| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:CHISWICK ..OPEN UP ALL OUR ROADS HOUNSLOW COUNCIL | |
| Posted by: | Ed Saper | |
| Date/Time: | 20/09/21 22:52:00 |
| "even the most recent closure at Harvard Hill is an advantage to drivers... if you added up all the time lost diverting to Sutton Court Road and all the time gained on the A4 as it doesn’t slow down for cars trying to join, the total amount of time people are in their cars is going to be less. So us locals lose out, but everyone that drives through gains." That could be true - I'm sure some studies have been done on traffic flows on this subject. It is a bit like the counter intuitive argument that the 20mph limit improves traffic flow and reduces overall journey times. You could go further and say that the reduction of thousands of through vehicle movements via Harvard Hill is also of benefit to drivers, particularly local ones. The decreased congestion makes journey times quicker through GP - when I used to live there, Fauconberg was always getting gridlocked with heavy two way traffic in the mornings and it was always a gamble to cut through Elmwood in case you met a bin lorry or delivery van and you could end up reversing some way until there was a space to pull in. I wonder if there have been any studies on journey times through LTNs and boundary areas to suggest that time lost by diverting is at least partially made up by encountering less traffic within the areas? Some people (not everyone!) also make the argument that removing congestion from local / minor roads may prompt modal shift towards buses (faster and more reliable), walking and cycling (less dangerous or polluted), thus taking more cars off the roads and reducing congestion which is a benefit to drivers, particularly commercial ones. In fact you could deploy your arguments to suggest that cycling infrastructure like the temporary C9 is also primarily of benefit to drivers. It could discourage inexperienced cyclists mixing with lorries and encourage people to switch from cars / Ubers to cycling, reducing congestion, or at the very least, prevent it growing as fast. |