| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re: Tom Pike. | |
| Posted by: | Bill George | |
| Date/Time: | 06/01/23 08:23:00 |
| A few thoughts. Mainly this is a complex topic and traffic patterns are very dynamic. Narrow focus on one boundary road tells us little, for clear evidence we would need to see traffic volumes across a broader area as traffic will reroute. The Camden example seemed to look at one boundary road, which was noted as one mainly used to access the residential cut throughs, so the question is where has this traffic gone and what impact does that have. There is an awful lot of focus on COVID impacted traffic and bus data. 2020 and 2021 saw significant disruption to life, no matter how often these stats are trotted out they tell us little about current realities. Tom always quotes the one pollution monitor in W4, where we know that the bus gates and closure of Fihsers Lane plus changed light phases have restricted vehicular traffic on central CHR. So of course pollution is down here. But in the absence of other monitors on still congested roads in W4 we have little idea. For those that use the A316 in 2022 both pre and post the A4 works the reality has been more congestion and queues northbound. Changes to light phasing at the Hogarth to accomodate more A316 turning left onto A4 also seem to add to A4 queues and delays at peak times. So you dont need more traffic on the A4 to get more congestion, and some of that traffic diverts into W4. This is where the challenge of interpreting traffic volumes vs congestion is tricky, queues of traffic are recorded as lower volume than in freer flowing conditions. Roads at or close to capacity can quickly become very congested if small numbers of vehicles are added. Tom, if you can point us all to the source of the traffic data you use it would be helpful, 2022 data will be interesting if available. |