Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay's bridge closure goes national
Just spotted in Catherine Shoare's Guardian column today a sure sign that a rising star dwells amongst us......
Keeping the peace
'For six months, I live in heaven: the main road that my street acts as a funnel on to is closed for repairs. The shake and rattle of lorries bouncing over the speed bumps at 5am is no more; instead you can hear birds and even, sometimes, silence. Walk along the main road to the station and the atmosphere is like an all-day street party, with strangers giddily smiling at each other, children cackling on scooters. On the local community website, there is a desperate drive to see if such paradise can be maintained......'
Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge, wightman bridge closure
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Actually I wrote that. Or at least I wish I had.
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Permalink Reply by Rob B on
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Dark days - Guardian journalists can no longer afford to live in Islington?
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Permalink Reply by Peter Chalk on
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#makeitpermanent
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Permalink Reply by Yvonne on
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Unless I am mistaken but this is all about the urban metropolis we cal London or have I moved unwittingly to the countryside
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Urban Metropolis doesn't necessarily mean half of us driving two tonnes of steel around at 30mph and demanding we get out of their way.
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Permalink Reply by Isabelle on
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I get how peaceful it must feel at that end...
Where I live is another story, in fact it's rather a nightmare and the local residents can't wait for the bridge works to be completed. At times it's just one long line of cars stranded between the bottom of Muswell Hill and Turnpike Lane. Going East across the railway line is reasonably practical in the mornings only, or late at night – although it seems to be getting slightly better lately. We're adapting the best we can, but it's limiting.
Glad some people enjoy it though :)
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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I sympathise with those whose lives have been made more difficult by these road works, but I thought it might be useful to share my experience of crossing the tracks over the past two weeks.
Yes, it's been a bit of a pain, but I am making adjustments. On some occasions I've chosen not to make a journey, on others I've walked and sometimes I've found a new route. This much is probably music to traffic planners' ears.
The well-being of others body-parts aside, there are times when driving is simply very much the best or only choice. There was one occasion this week when timings meant that I had no option other than to drive to Crouch End for a Midday appointment. The route there wasn't really an issue. Turnpike Lane was a little more congested than usual and took five minutes rather than two. After that all was fine westbound. On my way back, I did meet the traffic from about the churchtower through to Green Lanes. It was a pain and took me an extra 10 minutes or so.
To share other stories, a shop worker in Harringay who lives in Hornsey told me of his recent commuting travel tribulations. He resolved his by taking to the skateboard. I've heard similar stories of mode shift elsewhere form both sides of the tracks. On the other hand my dentist and his dental nurse both live in East London and talked patiently of the dreadful nightmare their commute has become. I do sympathise.
All of us, both sides of the tracks are facing frustration and inconvenience. So please let's not make it about them and us. And also a request to keep things in proportion. My personal experience is that it's not unbearable outside rush hour. Outside rush hour I have only seen the traffic tailing back to about the GNRT. I've also been keeping an eye on the live map at Waze and this suggests the same. During the rush hour it doe seem like another story.
As schools go back, the next two to four weeks will be the critical ones. Let's hope things work through, but if they don't, the Council remain prepared to take remedial action.
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Anecdotally I am hearing that people are choosing to cycle to Crouch End rather than drive now. I bet they're still working on the traffic light phasing, it's a mess around Turnpike Lane station and that is actually the bottleneck as far as I can see. Green Lanes is often flowing fine but those turning right get 12 seconds to do so and if enough of them go through they can block the junction as the lights at the bus station seem to be red when they're also red for the busses. Going in the other direction from Westbury Avenue there's even less time to turn left.
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Permalink Reply by DavidJ on
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I've be keeping an eye on a Tom Tom app (maybe this is is not accurate . . ) but I have been struck by how the south-north Upper Tollington to Endymion traffic queues seem not too bad - or at least not significantly worse than normal . But the East bound queues from Muswell Hill/Crouch End seem stubbornly awful. Is this traffic avoiding something even worse? Is it coming off the North Circular bottleneck and is still preferable?
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I didn't mean to 'make it about them and us'. I'm glad that it does benefit some people instead of being generalised misery, I hadn't thought of it like that and this article makes me aware.
Personally I'm struggling to help a friend who lives on 'the other side', he's housebound and I've had to tell him that I can't give him a lift to his doctors appointments unless they're in the morning. Bit silly considering I can otherwise cycle to his home in 15 minutes.
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