Sydenham Road traffic

[Monica]

So how are we all loving the all new and improved Sydenham Road? I live at the Mayow Road end of Earlsthorpe and since the new traffic lits etc, Mayow Road is now constantly log jammed back up to bishopsthorpe - something that never used to happen and now it's every day. Then there's the fun of trying to get down Westwood Hill. For a long time we all thought it was the roadworks causing that confestion, didn't we? It turns out, no, this is just the way it is now. Honestly, I'm so depressed about it all I could weep.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[hairybuddha]

Classic half arsed job - They have made a few changes which reduce the overall throughput of the road without doing anything to discourage the same volume of through traffic. Result, more congestion.

I assume you are using your own car? Have you considered changing your mode of transport for certain journeys? After all, if taking the car isn't necessary for some of your journeys then you are part of the problem.

[Rachael]

Are tfl monitoring traffic now the roadworks are finished? I suspect some re-phasing of traffic lights will help. Who do we bombard with emails to get this reviewed?

[Monica]

To be honest, I don't drive that much, two or three times a week, short trips. Well, they used to be short trips. :-/ I'm just more depressed by the fact that, for years we've wanted investment on the high street and now we've had it and the net result makes it worse in a lot of ways. The high street itself does look smarter, I'll ficus on the shiny new pavement!

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[hairybuddha]

So you use your car for mostly short trips (presumably with 2 or 3 spare seats most of the time) and then complain about the traffic?

I don't really blame you it's perfectly normal but is precisely the problem with the roads in London.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[stuart]

You forgot to add that individuals queuing up to park are holding back 50/60 passengers on a bus making that method of transport slower, more expensive and hence last attractive. There was room on Sydenham Road for a bus lane up the hill which would have made a terrific difference to the number of people who could get to and through Sydenham Road (whilst being able to admire our smart pavements and add to the footfall).

I agree the quality of work has been excellent but the original aim of maximising traffic throughput appears to have failed and hence the scheme itself has failed. The people who advocated maximising the amount of on street parking which precluded this are to blame and also ignoring the original public consultation. They should hang their heads in shame. Particularly those who claim to represent us.

Stuart

[Rachael]

So you use your car for mostly short trips (presumably with 2 or 3 spare seats most of the time) and then complain about the traffic?

I don't really blame you it's perfectly normal but is precisely the problem with the roads in London.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

True. But will making our local traffic even worse, as seems to be the case, decrease the number of short trips? Maybe some of the people who use Sydenham Road as a route to somewhere else will start avoiding it if these problems continue. There may be need to be a settling down period. Of course, it just means hoping the traffic becomes someone else's problem. For myself, I have started avoiding Sydenham Road if approaching from Crystal Palace, because of the queues on Westwood Hill (even at off-peak times). It is quicker for me (heading to Mayow Road) to join the South Circular at the Horniman and come around the South Circular then peel off at Perry Vale. Yep, you heard that right. The South Circular is preferable to Sydenham Road these days.

[dickp]

It strikes me the Kirkdale bookshop pedestrian crossing changes too quickly, and the one lower down too slowly.

Thus, drivers are bunched up onto the roundabout because of the Kirkdale bookshop crossing spends too long on red, while pedestrians get narked further down because the lights take too long to change to let them cross.

I think some re-phasing between the two sets of lights seems to be in order. The road seems to clear once you're half way down the hill.

(And, no, I am not getting a bike to Sainburys Sava centre).

[stuart]

(And, no, I am not getting a bike to Sainburys Sava centre).

Well advised as the Bell Green gyratory is a horrible barrier. But you could easily ride/walk to our Sainsbury Local when/if it opens. Probably faster door to door. Certainly cheaper. Until then there is always Tesco ...

And you would be making life easier for Monica

Stuart

[hairybuddha]

Rachael - Completely agree. I am quite happy for the changes to make Sydenham Rd a traffic hell hole if that's what it takes to start changing the behaviour of those who currently use it as a through road. Of course, I usually get shouted down on here for suggesting such things so perhaps the tide is turning...

