Harringay online

Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

As many of you may know the council has 100k worth of funding from TfL for Wightman Road. I have been invited by Highways to discuss how best this should be spent and I wanted to ask residents for their feedback to take to the meeting. Clearly I have various ideas but thought generating a bit of discussion on it would be useful.

If you want to respond to me personally my e-mail address is karen.alexander2@haringey.gov.uk

Cllr Karen Alexander

Tags for Forum Posts: Wightman Road, Wightman traffic calming, traffic

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Can I put in a plea for cyclists?

The current traffic islands are a disaster for cyclists as they narrow the road enough to make it very unpleasant for a car and cyclist to squeeze through together, unless the cyclist is sufficiently assertive to prevent the car from doing so (which always goes down a treat I find). This makes me gulp when I hear about pinch points, unless they are sufficiently narrow to prevent anyone trying to squeeze through next to a bike.

Would also like to echo Wightman Paul's comments about the need to start with identifying the priorities (slower traffic, better life for pedestians etc) vs getting hung up on the specifics as to how this happens. For me it has to be about slower traffic and a better life for pedestrians. I'd love to hear more about what can be done for £100k with those aims in mind.
Why do you have to go through together ? Hang back and be safe :-)

The traffic islands are a blessing for people trying to cross the road.
Not a cyclist eh John?! It isn't a question of hanging back to be safe - usually it's a question of you being in front of the car and entering the bit that is narrow, and them trying to squeeze through next to you at the same time. As others have said, you have to be assertive about it and just not allow them the room, but that can be hard at times.

Totally agree with the points about pedestrians. Pushing a pram along Wightman Road?? I gave up trying after having to cross the road on 3 occasions because I couldn't get past parked cars.
Oh I am :-)

I take your point but then I guess you just have to move to the centre to block - which is dangerous in itself.

Being older (ahem- old ) when in a car I treat cyclists with courtesy and then find other car drivers behind me give me a hard time. It's not the roads at fault - it's the users .
I don't cycle but I can see that the traffic islands are difficult for cyclists. It would be almost impossible to cross the road without the islands, but more pedestrian crossings would be a better solution for that.
However, I think that pinch points aren't the same as traffic islands, as they can allow cyclists to have priority by incorporating a narrow cycle lane on the pavement side. The ones on Wolves Lane force the traffic to stop by effectively blocking one lane of the carriage way and giving the on-coming lane priority. Incorporating a cycle lane would help cyclists and pedestrians. I don't know if its feasible because Wightman Road is narrower but otherwise they have similar problems with parked cars and poor sight lines. Wolves Lane also has a W bus!
I think it is worth considering how one would prioritise the objectives of any improvements. As someone who is regularly a pedestrian, cyclist and driver my priorities would be to slow the traffic down, enable safer pedestrian crossing and improve cyclist priority.

I agree that an informed and intelligent transport engineering solution should be found but from personal experience my preferred methods of control would be pinch points with a cycle lane cut through for the withheld stream of traffic and more zebra/pelican crossings.

I agree that traffic islands just make it more dangerous for cyclists as cars rush to overtake them. Speed bumps are generally a waste of time when so much of the traffic seems to be built to withstand them; I speak as someone who drives a car with 40 year-old suspension that can only take a speed bump at less than 20 miles an hour - the amount of beeping and cursing that this provokes from drivers pegging along at 35 mph is both tragic and hilarious in equal measure.

(And no, it doesn't make me speed up, in fact I take perverse pleasure in driving over the next bump e-v-e-n m-o-r-e s-l-o-w-l-y.)
I use Wightman Road regularly as a pedestrian, walking between Allison Road and Harringay Station, and as a cyclist, when I use the bike to commute to work in the centre of town. I am an assertive cyclist and so far I haven't had much trouble using the road on two wheels, but less confident cyclists could well find it intimidating (and Green Lanes is hardly a less challenging alternative). But for pedestrians I think Wightman Road is currently a disgrace, since it is impossible to walk two abreast on either pavement, and quite regularly difficult to negotiate the pavement at all. Slowing the traffic would not, by itself, make life any easier for pedestrians; please do not let those on foot be forgotten in any 'Highways' discussion.
... regularly difficult to negotiate the pavement at all.

Needs a radical solution which won't be popular; ban parking of cars along Wightman Rd to free up pavement space. Free up certain amount of parking space at top of each 'ladder' road for Wightman Rd residents, who would need different CPZ label/code.
As well as the road surface, the footpaths could do with some work
Michael, Cllr Haley "promised" at that Transport&Traffic-but-No-Parking mtg in March that WR/Alroy footways (Effingham to Endymion) would be resurfaced "this year". I know we shouldn't hold our breath.

As Guy Bentham and others stressed, we must not forget the "pavements" but especially that 'Jewson stretch'. Three years ago we at WRN4RA prepared a bid for £10K for the March'07 Making a Difference round, to have that stretch radically transformed into a narrow Green semi-Open Space, with proper footway and no free parking. FAILED on the grounds that this Network Rail/Jewson monstrosity is PRIVATE LAND . We shall return to it another time, with the demand that LBH force Jewson/Network Rail to tidy up their mess and fund most of the project - in the interest of the community.
Network Rail have been forced to clear up areas around Clyde Rd, Northumberland Park and Bruce Grove recently. Time to give a Nilgun a little call and ask her to make good on her words in the press release: "The council is committed to dealing with eyesores and will continue to work closely with Network Rail to ensure that areas like this are cleared, maintained and long term solutions put into place to prevent recurrence."
I'd not heard about this bid OAE, what a great idea - would have been fantastic to have done something with that gloomy and neglected patch.

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