Woolwich’s £750,000 “Super Crossing” near station to be reworked again in 2027
Work to alter the pedestrian crossing installed less than a decade ago outside Woolwich Elizabeth line at high cost is set to begin in 2027.
At a recent Greenwich Council meeting it was revealed work is now expected to commence in 2027 – just a few years after the last failed attempt at improving this crossing in Woolwich.
Turns out while researching this article I’d covered the £750,000 project not too many years ago though I’d completely forgot. It’s almost seven years to the day that work begun on what turned out to be another flawed Woolwich town centre public realm project.
That followed a previously short-lived project which, yep, also didn’t work. Setts were laid in the busy road which didn’t work under the weight of traffic and progressively patched over. Greenery and trees in the central reservation were also then removed.
So now we’re onto attempt number three since the Elizabeth line was confirmed. Third time’s the charm?
Other changes included further greenery to the east being removed with guardrail installed.
Nearby the same issue has occurred to a lesser extent outside the DLR station.
Funding
Greenwich aren’t well known for investing revenue from Section 106 new developments into street and public space improvements though one of the rare exceptions was £750,000 on the crossing. As is sadly all too common Greenwich highways department made a complete hash of it.
The crossing doesn’t really follow obvious desire lines pedestrians would take.
They’re also trying to force pedestrians to take specific paths now with raised planters.
People are of course just walking over them.
After removing landscaping and trees installed just a few years earlier Greenwich also ignored TfL street design guidelines when changing the street layout.
So now another plan is on the way. This time Greenwich look to shift the cost onto TfL as part of a wide-ranging project as part of cycleway 4.
And possibly the Bus Rapid transit from Thamesmead but the deadline for that slipped from 2026 to 2029.
Will it work any better? Probably. Surely we can’t see a fourth in less than 15-20 years, can we? And surely they will consider that 2029 BRT project arriving nearby?
Whenever I’ve driven past there, it’s about 50 yards worth of many people just wandering out into the traffic to cross the road.
The trouble is that piece of pavement in the middle of the road is used as an traffic island for people who can’t be bothered to walk to the main crossing point.
Surely the council can get rid of it or barrier it off?
Barriers don’t work. People just stand either side (including me).
Perhaps time for rbg and tfl to accept this shouldn’t be a major through road and find a way to make it a more pedestrian and bike friendly place. Fewer lanes more time for pedestrian crossing and less for cars and a 20mph limit ( which would probably increase net speed tbh except for the speeders when there’s not loads of traffic) with camera enforcement. Also it is a deeply unpleasant road that divides Woolwich centre.
As to the actual super crossing, can’t see it changing much, people need to cross on both sides of the turning and the current lights are too slow (clearly set to a road focused timing) to not annoy people.
Spend some big bucks and bury the whole road and have cycle lanes and a park over the top.
When Woolwich exchange developers first engaged locals for input, we suggested a pedestrian subway. There was ample pavement and space either side of the lower road to have shallow gradient slopes at each end. The engineer said they very much considered that option but far too many utilities ran down the centre of the lower road. I think he even mentioned the original old main sewer that feeds into the ridgeway. He basically said it would be a logistical nightmare and a wide subway would have to go far too deep. It was many years ago but that’s my recollection of the conversation. It was based purely on linking old and new Woolwich in a safe well lit way.
I imagine a future world where they raise a cycle path over the road. With on and off ramps along the route.
Get rid of cycle lanes they cause all the problems on ere.
I don’t think there are any cycle lanes at that junction?
I agree or people just walk that little bit more to cross at the right place.
With all this anti car talk,if we get rid of the car ,where do the people think the government will get the revenue from to run things, I can see cyclists, pedestrians paying for it, I seem to remember years ago the government collected around £48 billion in revenue from all transport.
Cars do not perform economic activity. People perform economic activity. Cars can be effective at reducing economic activity by killing people or making roads undesirable for human beings to be near. Some cars are okay of course, because some transport activities do exist where travel time is more important than the logistic and economic inefficiency: ambulances getting RTA victims to hospital, for example.
If I remember correctly years ago when Denise Hyland was Council leader there was a plan (pipedream) to put the road in an underpass uniting both bits of Woolwich and eliminating the need for a crossing. Far too expensive of course to ever happen.