Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Wightman Empty & Getting Peopled
On a quick trot down to Turnpike Lane I thought again how pleasant it is to see people out on the street. Click each picture for a clearer version.
Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge, wightman bridge closure
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
-
The point was, they can put another in place if they wished...
-
Permalink Reply by Paulie on
-
Why do people keep using the phrase "rat running"? "Rat running" is simply people trying to get where they are going by the quickest means possible which is a pretty common goal. It seems to me that to avoid question one solution is not to CLOSE roads but to OPEN them! And a road bridge over the railway line in Hornsey would also help!
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
""Rat running" is simply people trying to get where they are going by the quickest means possible" <- According to wikipedia the definition is: Rat running or cut-through driving is the practice by motorists of using secondary roads, cemetery roads, or residential side streets instead of the intended main roads in urban or suburban areas.
Feel free to update it if you disagree but it's a lot less "no harm done" than your definition.
-
-
Yes but if any road is crying out to be "humanised" it's Green Lanes. But if you close Green Lanes then the cars need to go somewhere and my suggestion is Wightman Road.
After all, far more pedestrians need to cross GL daily (hourly, every minute) then need to cross WR. Who actually walks across WR anyway? Only people who live on the west side of that road. Whereas shoppers and people on their way to school, work etc cross GL all the time and even at night there are many people needing to cross the road.
I cycled up WR twice last week and was amazed how few people were walking on the streets. I think I may have seen two pedestrians and a single boy cycling around aimlessly. Hardly a great advertisement for a new Wightman Road pedestrian zone.
-
Permalink Reply by Hugh on
-
Okay, Paulie if you've reached the stage of writing things like "But if you close Green Lanes then the cars need to go somewhere and my suggestion is Wightman Road", I guess it's time to stop giving you the benefit of doubt and taking you seriously. For others who are reading however, let me briefly explain my reaction to the serious substance of what Paulie writes.
I'm not a fan of pedestrianising or semi-pedestrianisng our high street or any other high street. For me high streets have been full of various types of hustle-bustle for hundreds of years and that's the way I like them. Green Lanes was born as a drovers' road, a transport route to the North. In late Victorian times it added commerce as its other main function. Most other high streets have a similar history. Whilst they weren't created to accommodate volumes of motorised traffic (and that is something that needs moderating), they are serving the purpose they were designed for and that's the way I'd like them to stay. I imagine that the residents of Wightman would be happier if their road could also come closer to serving its designed purpose.
-
Permalink Reply by Ruben on
-
sure, but there's a point you fail to address.
If motor vehicles cut across WR is because Turnpike Lane and Green Lanes have lost their utility as drivers' roads. This is because of the general lack of planning and urbanism in london where things have been allowed to grow "organically".
If Green Lanes were re-planned to allow for a more fluid mobility of traffic, then you could consider WR to be kept as not-through. You would need a set of proposals like:
- widening of tarmac to allow 4 lanes
- remove cycle lane and move over to WR,
- no parking (double yellow/red lines) 24h/day,
- loading bays and meters to be kept only on the first bays of every ladder and gardens roads
that sort of stuff.
-
-
My failure is wholly due to my ignorance. Thank your for sharing your knowledge.
I completely agree with you about traffic planning failures.
The struggle that would come with the solution you outline for Harringay's stretch of Green Lanes however would be with the traders who would be violently opposed to such a solution. I think I might be inclined to join them. If that were the only solution, it would be a step too far for me. It sounds like the dehumanisation of Green Lanes.
-
-
absolutely. It would turn into some other rather arid place which would kill the high-street feeling. And no council wants to disgruntle shop owners.
So we find ourselves in a case where the options are:
- dehumanise GL so that the ladder and WR are truly residential
- Dehumanise WR and put the traffic there, so GL can be a haven for buses, cycles and retail
- Make the ladder and WR access only, prettify GL and sod the traffic. They will find a way.
- Keep things as they were, chaotic or not, and let's not rattle any cages, next mayor can worry about it.
I am guessing which one will happen
-
-
You may well be right Ruben. I think a realistic appraisal of where we are now might see solutions which involve mitigation for Wightman rather than wholesale change.
-
Permalink Reply by Ruth on
-
I'm not sure about this use of the term dehumanise (or humanise as in previous posts...) I know what you're getting at but I think this is not the correct term/misuse of the term.
On some days Green Lanes (and the pavements) are overcrowded, squalid, dirty, too much competition for space and so on. Some of the homeless beggars/rough sleepers on the pavement especially around Barclays bank could probably tell us a thing or two about dehumanisation.
I think the fact that GL is predominantly a long row of restaurants with the odd fruit/veg and jewellery shop doesn't qualify it as being a High Street either.
-
-
humanising/dehumanising was meant as way to highlight the main focus of the road on either pedestrian use or driving traffic through in an efficient manner, no judgement on your points.
Certainly I would not want that stretch of GL to turn into an extension of the bit between shopping city and Turnpike Lane.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
