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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Oxford Street to be pedestrianised by 2020 ... so Wightman Rd ...

 ... can surely be closed to through traffic in the future, as it currently is during the bridge works. If the planners can deal with the re-routing of all those buses and taxi journeys away from Oxford Street for the pedestrianisation plans, it must be possible to do this for Wightman Road as well.

Living Wightman would do well to have a chat with the new Mayor's office.

Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge closure

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Do I?  How do you know that?  I, like many other people who've commented on this thread, would just like the traffic to be sorted out holistically, rather than one road being closed for the benefit of relatively very few people.  But I find it really irritating that people constantly say the solution is that people need to walk or cycle more, as though everyone has that option.  It shows that they don't really take much time to think what it might be like for someone who is e.g. in a wheelchair. 

Wightman would be a crap race track, there are too many obstacles in the way to really get speed up.  It's much easier to trash your suspension by ragging it along the Ladder roads and really thumping those speed bumps.

One road closed for the benefit of 10,000 people.

Wheelchair users are unable to use Wightman Rd. They could not get into their car from the pavement and they could not get past their car in a wheelchair.

"Wightman would be a crap race track, there are too many obstacles in the way to really get speed up." <- May I respectfully call bullshit on that?

And the detriment of how many others?  If they could close it and not cause the congestion in the surrounding streets, then it wouldn't be an issue.  But why are the residents of Wightman and the Ladder more important than those of GL and TPL? 

Wheelchair users from Ladder roads or other parts of the borough (because they also exist) could use Wightman Road though, in their car.  To get to other parts of the borough.  Or other places entirely.  My point was rather that they weren't really able to walk or cycle to those places, like keeps being suggested.   

10,000 people live on the ladder. Some live on Green Lanes and some on Turnpike Lane.

Of course you can walk. Or cycle. But we were discussing driving routes, so why bring these up, except as a way to deflect from the issue?

If everyone walked or cycled everywhere, for every journey, there would be no need to discuss Wightman Road. Obviously this isn't the case.

Since you did mention car journeys, via minicabs, do you think the route outlined on my map is logical in any way?

Nick, there is already a precedent in this city for controlling traffic volumes; the congestion charge. If solutions can't be found for reducing traffic outside the current zone then maybe it should be widened to include boroughs such as ours. You can then pay to drive on whatever road you like. Of course such a scheme would be free to wheel chair user transport,  those using electric vehicles and a reduced rate to minicab drivers. And then there would be little need to discuss A vs B roads, blocking off roads etc 

You're right Nick, no one will choose this route unless they are forced to by - closing residential side streets.

The logic is that by making a 5 minute car journey take 15 minutes, it will encourage more people to walk or cycle - as we are witnessing locally. They will then be healthier. Their neighbours will also be healthier because of less pollution and noise. People who have to drive, perhaps because of physical disability or needing to carry more stuff than can go on a bike or bus, will have a car journey less impeded by other motorists. It's a virtuous circle.

So many people are wedded to their cars though, that closing roads may not be sufficient on its own. There is likely a need for other schemes, like congestion charging, road tax, incentives for car sharing etc. Plus improving public transport and building more cycle paths.

Thank you Nick for putting it far better then I could have. The backed up traffic across the borough and beyond is effecting far more people than the vocal minority who are demanding Wightman road is permanently closed. I am concerned that it may be a case of whoever shouts the loudest gets their way, and therefore it is important that as many locals as possible express their opinions.

Joe the reason that Wightman road being a B road is relevant is because it has always been a route for through traffic, and it is unreasonable to expect it to be otherwise. Sure the traffic has increased, but so has traffic across London. We need a capital wide solution to reduce traffic, not NIMBY'ism which simply displaces the problem elsewhere (to other mostly less affluent areas)

I agree we need a capital wide solution, but that is in addition to not an alternative to traffic reduction measures on the Ladder.

Its just not true or fair to say that the Ladder must remain open for all through traffic when over the years the Ladder has become completely surrounded by OTHER AREAS CLOSED TO THROUGH TRAFFIC - the Gardens, Hermitage, Stroud Green, Woodlands - its all those areas being closed to through traffic that are causing this current Green Lanes and area wide congestion just as much as the Wightman closure.

How is Woodlands closed to through traffic? 

This for example, and this.

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