Brentford Cycleway Project Expected to Last Six Months |
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Work between Watermans Park and Kew Bridge will cause 'significant disturbance'
March 17, 2023 Transport for London (TfL) has warned that the project to extend Cycleway 9 in Brentford will cause ‘significant disturbance’ in the local area. The work to build over 300 metres of segregated Cycleway between Kew Bridge and Watermans Park is scheduled to commence on 27 March and is currently expected to last 6 months. TfL says, “You can expect there to be some significant disturbance to local roads, including bus and traffic delays due to lane reductions, and some pavement closures and diversions.” It is advising residents to walk, cycle or use tubes and trains as an alternative to their cars if possible and avoid traveling outside morning and evening peaks. The level of disruption in the area is expected to be exacerbated by the ongoing work by National Highways on the A4 near Ealing Road. The new cycleway will eventually link the completed sections at Hammersmith and Watermans Park meaning that it will be possible to cycle all the way between the two on segregated cycle lanes or quietways. Plans have already been drawn up for a further extension of the cycleway through the centre of Brentford towards Hounslow. The section of the cycleway starting at the Kew Bridge junction will be bi-directional along the south side of Kew Bridge Road until it passes the Regatta Point Building. There it will switch to a one-way track each side of the road which with a separate signalised crossing for cyclists east of the Musical Museum. Westbound cyclists can continue to link up with the cycle path through Watermans Park.
Unlike previous sections of the cycleway, temporary designs will not be used, and high-quality raised paving will be employed to segregate cyclists. There will be adjustments in side-roads’ layouts to make people cycling more visible to vehicles, Existing bus stops in this section will be moved to islands which will require passengers to cross the cycleway. The design is based on plans drawn up for the original Cycle Superhighway (CS9) in 2017 although it is understood there are some differences in the way the scheme has been implemented between the Musical Museum and Ealing Road. TfL modelled the impact on traffic of the new road layouts and estimated that there are likely to be significant delays travelling eastbound during the morning and evening peaks in Brentford. There was expected to be an increase in travel time from Ealing Road to Kew Bridge of up to 12 minutes during evening peak time 7-9 minutes of which was directly attributable to CS9. Without CS9 travel times were expected to increase by 3 minutes on the same route due to other factors. In the morning peak the travel time between Ealing Road and Kew Bridge was expected to increase by 5-7 minutes because of CS9 but without it journey times would fall. Later modelling for a version of the scheme consulted on in 2019 showed no impact at all of the implementation of the Cycleway between Ealing Road and Kew Bridge either way. The work on the cycleway is to be carried out by Hounslow Highways and it will be issuing more detailed information about the impact of the project as it progresses.
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