Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Removal of traffic barrier on Eade Road!
Yesterday I walked up Eade Road going towards Seven Sisters Road and I was horrified to see that Haringey Council have removed the traffic barrier that has been there for many years and looks like they are now planning to allow traffic to come through again! (See attached photo)
If this is their intention to allow two-way traffic to go along Eade Road again I am very upset and concerned. The reason it was put up all those years ago was because drivers were treating it as a "rat race" between Seven Sisters Road and Green Lanes, and there is no reason to suggest they won't again - the half dozen "token speedbumps" they've installed on the Seven Sisters Road side only annoys drivers more which means they accelerate between and after them, just as they hit the residential section of the street (see attached photo), and motorcyclists just ignore them by riding along the edge of the road, barely slowing down (personally witnessed twice myself this morning, before 9am on a Saturday)!
There is also nothing to stop drivers from speeding between the now-open barrier and where Eade Road meets Hermitage Road, an area that is populated by many elderly people and young families with children, not to mention those with cats and other pets (see attached photo).
Another issue is that the traffic is regularly backed up along Hermitage Road to where Eade Road meets Hermitage, because of the traffic lights - this is going to mean that Eade Road is going to be full of vehicles waiting for the lights to change to allow those on Hermitage Road to go before they do.
I have been away for the last few weeks, which is why I've only just seen the works - however, as a resident, I don't remember seeing *any* paperwork or information from the Council about their intention. I do remember then doing a traffic consultation last year where I and many other residents objected strongly to the removal of the barrier because of health and safety reasons.
This has really upset me, because allowing traffic to race down Eade Road again will not only pose significant threat to the safety of people and animals (both pets and local wildlife from the New River which flows alongside the road) but will also ruin the neighbourhood as many of the residents here spend time outside the front of their houses talking to each other - something that will no longer be possible if it's choked up with traffic fumes - and will hit the elderly residents particularly hard.
In addition, the state of the pavement on Eade Road on the even-numbered side is appalling - the council replaced all the pavement on the odd-numbered side a while ago then just left the other side in ruin, full of pot-holes, broken paving and uneven surfaces, which poses a safety risk for the elderly those with balance/coordination difficulties and increases the risk of a trip or fall. It also makes it extremely difficult for those in wheelchairs or with pushchairs to use (see photo attached).
Adding to that the amount of overgrown foliage on properties blocking the pavement, vehicles packed half on the pavement and things like wheelie bins blocking the pavement, walking on the road is often the only way to get to where you're going - something which is going to be extremely dangerous if the level of traffic is increased so hugely.
I feel really, really strongly about this issue, but I have no idea what I or anyone else can do about it. The barrier looks set to open this Monday and I am just so upset at the thought of having our safe, friendly neighbourhood ruined!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JoeW on
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I think just over half the traffic will have used Templeton, the busiest bit of Hermitage has 49K/week, with 26K using Templeton and 23K using the eastern ends of Vale and Eade.
The 2016 traffic data is on this map: https://batchgeo.com/map/dffd78475ca0d105236f9860a0555b49
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Permalink Reply by Rory on
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"Could you share that, Peter?" So the "you" meant you. I've seen that report and Hermitage road gets/got 1,309 vehicles per week. Eade Road gets 336 vehicles per week. Look at the Ladder and you can see that 10 streets get more traffic than Hermitage, 14 in total get over 1000 a day, with two more getting just under 1,000. The Gardens traffic and the roads around Hermitage receive negligable traffic. So it's blindingly obvious the effects of having those roads closed on the traffic on the Ladder. A "hot spot" map would make an interesting read for you, I think.
The report said (all of these comments and data are on Page 4):
"Green Lanes and Wightman Road form the two sides of the ‘Harringay Ladder’, the northern end of which is bounded by Turnpike Lane, whilst the bottom end is bounded by Endymion Road. Both of these key east-west links are frequently congested, leading many drivers to use the residential streets forming the ‘rungs’ of the Ladder to move between Wightman Road and Green Lanes... In contrast, traffic flows in the Gardens and Hermitage areas are relatively low, due to the presence of road closures that effectively prevent their use by through traffic." That's pretty black and white.
We all know that this report was an hilarious whitewash. The council spent hundreds of thousands of pounds proving that traffic is pushed onto the Ladder, and came to the conclusion that as a result of this expensive survey, nothing should be done. Meanwhile we had six months of gloriously quiet streets and wonderful air quality while Wightman was closed. But again, I'm happy for your quiet streets, and have found your consternation that you may begin to have a situation like the one we have on the ladder quite amusing. Please excuse my schadenfreude, it's not my best moment.
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I think maybe you’ve missed the evidence of all the traffic up the Ladder and very little traffic around Hermitage Road and surrounding roads and the Gardens as shown in the data on the report and explained in the words of the report that you brought my attention to. It’s on page 5. As I noted. And quoted from.
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I remember looking at this when I made those maps (this one is probably clearer, it is just the January figures https://batchgeo.com/map/2f4e10d6837dc467e22771242386901a )
I struggled a bit to work out why the east stretch of Eade Rd was so busy. It doesn't look like it is being driven by traffic using it as a shortcut from Green Lanes to Seven Sisters as I expected (the volume of traffic on the west of Hermitage is too low).
It appears to be driven by traffic from the north end of Hermitage but that appears to be a more convoluted route to get onto Seven Sisters rather than going down Templeton (or St Ann's Road). However I don't know the traffic in the area at rush hour.
It's interesting looking at the timing, there's a westbound peak in the evening rush hour and an eastbound peak in the morning. This is matched by a northbound peak in the evening on north Hermitage and southbound in the morning (although Templeton doesn't have the same kind of time bias).
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Hi Andrew - sorry I should have credited you for the maps when I linked to them earlier!
Eade traffic can't come from Green Lanes by the way, as the western ends of Hermitage, Vale and Eade are effectively cul-de-sacs unless you're walking or cycling.
Remembering that the majority of traffic in the area is non-local and roughly north-south (radial, e.g. between Barnet or Enfield, and Islington or Hackney), the eastern end of Eade is part of one or more longer dog-legged ratruns, say from Belmont via Cornwall Rd and Hermitage.
This ratrunning would be easy enough to stop but the council were even less interested in solving the problem in the east than they were on the Ladder.
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Permalink Reply by Abi on
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Odd... Why not just straight up Seven Sisters towards St Ann's I wonder. Is it no right turn? (Not a drivrr)
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Don't worry, I'm surprised they're still active on the site to be honest.
I've just plugged Waltham Cross to the West End in Google Maps and I can see it diverts down Hermitage Road and Templeton rather than just continuing down St Ann's Road. There's moderately heavy traffic marked at Moreton Road/Seven Sisters so I guess if that gets too heavy the next option would be to send down Eade Road even though it is somewhat convoluted.
(The Seven Sisters/St Ann's junction is showing up as heavy traffic even at this time.)
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Very good but Wightman was only re-engineered as a massive through route from Hornsey Park Rd after WWII. Before the work done to the Turnpike Lane/Hornsey park/Wightman junction it was not really a good route for traffic.
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