| Topic: | Closing Weltje Road/Rivercourt Road access | |
| Posted by: | Mark Evans | |
| Date/Time: | 21/03/23 09:51:00 |
| Reading the report on this, it is clear Hammersmith & Fulham Council are being a bit cagey and hard to know whether they are just posturing to show they are taking the casualty rate among these cyclists seriously or are genuinely pushing forward with access restrictions on Weltje Road and Rivercourt Road. Anyone who says this issue is clear cut either way hasn't really given the matter proper consideration and I can see both sides of the argument. At the end of the day, safety trumps everything and there is no guarantee improved junction treatments along King Street will stop cyclists being injured. Closing off access will also significantly improve the cycle route along the A4 giving a more or less a clear run between Hogarth Roundabout and the centre of Hammersmith. Against this are issues that will arise from the way traffic is dispersed. Much of the traffic heading east onto the A4 would now use Chiswick Lane/Dukes Avenue/Sutton Court Road and nearly all of the traffic heading to Hammersmith via Rivercourt Road will use Chiswick Lane or Devonshire Road going north. This will mean more vehicles crossing Cycleway 9 in Chiswick and I'm not totally convinced by the argument that signalised junctions will protect cyclists because a significant proportion ignore the signals. Trying not to be too Chiswick-centric about this, the biggest objection may be that the closure of Weltje Road would put more pressure on the already stressed pinchpoint at Beadon Road in the centre of Hammersmith along which four buses run. That may mean it will be difficult to persuade TfL to go along with the proposals which, as they are providing the cash, may kill them stone dead. |