Traffic around Forest hill and Honor oak

[mattoutofhell]

Had to drive to forest hill yesterday. I wasn't expecting a great journey but it took an hour and 20 minutes.

Avoid the area like the plague. 4 way traffic system in place so all the surrounding roads are chaos.

 

[malumbu]

Water mains had gone outside Sainsbury's so could cause gridlock.  

[KalamityKel]

To be sure you can expect (from experience) further disruptions to come as the domino effect starts with leaks in nearby sections.  The patch it up and forget about it approach is always fun!

[Penguin68]

What's really annoying is so much now is meant to have been completely replaced, with road works for months, and yet the same sections keep on failing. I know we are all hills and clay, but the Victorians managed to put in sections which lasted 10s of years, but our repairs don't seem to last even 10s of weeks! 

[ab29]

The traffic has always been horrendous around Forest Hill but with the so- called ltns, traffic calming measures and other such nonsense, every time thames water dig a hole in the ground (almost weekly) or something else goes wrong, it is a complete mayhem

[jazzer]

The issue is in the vicinity of/under the bridge as the road dips from the junction of London Rd, Dartmouth Rd and Devonshire Rd.  I got stuck on the way back on a bus from Bell Green. There were no issues then outside Sainsburys, but with the over night dips in temperatures anything is possible to cause more bursts. As someone else said, avoid at all costs. Try over the top of Sydenham Hill and down Kirkdale, or along Sydenham Hill and Down Wells Park rd as cut throughs. 

[Sue]

On 03/12/2024 at 10:56, malumbu said:

Water mains had gone outside Sainsbury's so could cause gridlock.  

Again? Last time I passed that Sainsbury's on a bus there was water pouring out and Thames Water in attendance.

They can't have repaired it very well!

[malumbu]

There are no LTNs in Forest Hill, nor any changes to traffic management in recent years.  Daft to blame congestion on LTNs.  Congestion is of course due to too many vehicles on the road.

I first visited London as a child and it was congested.  Many years ago when I used to drive occasionally around or through London with my job it was congested.

Sadly, like East Dulwich, Forest Hill, sometimes had  bad congestion.  Road works, utility works and the like.  As does everywhere in London.

Granted, that Thames Water's troubles maintaining their network seems to be worsening.

I've posted before, Southwark preventing traffic turning right onto the south circ from wood vale/Underwood pushed traffic onto Honor Oak Road and was a bad move.  Ask anyone with kids at Fairlawn.

[Northern Star]

8 hours ago, jazzer said:

The issue is in the vicinity of/under the bridge as the road dips from the junction of London Rd, Dartmouth Rd and Devonshire Rd.  I got stuck on the way back on a bus from Bell Green. There were no issues then outside Sainsburys, but with the over night dips in temperatures anything is possible to cause more bursts. As someone else said, avoid at all costs. Try over the top of Sydenham Hill and down Kirkdale, or along Sydenham Hill and Down Wells Park rd as cut throughs. 

Unfortunately Kirkdale has been shut too  (last tried this weekend so may have reopened). This further exacerbates the congestion.

[Earl Aelfheah]

22 hours ago, Penguin68 said:

What's really annoying is so much now is meant to have been completely replaced, with road works for months, and yet the same sections keep on failing. I know we are all hills and clay, but the Victorians managed to put in sections which lasted 10s of years, but our repairs don't seem to last even 10s of weeks! 

100%. The same section of road at the junction of heber road and lordship lane is falling again. Thames Water have dug it up maybe half a dozen times and will clearly be doing so again soon. I don’t get why they can’t fix these things once.

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

100%. The same section of road at the junction of heber road and lordship lane is falling again. Thames Water have dug it up maybe half a dozen times and will clearly be doing so again soon. I don’t get why they can’t fix these things once.

It seems to me that the whole of the ancient  London water system needs to be replaced, and as that is clearly not going to happen, we have this piecemeal approach.

How many of the problems may be  due to incompetent management, incompetent workmanship, privatisation and/or greed, I have no idea.

[first mate]

Is it still gridlocked up at Sydenham Hill/ Kirkdale or is it now resolved?

[malumbu]

Google maps/directions should tell you, or other route mapping systems using live data.

[Sue]

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/06/struggling-thames-water-receives-buyout-offer-from-covalis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

12 hours ago, malumbu said:

Google maps/directions should tell you, or other route mapping systems using live data.

Trouble is, you are stuck if you are on a bus.

[snowy]

Kirkdale was restricted for the installation of a new really long substation electricity cable. The roadworks were removed yesterday.
 

Up by Kelvin Grove was a water leak that was right above a large gas pipe. I think that's gone now too. 

Edited December 6, 2024 by snowy