Traffic & travel

Traffic light tensions mount

By Ross Lydall

Evening Standard

27 November 2002

Twelve sets of traffic lights are at the heart of the West End's gridlock. The time they stay green has been cut by up to six seconds, causing massive tailbacks and severe delays for motorists.

One of the areas worst affected by the rephased lights is Piccadilly Circus, where pedestrians have been given extra time to cross the road. This is holding back traffic at the lights for longer. Severe delays are also being experienced around New Oxford Street, High Holborn, Regent Street and The Mall.

The effect of the changes, which began in the summer, is revealed in a Transport for London document obtained by the Evening Standard.

The document ranks the effects on the central London road network on a scale from "none" and "negligible" through "slight" and "moderate" to "severe".

Traffic chiefs insist the rephasing is necessary to keep vehicles away from Trafalgar Square while it is being pedestrianised, as well as improving road safety.

Overall, TfL has altered the timings on 97 sets of traffic lights within the central zone - defined by Marylebone Road to the north, Commercial Street to the east, Kennington Lane to the south and Park Lane to the west. Twelve of these have been classified by TfL's own experts as having a "severe" effect on traffic flow.

The rephasing of the lights sparked such a public outcry in the summer that Mayor Ken Livingstone, who chairs the TfL board, had to be provided with monthly updates in an attempt to deflect criticism.

TfL was also forced into repeated denials that the lights were being changed to worsen gridlock in advance of congestion charging being introduced in February.

It was suggested that the Mayor would return the lights to their old settings once charging began - allowing him to claim that traffic was moving freely under his new scheme.

But Mr Livingstone and TfL have insisted that the timings are coincidental, and that the pedestrianisation work on Trafalgar Square had been planned before he came to office in 2000.

Jim Landles, TfL's assistant director of traffic and technology services, admitted that the Piccadilly Circus area was likely to remain heavily congested because of the rephased lights introduced there to restrict traffic flowing into Trafalgar Square.

He said that, if the lights were switched back to their normal settings, too many vehicles would pass through and bring traffic in Haymarket to a halt. He said this was because the North Terrace at Trafalgar Square was closed to traffic in September, and vehicles could no longer driver around all four sides of the Square.

However, he said TfL hoped to reverse the worst effects of the rephasing programme by reverting as many of the lights to timings that gave drivers more "green time". Mr Landles said he expected this would happen before Christmas at the majority of the 12 worst-hit junctions, adding: "We are hoping for quite a significant change. Most of these 'severe' ratings should disappear. We will be putting back as much capacity into the network as we can.

"Having said that, the network has settled down quite significantly and is moving quite well."

A spokesman for the RAC Foundation said motorists were sceptical about the changes, and the fact they were being rephased before congestion charging was introduced in February. "The level of congestion was absolutely terrible," he said. "There were tailbacks in Regent Street and the whole of the Mall was having problems and so was Whitehall. Motorists are just avoiding the area at all costs - and who can blame them."

©2002 Associated New Media

[ Previous | Next ]