Chaotic Greenwich junction to see further changes from TfL
Transport for London have announced further changes to a junction in east Greenwich due to ongoing problems.
On Blackwall Lane a new stop line will be introduced for westbound vehicles owing to some vehicles driving through green lights stage for pedestrians.
Woolwich Road will see additional road markings to reinforce the direction of traffic lanes.
For as long as can be remembered – since Greenwich District Hospital resided on one side – the junction has been an ugly mess, with swathes of tarmac in the middle of a busy shopping area.
Since then a major civic centre and hundreds more homes have been constructed at Greenwich Square.
Over the past year, a segregated cycle lane was installed through the junction. Rodmere Street also closed at the junction of Trafalgar Road plus some street clutter removed.
Other changes occurred prior to that in a separate project in 2019. An area of greenery on one corner was created as part of a separate project.
Yet many of the problems remain, and it hasn’t been plain sailing with vehicles regularly attempting to drive into the cycle lane.
Vehicles are also regularly travelling the wrong way down roads into opposing traffic and crossing pedestrians on Vanbrugh Hill.
The junction has long been – and still remains – a pretty embarrassing indictment of poor street design coupled to a lack of care and pride in the environment from authorities.
The last year does little to dispel that.
A large amount of street clutter – both permanent and temporary – still drags the area down.
The junction is on the main route via foot from many new homes on the Peninsula to the Greenwich Centre – but the walk is enough to put anyone off. This junction is just one that isn’t pleasant to cross on foot.
Given the centre has been struggling with declining membership long before the pandemic, improving links to thousands of new homes is a no-brainer you’d have thought.
For the third time in three years work will be undertaken to alter the area. I don’t think it’ll be the last.
At one time TfL tried to demolish the Pub as a solution.
This junctiuon as always been so dangerous that I think squenced traffic light signals should be installed as a priority at this and all other major juncions so lines of traffic move in turns these squenced traffic lights signals work well at other junctions in London and around the UK.
I never know what to do when using this junction from the Woolwich direction. If you don’t go forward when the lights are green, but the junction is blocked, you will never cross it. i.e. do you go forward and wait at the edge of the box junction until your exit is clear – even though you know the lights will change before you get out?
Then what happens you are in the junction, but the lights are against you – if your way is clear?
I guess that’s why people are going through the green light stage – they are stuck in the junction and only can get out when the pedestrian green light is showing on their exit…
Just muck it up some more! Traffic is awful every single day. Wish they would just put it all back the way it was!
I think we can see the level of driving skill in the fact that every single pedestrian refuge has smashed up railings and damaged kerbs. It certainly doesn’t inspire any confidence in those of us not stupid enough to attempt to go anywhere in a car. A simple improvement would have been to buy a tin of yellow paint and paint the entire box junction, not just a quarter of it. This must be more difficult than it seems as I’ve lived here for over 35 years and it has always been like this. The crux of the problem is that no-one from TfL or RBG wants to tell the population that cars are a thing of the past so prioritising driver needs would be a stop-gap solution at best.
Back in the late 50’s and 60’s traffic would often block this junction. Usually during rush hour a policeman would be there controlling traffic. Likewise at the junction at the top of Tunnel Avenue. So 60 years to fix the problem and where are we now?
All the problems at this junction are caused by cars. Use the bus and all the problems are solved instantly.