Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Don't Forget - Wightman Road Closed for 5 months from Next Tuesday (29th March)

In case it's escaped your notice or slipped your mind, Wightman Road will be closed to through traffic for five months starting next Tuesday 29th March.

This will be a significant dislocation to North London traffic movement. So much so that warning notices have been placed as far away as Archway. No doubt it will also have a significant impact on Harringay's traffic.

However, there really is no alternative to at least partial road closure. The railway bridge between Alroy and Wightman roads is being replaced and there will simply be no road for a few months!

One option the Council could have taken would have been to simply reroute the traffic via the Ladder rung roads. It is to their credit, however, they recognised that with over 16,000 vehicles a day using Wightman Road, this would have placed an intolerable burden on our narrow residential roads, already beset by undue traffic volumes.

After consultation with residents, the solution decided upon is to place blocks at regular intervals along Wightman Road, in effect creating clusters of two or three rung roads. Whilst this will retain unfettered access for residents. it will render the whole Ladder, including Wightman, useless as a rat run. You can clearly see the details on the full size pdf map attached below.

Quite what it will mean for traffic in Harringay, Haringey and further afield remains to be seen. Those of us who have been working with the Council on this very much hope that traffic will quickly find other routes. It's fair to say, however, that at very best, we're going to experience some very heavy congestion on Green Lanes for a month or so.

At the same time, the Harringay traffic study will continue. The coincident timing of this piece of work with the bridge closure may be fortunate in that it will give the consultants an opportunity to study the outcome of diverting traffic away from Harringay.

A pdf copy of the Wightman Road closure is attached, along with some Council-produced documentation. You can stay up to date with what's happening on the Wightman Road closure on a dedicated page on the council website here.

Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge, wightman bridge closure

5 members like this

Attachments:

wightman_road_faqs_2016.pdf, 29 KB
wightman_road_bridge_reconstruction_-_associated_road_closure_info.pdf, 149 KB
11164252_1080127775363419_1412675779995943495_o.jpg, 306 KB

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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on March 31, 2016 at 19:06

Tell them they have an obligation to share the information under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Act 2005...

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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on March 31, 2016 at 14:59

In 2010 we did an amateur traffic survey and found that by Warham Rd, 2/3rds of traffic entering Wightman Rd from the top had disappeared, presumably down a ladder rung road so I do see your point about Hugh's statistics but they come from the council which surely would have taken this into account too so the 120,000 stands, no?

I'm now interested in where the next most appropriate rat run for the Wightman traffic to disburse down that isn't closed off to through traffic is. I think we'd worked out beforehand that there wasn't one. Traffic down it had increased considerably following road closures in South Tottenham and Crouch End over the past 20 years.

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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on March 31, 2016 at 15:06

The council did what appears to be quite wide ranging road traffic analysis in Jan John. What will be interesting is what the numbers look like in a couple of months as I understand the same analysis will be repeated so we get a before and after (bridge closure) shot. This will hopefully answer, or at least inform the answer to your question I reckon.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 31, 2016 at 15:03

Thanks Richard. I'll answer you as best I can. Like Michael I have the data, but he's done the maths with it so he can really romp around in it with you if you're so minded.

No problems with the challenge. We should all be open to it. Thank you for challenging so politely.

Here's the comment of mine you're referring to.

If you re-read what I wrote, you'll see that I made an allowance for the cars that would use Wightman anyway. I deducted 25% of the 120,000 total to allow for that. So those weren't double-counted. This figure is a guesstimate and I can't warrant its accuracy. However the consultants will be generating data that will allow a much more accurate picture of this.

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Permalink Reply by MillerRD on March 31, 2016 at 15:17

Thanks for the clarification, it would be great to see the data if it can be made public? Not sure I really trust the council or their advisors to get figures and their analysis correct. I assume that their analysis was quite a large factor in the decision to close Wightman Road.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 31, 2016 at 15:28

Actually Michael Anderson crunched the raw data. I had planned to, but took one look at it and ran a mile. It's a serious batch of very impenetrable data in its raw form.

I think the diversion options were modelled prior to the data being available.

I trust both the Council and the consultants on this project and will share if my weather vane changes on this.

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Permalink Reply by Friends of Fairland Park on March 31, 2016 at 18:46

I have the raw data. I don't think its secret, the council would freely give it out if you ask. That might be as the data is a bit unfathomable in its raw form. Its uploading now to the HoL wiki here. (Agree with you about being wary of peoples analysis, its difficult to do it clearly and accurately even when trying hard, and things like counters breaking meaning counts are not all for the same periods adds to the complexity)

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Permalink Reply by MillerRD on March 31, 2016 at 20:24

Great many thanks, will get cracking on this tomorrow. Will admit in advance that I do have a bias to one out come, it took my wife, who is 35 weeks pregnant, 25 minutes to get from manor house to Hewitt this evening.

Also does anyone know when the Hewitt rd no right turn sign will be covered?

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Permalink Reply by Penny A on March 31, 2016 at 15:14

I'm sure a lot of people have seen this council tender document for the Green Lanes Area Transport Study as it is easily googleable and that is where I found it. Hugh, please count me in for the next public consultation meeting. I anticipate excellent attendance this time round!!

Attachments:

Council green_lanes_transport_study_final.pdf, 395 KB

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 31, 2016 at 15:39

Thanks Penny. For those who read HoL regularly this was posted here last year. For those interested, there are a few threads about the Harringay Traffic Study here. (Penny you really mustn't encourage them with their "Green Lanes Area" nonsense. :o) I still can't work out quite why the Council seems so determined to use any other epithet for Harringay than Harringay!)