Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Harringay Traffic: Thoughts, Problems, Solutions
I have been on HoL for many years but I have been stunned recently by how many posts there have been on traffic and traffic related issues in the last 3-6 months. In terms of issues of the day for our community this is clearly huge!
I was just posting on a different thread and it occurred to me that we need to try to draw together some of our collective knowledge and experience in order to try to do more than collectively shout into the internet to vent our spleens.
As you may be aware the council have taken a pretty brave step in recognising the collective mismanament of our roads in the last 20 years. The sustainability of piecemeal closing or alteration of the road traffic network so that traffic is concentrated on an ever diminishing number of roads to the detriment of those communities and the political myopia (indeed active intervention) that has allowed Wightman Road to become a defacto trunk road has been highlighted by the closure over such a long term of the railway bridge on Wightman.
This is the issue the Green Lanes Traffic Study will aim to address. Its first Stakeholder Group meeting is to be help on Thursday 9th June. This is one of the forums through which residents will be able to feedback their views. There are several organisations that will be part of the Steering Group (see the Terms of Reference doc for the membership as of May, this may change). If you care about what is happening, you should feed your views in through the various members that may best represent your area, Gardens, Hermitage, Woodlands Park, Ladder, HoL, Wightman Rd, etc, or your councillor.
In the mean time I wanted try to do three things. I want to draw together people's experiences in order to:
1- Hear the anecdotal thoughts occurring to you.
- I have head people say they are now happier sending their kids from the northern part of the Ladder to South Harringay for swimming lessons
- People have remarked that there is less fly tipping
- It seems the traffic that is moving up and down the Ladder (rung roads and Wightman) is moving in a far more considerate way- its less aggressive
- Traffic on GL and Turnpike is more aggressive, blocking crossings
2- Try to frame the myriad of problems, before and after the closure.
- 120k vehicles a week on Wightman (pre closure)
- Houses being shaken to pieces by HGVs (pre closure)
- Inability of traffic to turn out of Turnpike Lane in the GL leading to congestion (post closure)
- Busses not moving on GL (post closure)
- Increased congestion on GL and the time taken to get from A to B (post closure)
3- Identify solutions and ideas (however nutty)
- Close Wightman completely
- Introducing a pricing mechanisms for vehicle using local roads
- Better traffic management interventions to get folks out of cars in going to their places of worship or taking their kids to school
- Improved or altered road infrastructure to allow traffic to run more freely and not be held at pinch points
- Clear parking out of the bus route on GL
In the ideas one or more of you will throw out will be part of the solution, and while the Stakeholder Group is not a decision making body, at least this is a forum where these ideas can be heard!
Tags for Forum Posts: harringay traffic study, traffic
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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That is an excellent question, and this causes issues for busses and emergency vehicles when the road is congested. My take is the traders are a powerful lobby and they want (convenient) parking for their customers.
So, solutions?
- Ban parking outright: this clears the roads somewhat and allows busses to move more freely but it the traders will not be happy
- Ban parking but make parking available on each Ladder rung and Gardens road (say 4-5 parking bays in each road): this possibly meets your objective of clearing the road and ensuring the needs/desires of the traders are also met.
This has in fact been suggested on many occasions but not so far taken up. For me though this is one thing that can be done relatively straightforwardly! I am on Pemberton, and some time back, before the CPZ was altered, there was free parking near the school for 2 hours for visitors...
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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But one parked vehicle ( eg the blue van outside the International Food Centre ) virtually reduces the whole road to one lane instead of two because everybody has to pull out to pass it.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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This van is not ticketed. When the parking inspectors approach the shop keeper runs out shouting "loading, loading" and drives around the block. It is a huge problem for the buses who are forced to pull out into the traffic past just before the intersection. It's a seemingly insoluble problem.
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Permalink Reply by anne-marie on
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I believe that Green Lanes generates a substantial revenue in parking penalty charge notices. I'm sure I heard somewhere that it makes more money than any other street in London but I don't know whether that's true or not. Reducing the ability to park would also mean reducing the possibility of cars overstaying and getting fined. Or possibly I'm just being cynical.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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IF that's true to any extent at all, and if it's a key driver for the Council, there may well be ways to replace that revenue with other traffic-related income.
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Thanks for that, Gordon. I see that the information was taken from data six years ago. I know that in the intervening period traders have been very assertive around parking issues. It would be interesting to know if the revenues remain as high as previously reported, both on stand-alone basis as well as a comparative one.
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They could make just as much money from issuing tickets for people going in the box junctions though....and bus lane contraventions....
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Haven't they just added some new box junctions, at the green lanes/ladder road junctions. In the last week or so?
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They have - but according to the sign attached to the lamppost at the end of my road, they are part of the temporary Traffic Management Order which expires on 31st August. It would be pretty ridiculous in my view to remove them again but logic doesn't always (in fact rarely) reigns....
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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Camden and Westminster make more from parking tickets than o other councils - I would be surprised if one of those boroughs didn't have the most lucrative street!
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