Forum Topic

ACTON LANE CLOSED AGAIN

It seems, despite some earlier posts to the contrary, that Acton Lane is once again closed to traffic. And this time there are no traffic lights, just a diversion sign.I was coming up Sutton Lane North, and the diversion sign suggested going left at the junction with CHR, which seemed strange, as I wanted to get back to Bedford Park, so instead opted to go right.Even with TGT now open, this still meant a tortuous extra journey time of nearly half an hour, stuck behind buses and traffic lights going back along the High Road. Of course, I could have saved myself at least fifteen minutes by cutting back up the empty Fishers Lane, but...When will this madness end, and these roads be back open for their intended purpose?

Mark Edwards ● 2092d26 Comments

Yep, The Gas company opened it Yesterday and Thames Water have closed it again today. Insanity.Took me 20 minutes to chuck a U turn and fight my way back down to TGT When will this madness ever end.

Chris Johnson ● 2092d

In fairness, the only people to blame for this are the utilities. If they were charged per diem road rental when they need to make repairs, my guess it that necessary closures wouldn't last nearly so long.

Ken Munn ● 2092d

What about the Hounslow Councillors who thought this road suitable to be the only through route in W4 across the tube lines, knowing that several thousand people live to the north and need to access the various shops, leisure and medical facilities that live to the south. After all, this road is constantly dug up, the cycle is just repeating now, so noone should be surprised. Numerous people alerted Hounslow to this issue when the other road closures were announced, but they did not care.There are clearly underlying issues for the utilities around the bridge, which at some point may need an even bigger and fuller repair.

Paul Green ● 2092d

Tedious

Ken Munn ● 2092d

Sorry Ken, I forget as a cycling lobbyist you are free to post and apportion blame as you see fit. The rest of us bow down before your insightAnyway, I agree, you are very tedious and smug as well. Just a reminder to all, this is the Ken who claims that all people who oppose any aspect of CS9 and the road closures is a 'fatty'. Nice to see the level of debate he chooses to engage in.

Paul Green ● 2092d

Where have I called anyone a fatty?

Ken Munn ● 2092d

On Twitter last year, around the same time your mate Paul was boycotting shops that dared to display a poster. Going to deny it?I see you are now also promoting Jeremy Vine's latest lies that Chiswick residents are harassing cyclists using the new CS9. What utter rubbish. The odd time I have challenged a cyclist who sails through a red light or across a zebra in front of me I have got a torrent of foul language. So now I just ignore them.From the last week to two in the evenings from half a dozen trips along the High Road there is barely a cyclist on CS9 to be seen, let alone harassed. Still, no doubt Tom will be along soon to tell us all cycling is up 1000% or something.

Paul Green ● 2092d

So currently Acton Lane, Dukes Avenue South Bound, and Sutton Court Road south bound are all shut at exactly the same time.Well done to the twits who are supposed to coordinate thisLeaves only Chiswick Lane and Sutton Lane North for a direct access to the A4

Rahman Hyatt ● 2092d

KM: "In fairness, the only people to blame for this are the utilities."Correct - though it won't stop some people using it to attack other parties.Meanwhile, the title of this thread is misleading, since there is no "again".Unfortunately there were two previous threads which claimed Acton Lane was "closed", when this was not the case.Rather it was reduced from two lanes to one, but with traffic still flowing in both directions by the use of temporary traffic lights.

Richard Cathcart ● 2092d

Acton Lane was closed both directions on 25 January and closed northbound for a few weeks last October/November.In other words Acton Lane is indeed closed again.

Mark Evans ● 2092d

There is clearly a major issue with utilities at this site. Seemingly the routing of services over the tube line is complex and prone to problems. I suspect that a proper fix would entail major engineering works and possibly closing the District Line for as long as it took. Naturally there is a reluctance to take this step so we end up with endlessly repeated temporary fixes.

Bruce Hammal ● 2092d

At the moment the Acton Lane bridge is open southbound but blocked northbound, so they could have used the same temporary traffic lights as the gas people. As it is, the official signed northbound Diversion is via the Chiswick roundabout and the North Circular and back down Bollo Lane!