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[hairybuddha]

Dickp - Head down Venner Rd towards the train station, skirt down the back of Penge towards Beckhenham where you can join LCN 22 all the way to Sainsbury's and avoiding Bell Green

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[dickp]

Never
going
to
happen

[Eagle]

As HB wisely states those who have not got essential car journeys to make will choose to walk or take the bus.

Those who claim they have to drive will soon search out alternative routes and rat runs.

Encouraging traffic to move faster down the High Street will not benefit the locals at all

[Robin Orton]

For myself, I have started avoiding Sydenham Road if approaching from Crystal Palace, because of the queues on Westwood Hill (even at off-peak times). It is quicker for me (heading to Mayow Road) to join the South Circular at the Horniman and come around the South Circular then peel off at Perry Vale. Yep, you heard that right. The South Circular is preferable to Sydenham Road these days.

I agree. If we need to drive to anywhere in lower Sydenham from where we live near Thorpewood Avenue, we now turn right into Kirkdale, go up to the roundabout at the top of Sydenham Hill, turn right down Sydenham Rise, then right at the Horniman, and then as Rachael suggests. This avoids two horrors: Dartmouth Road northbound and Kirkdale eastbound.

[stuart]

Never
going
to
happen

Wot - you can't walk from LPG to Cobb's Corner faster?
Perhaps you need a blue badge?

Stuart

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[Eagle]

Stuart
I would agree

Hardly Green to use petrol on a 4 mile detour , when less than 1 mile.

[JRobinson]

If the traffic now is worse, then some people stuck in the traffic will decide to go alternate ways, or use alternate methods, this will reduce the amount of traffic, and hopefully, traffic on Sydenham road will level out to an amount less than before the roadworks started, thus having entirely succeeded in reducing traffic volume.
of course this will mean less through traffic, which I guess the shopkeepers won't like, as they'll claim that this will impact on their income. But you can't please all the people all of the time. Maybe if a few shops close (ones that rely heavily on through traffic), and a few more independent ones open, that specifically cater to people already on the high st. (having parked nearby, or walked, cycled) - that's all good for the high st, and maybe it's a knock on effect, a chain reaction, and in two years time we'll have a fantastic place that people will actually want to come to.

[marymck]

Rachael - Completely agree. I am quite happy for the changes to make Sydenham Rd a traffic hell hole if that's what it takes to start changing the behaviour of those who currently use it as a through road. Of course, I usually get shouted down on here for suggesting such things so perhaps the tide is turning...

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

It IS a through road, HB. There are no sensible alternatives. That is a fact and you need to get used to it.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[marymck]

For myself, I have started avoiding Sydenham Road if approaching from Crystal Palace, because of the queues on Westwood Hill (even at off-peak times). It is quicker for me (heading to Mayow Road) to join the South Circular at the Horniman and come around the South Circular then peel off at Perry Vale. Yep, you heard that right. The South Circular is preferable to Sydenham Road these days.

I agree. If we need to drive to anywhere in lower Sydenham from where we live near Thorpewood Avenue, we now turn right into Kirkdale, go up to the roundabout at the top of Sydenham Hill, turn right down Sydenham Rise, then right at the Horniman, and then as Rachael suggests. This avoids two horrors: Dartmouth Road northbound and Kirkdale eastbound.

Thanks a bunch Robin. You and a zillion other people have turned what a couple of years ago was a pleasant airy residential street into a traffic clogged, fume laden, major highway.

Part of our reason for moving here was that the air quality at the top of the hill was so much better than Sydenham Road. Now we're used as a rather convoluted "short cut" that's no longer the case. And doubly bad for the environment in that it's a shortcut in time only!


[ Post made via Mobile Device ]

[hairybuddha]

It is a through road, but it doesn't need to be. It certainly doesn't need to have the volume of through traffic that we currently endure. It seems like most people on this thread so far would be quite happy if that was the end result.

[ Post made via Mobile Device ]