No it will not do what you think it will.
The consequence of roadworks this afternoon resulted in traffic being backed up in the direction to the Grove Tavern at about 5pm and it was solid and not moving, More traffic not moving so more stagnant pollution. No wonder more people are dying of cancer from the excessive pollution. If traffic moved it would help, but planners who deem "they know best" plus Mayor Khan think slowing traffic to a stagnant crawl is the answer, when common sense shows how wrong they are.
The perfect example is Forest Hill Road, till the so called know it all planners decided it needed three lots of traffic signals installed. Where previously traffic used to flow, now it does the exact opposite. All these supposed new measures may keep people employed in traffic departments, the reality is it causes inconvenience and dramatically slows traffic down, which is wrong in every sense.