier flow onto the Wandsworth Gyratory.

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

AstraVanMan wrote:
A friend of mine coming from the west on the M4, hoping to get to London
City Airport by around 6pm on a Sunday evening - what's the traffic
likely to be like?

Specific points I'm thinking of a

M4 from J3 into Chiswick - is this likely to bunch up much (we're
talking around 5pm or so at a guess), with people coming back into
London from weekends away?

Victoria Embankment - worth avoiding? I've known this to be a real pain
at the most unexpected of times - would it be worth going via Lambeth
Bridge + Southwark Bridge Road (via St George's Circus) or should it be
fairly ok around this time?

The Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way etc - likely to be all ok heading
out?

TIA,

Peter

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."

I travel this route (Chiswick Roundabout to City Airport) fortnightly
at the same time late Sunday afternoon.

Generally the best route is the straight one down the A4 all the way up
to the Trafalgar Sq. Then Northumberland Ave running to the Embankment.
Then follow the Highway/Limehouse Link/Aspen Way down to City Airport.

Hotspots are a bit of congestion on the A4 in Chiswick but is generally
fine.
Otherwise Trafalgar Square can be a bottle neck especially if there is
an event on as Sunday drivers will slow down and look and there are
kamikaze pedestrians.
And a little queue into Piccadilly Circus. Sometimes theres a queue
into the limehouse link. But both of these queues run smoothly most of
the time.
It'll take one hour. Less if theres no problem.

I sometimes do the A40 (when I feel like a change) but you can
sometimes hit major tailbacks coming off the Westway at Paddington and
once again on Commerical Street. If you do get caught then it'll add
another 20 minutes to half an hour. But on a clear day this route is
quicker by about 5 minutes.

There are variations on the A4 route but generally they'll do the same
thing but with more/less congestion or complexity.