Forum Topic

Commerce Road temporary lights

Nice of the powers that be to give absolutely no advance warning of the temporary lights at Commerce Road, I gather these are planned utility works rather than any emergency works, really was an absolute joy to take 30 minutes to drive a distance of 1 mile from near West Middlesex Hospital to Brentford this evening.Muppets :-(

Adam Beamish ● 4304d31 Comments

The lights and road works disappeared today - hooray!!

Elaine Stevens ● 4297d

Are the temporary lights still in place ? - last time I passed was yesterday morning, when to be fair, I noted that the trench across the eastbound carriageway had been filled in (so clearly work had taken place since Wednesday morning) but there was now a trench across the westbound carriageway.

Adam Beamish ● 4298d

It's something I'm contemplating, not every day as isn't practical for my line of work, I do occasionally run to work also, my biggest 'issue' with cycling 6 miles is that when I was a teenager I'd compete in road races, time trails etc. and hence most days trained covering anything from 25 - 75 miles, so the notion of cycling 6 miles to work seems 'weird' to me.No chance of me riding on the pavements (one of my pet hates) - hard enough to get me on cycle paths as prefer being on the roads in the midst of it all...

Adam Beamish ● 4299d

Don't tell him to use the pavements ! I'd be surprised if it couldn't be done on the road in 30 mins on a bike (OK 40 mins if I had to use the Brompton).Journeyplanner , which I usually find is pretty good at estimating cycling route journeys, came up with 34 mins from Brentford station to Teddington Station.Although I must admit that my journey to the City this evening at 6 pm was a bit slow with the bridge traffic lights and the Kew Bridge/ Chiswick Roundabout problems. It usually takes me 40 min +/- 2 mins to get from home to Hyde Park Corner. Tonight it was 47.

Tim Henderson ● 4299d

"Starting to think the only way I can get back from Teddington to Brentford quickly is by canoe..."Oh, puh-leese!  time for a Brompton bike and to hit those wide open pavements!:-) x

Sarah Felstead ● 4299d

On top of it all, both yesterday evening and tonight Kew Road (the main road from Richmond up past Kew Gardens to Kew Bridge) has been massively snarled up northbound - I dropped the car off at home before a 4pm meeting in Hammersmith and even at 14.45 there was already a mile long tailback.I gather from CW4 that works being being done to remove a damaged tree at Chiswick Roundabout, although that only seems to relate to today's delays, presumably yesterday's were a result of the Hogarth flyover closure.Starting to think the only way I can get back from Teddington to Brentford quickly is by canoe...

Adam Beamish ● 4299d

Will a year ever go by when this bridge is not dug up ! Traffic has been  a nightmare all day long  this week and the contractors work very short hours each day Why no sign telling residents how long we have to put up with these roadworks which are an utter nightmare !

Sharon Allen ● 4300d

I went up to A4 and down Syon Lane to get to Hounslow

Margaret Wittich ● 4300d

Pleased to see people actually working around the hole in the road at 12:45 today.BUT gridlock was rife. Lorry turning right out of Half Acre could not get into Hounslow-bound lane in a whole cycle of traffic lights (and then proceeded to block the east bound lane).Eastbound bus could not pass lorry parked in loading bay outside new Thames Restaurant because of westbound queuing traffic. Not many vehicles got through in that cycle.Eastbound Vehicle turning right immediately after bridge could not get through queue of westbound traffic - not many vehicles got through in that cycle either.....

Tim Henderson ● 4300d

I've e-mailed Ruth Cadbury and Steve Curran to ask them what the hell is going on.

Vanessa Smith ● 4300d

I think to be fair it's just the utility companies trying to guard against getting too popular.

Guy Lambert ● 4300d

When I drove through these lights at 07:30 this morning the works didn't look to have progressed much/if at all since the same time yesterday morning.Doesn't suggest there's any kind of rush or pressure being exerted to finish the job regardless of the traffic chaos it is causing.Last night as a consequence of the Hogarth flyover closed and the inevitable huge queue eastbound on the A315 approaching these lights the tailbacks over Kew Bridge heading northbound stretched all the way back along Kew Road to halfway to Richmond - I arrived at the back of that tailback (1.5 miles from home) at 17.20, and got home at 18.05.Happy days :-(

Adam Beamish ● 4300d

I just don't understand why this isn't programmed to have 24/7 working until it's finished. I contacted one of our councillors re the roundabout fiasco at South St. he replied straight away and said Planet Traffic would reply direct to me - that was a week ago. These people clearly do not think that they are answerable to anyone, a parallel universe indeed!

Vanessa Smith ● 4301d

Lucky you !.  Temporary lights still in place, this morning the eastbound queue was almost back to Busch Corner again and yesterday teatime the westbound queue was almost back to Kew Bridge.  Must be adding at least 30 minutes to journeys at rush hour.Absolute silence from the powers that be, and the fact the work only seems to be being done during normal working hours (clearly not my working hours as I've never seen anyone on site when driving past) appears to strongly suggest these aren't emergency works.  Okay so better to do works during half-term, but some advance warning signs would have helped enormously.