Peter Evans ● 2092d

PE: "At the moment the Acton Lane bridge is open southbound but blocked northbound"Thank you.Which further proves my earlier point which is that when opening a thread like this, people should be careful to title it correctly.Otherwise people may be misled into making unnecessary diversions, or even incurring traffic penalties (eg cutting through Fisher Lane).

Richard Cathcart ● 2092d

Mark may very well have been unaware that the road was open southbound having only encountered the diversion travelling north. Either way the title of his post is correct, Acton Lane is closed, if not both ways.I'm grateful to him for alerting us to this and I don't think anyone planning to set off on a journey is likely to read the title of a thread and not check for the full details of the closure.

Francis Rowe ● 2091d

Just crazy and a nightmare for local residents just to get home, TGT and fishers lane need to be opened, traffic is very light at the moment and still there is congestion once we open up again Chiswick will be gridlocked constantly. The phasing of the lights due to cycle lane only permits a few cars through rash time so traffic is backing up and cycle lane empty except for a handful of cyclists this is absolutely crazy.

Jayne Thorburn ● 2091d

Acton Lane was closed in both directions for a few hours this morning.

Helen Whitman ● 2091d

My original post was indeed correct. Acton Lane was closed briefly in both directions towards the end of last year, and then in one direction for a few weeks, hence the opening up of TGT.It was then closed in one direction last week, both directions earlier, and now in one direction again until at least 10 February. Whichever way anyone wants to twist this, it is indeed 'again'. The bottom line Fishers Lane needs to reopened. There was someone taking pictures of cars driving through it this evening, of which there were understandably a few. I don't know if they were from the council, or just a member of the public. What I did notice was that once again CHR was a nightmare of solid traffic all the way from Halfords to Turnham Green Terrace and beyond, and Fishers Lane remains an obvious valve that could be opened to release some of this pressure.I think we have until the 6th of this month to make our comments known to the council?

Mark Edwards ● 2091d

There is a difference between being "closed" and being "reduced to one lane", whether with traffic in both directions  (as with British Gas), or in only one direction (as with Thames Water).Marks & Spencer no longer open the rear entrance on Dolman Road, does that mean they are now "closed"?

Richard Cathcart ● 2091d

Richard, this seems a very pointless quibble about semantics. But, as you've asked, M&S don't have a rear entrance on Dolman Road but if they no longer open the one on Chiswick Common Road then I can confirm that entrance would indeed be closed and the store would be open.IF you are going to insist on people describing Acton Lane as being reduced to one lane rather than being closed for reasons that escape me, that is going to cause confusion because it leaves open the possibility that contra-flow traffic management is in place.

Francis Rowe ● 2091d

There's your "contra-flow" objection dealt with, without misleading anyone.

Richard Cathcart ● 2091d

Alternatively - take your pick.

Richard Cathcart ● 2091d

Mark's comment about someone takung pictures of Fishers Lane traffic. Yes over the past week someone regularly gets out of a car and using a phone camera is recording 1-2 minutes of South Parade/Fishers Lane usually when really quiet. I heard this is on behalf of Ealing Council.

Jane Kirby ● 2090d

Seems odd that they would do this when there is a camera installed on South Parade. I've not actually heard of anyone getting a fine since the camera went up so perhaps it's not working.

Anita Blake ● 2090d

They are collecting data of the bigger picture than that fixed camera angle - this data collection could be a reason for the delay in the Ealing Council review meeting.

Jane Kirby ● 2090d

I don't know what whoever was videoing the South Parade/Fishers Lane junction managed to capture, but whenever my wife and I use the 'protected' roadway to walk under the railway bridge, there's always some'Motor Vehicles' that try to drive through, with whom we can exchange some merry banter about road signs and eyesight!

Peter Evans ● 2090d

On a related note, when closures such as these occur traffic piles up on Chiswick Lane. At the junction with the High Road the signals are placed in such a way many don't know what to do which exacerbates the situation.People headed east (or west) will go through the light obeying the signal on one side of the crossing traveling mere meters to  get through the intersection only to screech to a halt to "obey" the signal on the other side should it have changed. Often they get stuck in the box. This also happens when people turn left from the Lane onto CHR. they sit at the light, pull through the intersection and slam the brakes when they see the red light on CHR headed west. This is also made worse when a car pulls into the cycle lane and then backs out and then sits at the red light not meant for them. We've lost count of the fender benders.

David Lesniak ● 2090d