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Traffic congestion and air pollution along Kingston Road

by Wimbledon Town & Dundonald Lib Dems on 21 August, 2015

Local Lib Dems are campaigning to reduce traffic congestion and the resulting air pollution along Kingston Road, west of the Tramlink crossing at the junction of Hartfield and Kingston Roads.

At a meeting organised by our Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member – Caroline Pidgeon – we met with Transport for London this week. A viable set of proposals have been prepared to tackle this issue, before extra trams are added to the tram line and the sitting traffic and pollution get worse. However, Merton Council and local councillors have not agreed changes and so at the moment, no action will be taken at all.

We believe that it is the job of local councillors to improve the quality of life for the residents and users of Kingston Road and the surrounding area. We are organising a petition to put pressure on the Council for action on this issue.

   12 Comments

12 Responses

  1. Lee says:

    The only significant change TfL wanted to make was to ban left turns from Hartfield Road. Is that what you’re petitioning for?

    What is this set of proposals?

    • Because councillors and Transport for London haven’t agreed any improvements to the junction at all, the only thing that is going to happen at the moment is that the number of trams will increase by 4 per hour. The traffic congestion and air pollution at this junction and along Kingston Road is already bad. With more trams it will get worse (and TfL’s modelling shows this too).

      So we’ll be petitioning for TfL and councillors to actually agree action that will reduce traffic and pollution on Kingston Road for the greater good of the community. We’ve been able to make a couple of additional suggestions, which TfL is investigating.

      • Lee says:

        “A viable set of proposals have been prepared to tackle this issue, before extra trams are added to the tram line and the sitting traffic and pollution get worse.”

        “We’ve been able to make a couple of additional suggestions, which TfL is investigating.”

        Details would be appreciated. What were the proposals, what are the additional suggestions?

        • TfL had a series of proposals, including changes to the phasing of the lights (which their modelling tells them would speed the flow of traffic round the junction).

          In addition, we’ve asked TfL to investigate making a protected space for cyclists and increasing the space for buses to turn left from Kingston Rd onto Hartfield Rd, as there is the space to do so.

          As we mentioned above, at the moment, because councillors and TfL haven’t agreed any improvements to the junction whatsoever, the only thing that is going to happen at the moment is that the number of trams will increase by 4 per hour – and this is going to slow traffic through the junction even further.

          So we’re petitioning for TfL and councillors to actually agree some action that will reduce traffic and pollution on Kingston Road for the greater good of the community: http://www.mertonlibdems.org.uk/kingston_road_congestion

          • Lee says:

            Changing the phasing of the lights and the other measures proposed by TfL won’t reduce traffic volume. Those actually have the opposite objective, an increase in daily vehicle movements.

            You cannot claim that the petition is to reduce traffic volume if its in support of the previous TfL proposals.

            I’m yet to see anyone propose anything that would deliver a reduction in the quantity of traffic on the Kingston Road.

          • Doing nothing just exposes residents of Kingston Road and the wider area to damaging and unhealthy air pollution.

            That is what is currently going to happen – absolutely nothing.

            You’ll notice that our petition is not about supporting previous TfL proposals, but instead calls for TfL, councillors and Merton Council to work together to come up with solutions that cut *congestion* and sitting traffic – and a fantastic result might be proposals that reduced traffic. (I would point out that TfL’s modelling showed that their proposals would make a significant difference in reducing sitting traffic).

          • Lee says:

            Doing nothing isn’t the solution. Nor is any solution that would increase the capacity of that junction, and that’s all that’s been proposed.

            The traffic from there is heading towards Wimbledon Town centre and Merton High St, both of which are just as congested in the morning. It’ll just back the problem up for a few years and then we’ll be back to where we started, except the jam will be even bigger.

            There’s too much traffic, period. Increasing capacity increases demand. Asking TfL to do something about it, without specifically stating that the solution must not increase traffic flow (total vehicle movements) any further is naive about the consequences.

            You should familiarise yourself with the anecdote about how to boil a frog. That’s what’s happened on the Kingston Road, and the solution isn’t to say the water could be a bit hotter.

            Any changes to traffic management at that point must be complemented with changes upstream that ensure that the road doesn’t simply fill up again with more traffic.

          • I think we’ll have to agree to disagree that taking action to reduce current congestion increases demand.

            We do agree that overall traffic levels need to be reduced.

            What are your suggestions as to how to do this?

  2. Rachel Simmonds says:

    I’m not convinced the proposals you mention above are going to make any difference to improving the flow of traffic or reduce congestion. A bigger, more expensive, rethink of the whole junction including Dorset Road is needed.

    • TfL modelling suggests that their initial proposals would make a significant difference – and we’d like them to look at a few other things too. You’re right that the role of traffic from Dorset Road needs looking at.

  3. Spencer says:

    Addressing traffic congestion/pollution in Kingston road & facilitating more trams, buses, cycles over other traffic much appreciated thank you. But, isn’t Kingston Rd. an A road A238 ? A route with many HGV vehicles as well as cars & currently perilous to cyclists with sections of tokenist painted cycle lanes which have been increasingly covered over with parking spaces for cars, half over cycle lane & over pavement, both west & now east of cited junction. This is also contributing to congestion & pollution as well as highly dangerous to cyclists who are forced out into main traffic lane. Perhaps the function & status of Kingston road as a whole, needs to be addressed: it’s a very narrow road to safely cope with HGV’s alongside other users.

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