Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Imagining Possible Futures for Wightman Road
With all the attention on the benefits and disbenefits of the current closure of Wightman Road , we haven’t yet spent much time thinking about what the future of Wightman Road might be. With both the current closure and traffic study, now is the ideal time for us to start that process.
I should perhaps begin by saying that I write in full knowledge of the problems caused by the current closure, including the significant impact on some businesses and longer queues at some ‘pinch points’ especially at ‘rush hour’. I’m also very aware that there is more traffic on some roads such as Hornsey High Street, Green Lanes and Turnpike Lane as well as other roads further afield. Alleviating those problems needs to remain uppermost in our minds.
It seems like the most discussed longer-term solution to Wightman Road’s woes locally is permanent closure. Could limiting access, in the current way be the best solution to the danger, pollution and noise caused by the traffic in the block of residential roads made up of Wightman and the ladder roads?
I was one of those who previously thought this was impractical. But now I’m beginning to question this assumption. I’ve been taken aback by seeing and hearing how significant a difference it’s making to people lives; small children cycling to school, cyclists calling out to each about how lovely it is, Wightman Roaders being able to open their windows for the first time, kids skateboarding, hearing birdsong, walking to the station actually being pleasant.
The dangerous pollution levels along Wightman Rd which breach EU limits presumably have been eliminated, taking significant numbers of people including children out of real danger. As others have said this option could also create a pleasant and safe cycling, jogging and walking route, not just for residents of the immediate area, but for a wider group of people across Haringey and beyond.
The other reason for my change of heart is that as time goes on, the level of negative impact gives cause for hope that it may be possible to find good mitigating solutions for the traffic and pollution dispacement. Does anyone have any ideas about what could be done in the surrounding area to help buses flow or/and avoid traffic queues? Can anything be done about the pollution in Turnpike Lane and Green Lanes? What else would we need to think about?
If permanent closure is not the answer, it will be gut-wrenching just to go back to the old status quo and I think the Council will have a fierce fight on its hands if it wants to do that. So what other possible solutions are there that might both allow for an improved quality of life but allow some traffic flow to other Haringey residents? I’ve read elsewhere on HoL about the idea of road-pricing, or limiting access to HGVs. What could we do to drastically reduce cross London traffic rat-running along Wightman and the Ladder roads, yet still permit some access to more local traffic?
Is permanent closure the only option or is there another way?
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay traffic study, traffic, wightman bridge closure, wightman road
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Paulie on
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Exactly. Folks on here may think I don't give two hoots (no pun intended) for the ladder dwellers but I am sure living on Warham Road is no fun.
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Permalink Reply by andy h on
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Careful Paulie , they may use that as consent to flatten everything to the east of GL as a Wightman relief road.
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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Or an unofficial alternative Wood Green bypass, which is what Wightman has surreptitiously become...?
While Paulie has a moment, and possibly a little sit down, to come too from the dizzying shock of having realised we may have found common ground on something it is worth remember that there will be some things we can agree on. I know Andy you think everyone is 'getting at' you but the beauty of a discussion like this is you can agree on somethings, as long as you keep it civil!
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Justin, I was and usually am being flippant , I've also never thought anyone on here is trying to 'get at me' either, I don't think I'm that sensitive (but who knows).
And I don't think I've ever not been civil, but I guess I'm not the best one to judge that, Others are usually better informed than I am.
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Sure Andy, I took it as a joke, and the comment about being civil was in relation o all of us, not just you. The point was while we may disagree something constructive can still emerge.
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Are you flirting Souvarine?
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A large (though hard to predict!) number of vehicles will be using some sort of GPS with live traffic information these days. If you look e.g. at google maps on your phone, you will see that it will give different routings dependent on traffic level, and other routings that would take 1 min longer 5 min longer etc.
What does this mean in an area like ours? Traffic using these tools to get e.g. from A to B outside the area will be routed on the roads that are fastest at that moment, but this should - in theory - result in a leveling-out of congestion across the roads that connect from one side to the other.
If a route is removed from the system (like Wightman road), this traffic will re-distribute to the other routes.
Therefore, these days if your street can be used as a sensible route from A to B, then google maps and others will direct traffic down it if other routes are congested. If it isn't a through route, then they won't (assuming they are correct; a few years ago Google maps said the footbridge across the railway at Harringay station was a road).
What this means is that the only way really to keep through vehicles out of residential areas is to have physical blockages. This will mean all traffic has to go down the main roads, but it will also reduce the overall volume of traffic, as in a place like London traffic increases to match road space.
Note that as far as I can tell from this Department of Transport data, traffic on the Green Lanes stretch they monitor (sensor 28532, near Beresford road) is actually lower in 2010-2014 than it was in 2000-2003.
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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Thanks Michael.
The last averaged daily count from the tables you linked to for 2014 was 20,741. The traffic count carried out in January this year showed around 180,000 over the seven days monitoring so about 25,700 per day, up 5,000 per day on 2014. I know that isn't as accurate an average as over a year but certainly seems to indicate increased usage of GL.
Add the Wightman flow of 120,000 and the area was seeing almost 43,000 vehicle movements a day in January.
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To put that in context, the A10 Seven Sisters Road by Wickes got just over 18,000 a day and the North Circular Road as it passes through Bowes Park/New Southgate got just over 52,000.
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I wonder if the data is fully comparable? It seems strange for a sudden increase to happen between 2014 and 2016, given what the trends were since 2000 (I can't think of a particular reason for it to happen).
However, we certainly have a lot of traffic going through the area - and that traffic will return to Wightman Road as soon as it is reopened, unless something changes.
It's quite interesting to look at google maps & see the routes it suggests - e.g. Wood Green to Angel at the moment is predicted as 34 min via Green Lanes, and also 34 min via an alternative route including Ferme Park Road & Stapleton Hall Road.
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Over the time period for the data it seems be around the 20-25k mark. If anything I would have imagined the January 2016 readings would be on the low side - the period after Christmas, drop in people going into central London, that kind of thing. I think the influencers are probably well outside of the immediate area. North Circular roadworks and so on.
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