| Topic: | Re:Closing Weltje Road/Rivercourt Road access | |
| Posted by: | Michael Robinson | |
| Date/Time: | 21/03/23 11:24:00 |
| Mark, Another point is the number of casualties from motor vehicle collisions on the A4, in particular around Rivercourt. Collision maps show a cluster of casualties at this location. This could be from vehicles slowing to make the turn, then maybe being rear-ended. It is also important to consider the volume of traffic using the roads. People see a queue of cars along a road and assume it is lots of traffic, but the reality is that cars take up a lot of space and narrow residential streets like Weltje and Rivercourt really can't carry a lot of traffic anyway. From surveys done for cycleway 9 the peak hour traffic for Weltje and Rivercourt combined was about 500 vehicles. That is too much for a residential street and too many vehicles crossing the bike lane for safety, but it isn't significant compared to the traffic already on Chiswick Lane (13k+) or the A4 (95k+). The other mistake you are making is that TfL view residential streets as relief roads for the arterial road network. They don't. TfL have funded LTNs which close rat-runs so vehicles use the TfL road network, not bypass it using residential streets. Can you cite a single example in the last few years when TfL have objected to closure of a minor street because it would mean more traffic on their road network? Another point is equity for residents on these streets. None of the other streets between Hogarth roundabout and the gyratory have access to the A4 (e.g. Homefield, Netheravon, Airedale is a classic Low Traffic Neighbourhood with through traffic blocked between boundary roads) |