Adam Beamish ● 4301d

Journey accomplished in 20 minutes flat! Clearing branches etc. just past Brentford McDonalds with minimum hold-up, back over Kew Bridge -no traffic!

Vanessa Smith ● 4302d

Thanks for that Adam, I thought I'd get to Brentford via the A316 over Kew Bridge then round the back doubles to The Butts for my dental appointment! What a palaver.....

Vanessa Smith ● 4302d

Just as a heads up, the temporary lights remain in operations, at 07.35 the queue eastbound was already almost back to Busch Corner, but virtually no queue westbound.There's also a large tree branch gone down on Brentford High Street between the McDonalds and the Music Museum, it was blocking the eastbound carriageway earlier but someone was already at the scene directing traffic and presumably this will be removed sooner rather than later.

Adam Beamish ● 4302d

I wasn't making a 'political' point, but I do remember when people were up in arms about constant roadworks in the West End and City all these grandiose plans to co-ordinate work were heralded. After all talk is cheap.However if Adam is right and these works were notified to Planet Traffic and/or TfL then it is par for the course as far as they're concerned, sod the rest of us, they just do their own thing. Let's face it they've buggered up enough of Isleworth recently - so what's new?

Vanessa Smith ● 4303d

Frankie,Admittedly I'm not sure, but whilst I was stationary in the traffic on Friday evening I checked various websites/sat nav apps on my phone and the strong suggestion was that these were  planned works associated with the Commerce Road development.If that is the case, then it's certain that the companies would have needed to notify TfL and LBH well in advance, i.e. giving TfL and/or LBH sufficient time to display advance warning signs.  Afew months back in addition to such signage we'd have also have had CCF giving readers on here a heads up.  Suffice to say I don't now have faith in LBH's Traffic & Highways Dept, especially after the ongoing South Street roundabout debacle.So my gripe isn't directed, in this instance, at the workers or the utility companies, but at the relevant authorities.  If I'm wrong and in fact the works were emergencies then obviously that changes everything and I'd retract any criticism.

Adam Beamish ● 4303d

There's no political mileage to be made out of an incident like this, methinks.  This is a plain and simple case of utility companies going ahead and doing their thing without feeling the need to keep anybody advised.  It is a culture of contempt which exists across the spectrum and needs to be changed.

Phil Andrews ● 4304d

I don't think it matters who is in power Vanessa. It wasn't any better under Ken. Did he have any co-ordination plans?

Keith Iddon ● 4304d

Whatever happened to Boris's co-ordinated works plans? You would think that something like this would warrant weekend working, but hey! - We're only the pillocks paying the bills.

Vanessa Smith ● 4304d

1.30 this afternoon 1 workman sat in a van reading his paper. No one else in sight. Long queues of traffic both ways.

Keith Iddon ● 4304d

I would expect work to completion.Just spent 40 minutes crawling along.NO workmen in sight.Criminal.

Nic Doczi ● 4304d

Adam what makes you so sure they were "planned" rather "emergency"? Do you really believe they get some sort of perverse pleasure out of disrupting peoples lives? I appreciate this happens regularly and some sort of notice would be beneficial but give these guys a break! If its that big a deal..go and grab a shovel and give them a hand in order to expedite the process..

Frankie Calvi ● 4304d

I'd go now if I were you.

Phil Andrews ● 4304d

Thanks for the heads up - I have to go to the dentist in Brentford on Monday - so I shall make sure I leave plenty of time. At least it's half-term. Thing is utilities can pretty well do as they like especially if the work is deemed an emergency, however, that cannot excuse their total lack of care and the disruption they cause.

Vanessa Smith ● 4304d

I had hospital appointment @ West Mid and was fine going down road approx. 1.00pm but coming back at @ 3.30pm roads were gridlocked both ways and this was way before rush hour. Perhaps questions should be asked as to why utility companies have to bombard this tiny section of road - personally my finger's pointing at the Lock development and Holiday Inn.

Xanthe West ● 4304d

What that what brought half of West London to a standstill last night?  It took me 45 minutes and a two-mile detour to drive from my home near West Middlesex Hospital to Boston Manor Road last night including a long stint on the A4, and it wasn't even rush hour.Needless to say I would have walked had I not already got caught in it.  Muppets doesn't even come close, these people should be fined for the damage they inflicted on the environment by their actions.

Phil Andrews ● 4304d

Why do the utility companies need to work in that area so frequently?Too many flats built to be properly serviced by the infrastructure so all the utility companies do is just patch up and mend. The utility companies can't be bothered to fork out for a more robust infrastructure when their priorities are set on their dividends to their shareholders and company bonuses.And I reckon all this will happen a lot more frequently in this area given the number of properties going up around us.

Xanthe West ● 4304d

All the way up Windmill Road was blocked too

Margaret Wittich ● 4304d