Traffic build up at Wellesley Road and Stile Hall Gardens includes fire engine
Fire engine stuck on Wellesley Road.
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Many motorists seem to have been caught unawares by the closure of Wellesley Road and Stile Hall Gardens at their junction with the South Circular (A205). Long queues of traffic have occurred in the area since the restrictions were put in place
Emergency services vehicles were caught in the traffic build up on the roads including a fire engine which a local resident says she saw doing a ‘ten-point’ turn after mistakenly driving up the closed road. It is not believed the fire engine was on an emergency call.
Council contractors this week placed planters at the western end of the roads to stop motor vehicles. Vehicles will still be able to enter Stile Hall Gardens from the A205. Cyclists will still be allowed to use this route and Transport for London say that it is still their intention to build the bidirectional cycle path which will run down towards Kew Bridge from this point.
The move is being implemented on TfL’s behalf by the council. A consultation was held on closure back in 2016 after a petition was presented to the council by Stile Hall Gardens residents and the responses were broadly in favour of closure.
There has been criticism of the council for what residents are describing as the poor signage warning motorists not to proceed if they are intending to get to the South Circular. A local councillor said that because of the coronavirus outbreak sign companies were not able to fulfil orders at short notice.
Another resident of one of the affected roads said, “I’m really delighted to see this in place finally. The traffic on our road has become increasingly nightmarish and didn’t entirely disappear during lockdown. It was disappointing that the council didn’t do more to advertise the closures and avoid the current debacle.”
Congestion on roads continued after restrictions
Many had blamed satellite navigation devices such as Waze for directing motorists to these roads if there was congestion on Chiswick High Road. Initially many of the maps used by these apps and devices did not update with the new restrictions but both Waze and Google Maps now contain the correct information and it is hoped the extra congestion seen so far will soon dissipate.
Congestion on Stile Hall Gardens before the changes
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June 7, 2020
