please talk me through the elephant and castle chaos?

[Huggers]

Can anyone explain to me what it going on roadworks-wise around Elephant? The traffic is currently madness approaching from the bridges. I always thought the give-way system worked really well but now traffic lights in Waterloo Bridge Road is banking up traffic as lanes are let through on a green and then immediately stopped on different red just yards ahead, blocking the other lane once it is on a green, so that only about two cars per traffic light change are getting through. Sorry, not explaining very well but you will probably have experienced it yourselves. Is this part of works or the finished product?

[Salsaboy]

I thought it was finished.

[Huggers]

I hope not, it's congestion is much much worse than before!

[emc]

It is horrendous - a 25 min drive to work is now taking me 1.5 hours sometimes. I was going to ask anyone if approaching Elephant Castle from the Old Kent Road is any better as on the days I need to drive to work I'm getting later and later! thanks

[Huggers]

It's from old kent road via my burgess park short cut that ivebeen approaching it. Awful,

[gracey33]

traffic seems to have improved! anyone else experiencing the same or did I just get lucky today and monday? i don't want to start relying on the buses if it was just fluke...

thanks

[Ladygooner]

It was better this week but I think some schools are on half term? However the walk from the 176 and 40 bu stops to E&C tube (Bakerloo line) gets longer and longer as normal bus stops are shut and temporary ones put further down the road!

[civilservant]

there was just one south-bound lane of London Road open today around 7 pm and it was packed full of buses - every bus i've been on this week has taken over half an hour to get from the Waterloo Road roundabout (the one with the obelisk) to the Faraday monument roundabout - a distance that should take less than 5 mins.

the roads are now so narrow and the turns are so tight, it's like a slalom run for buses all around there

as for changing buses at the elephant each morning, going the other way, it's a new game of "hunt the bus-stop" every day as the road layout changes on a daily basis

hoping it'll get better over half-term, but not holding my breath...

[Earl Aelfheah]

They are turning the northern roundabout into a peninsular: https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/elephant-and-castle

[Earl Aelfheah]

.

[Northeastview]

I've taken the 68 to work for 15 years and I've had to give up and take the train to st Pancras instead for the last half a year, the traffic is so bad I was consistently 45 mins late. The train is very expensive, I'm just hoping the traffic will ease at some point?

[James Barber]

The problem is that the cube in the middle with dimples is a electric sub=-station apparently celebrating Michael Faraday. If they moved that they could have built a new signalled crossing in the roundabout and then over a weekend linked it to the existing roads and the disruption would have been nil.

The peninsula was photoshopped with a market and people. I doubt very much whether it will be anything other than a deserted piece of ground and huge waste of money. I really hope I'm wrong. I doubt very much it will be safer than the existing roundabout as it's so bloody complicated. Nothing clear it intuitive about it. Again I hope I'm wrong.

I suspect that 5-10 years time they'll rip the whole thing up and put in a signal crossing. If it is a dismal failure I hope this second stab happens quickly to minimise deaths and serious injuries.

[JohnL]

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The problem is that the cube in the middle with

> dimples is a electric sub=-station apparently

> celebrating Michael Faraday. If they moved that

> they could have built a new signalled crossing in

> the roundabout and then over a weekend linked it

> to the existing roads and the disruption would

> have been nil.

>

> The peninsula was photoshopped with a market and

> people. I doubt very much whether it will be

> anything other than a deserted piece of ground and

> huge waste of money. I really hope I'm wrong. I

> doubt very much it will be safer than the existing

> roundabout as it's so bloody complicated. Nothing

> clear it intuitive about it. Again I hope I'm

> wrong.

>

> I suspect that 5-10 years time they'll rip the

> whole thing up and put in a signal crossing. If it

> is a dismal failure I hope this second stab

> happens quickly to minimise deaths and serious

> injuries.

I read somewhere they were thinking of burying the cube.

Might have imagined it :)

[civilservant]

James Barber Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The problem is that the cube in the middle with

> dimples is a electric sub=-station apparently

> celebrating Michael Faraday.

so that's the story from TFL is it? pretty ironic that,James, since Michael Faraday was born at the Elephant and the cube is the only monument in the UK to probably the most significant British scientists ever

speaking as someone who goes through the Elephant every day, it's not the roundabout which is the problem

the problem is the roadway-narrowing and the ever more complicated road layout that's trying to accommodate the cycle route malarkey on top of the complex geography of the many roads that converge at the Elephant

[????]

'Twas ever thus. My grandad was a lorry driver in the 30s and, pre traffic lights, he said it used to take 7 policeman to sort out the traffic at the Elephant, even with 1930s traffic

[Ruffler]

civilservant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

>

> speaking as someone who goes through the Elephant

> every day, it's not the roundabout which is the

> problem

> the problem is the roadway-narrowing and the ever

> more complicated road layout that's trying to

> accommodate the cycle route malarkey on top of the

> complex geography of the many roads that converge

> at the Elephant

I agree. The completed section leading into Waterloo Road from St George's Circus is now so narrow that bus drivers frequently have to mount the kerb just to navigate their way through!

[tfwsoll]

>>'Twas ever thus. My grandad was a lorry driver in the 30s and, pre traffic lights, he said it used to take 7 policeman to sort out the traffic at the Elephant, even with 1930s traffic

The traffic lights were only installed in the 1990s. I remember dreading my driving instructor taking me to the Elephant and Castle roundabout before the lights were intalled - his argument was that if you could navigate the chaos there you could drive anywhere.

[Seabag]

I've taken to completely avoiding the whole area, it's a friggin nightmare

How long is it going on for?

[Ladygooner]

Seabag Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I've taken to completely avoiding the whole area,

> it's a friggin nightmare

>

> How long is it going on for?

Signs say Summer 2016.....

[tfwsoll]

There is a similarly nightmarish scenario at the Oval/Kennington Lane, which isn't helping commuting in South London.

[Coman]

I have been using Elephant & Castle increasingly as part of my journey, since the works at London Bridge have been causing delays and cancellations to the train service from East Dulwich.

I have timed the bus journey from the Heygate Street bus stop to the Elephant and Castle stop. On a reasonable day it can take 6 and half minutes on a bad day over 12 minutes. This is mainly because of the lights, just after the railway bridge.

I find it quicker to walk from the Heygate Street bus stop.

Congestion Southbound along the Walworth Road is rarely a problem off-peak.

[BrandNewGuy]

Coman Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I have been using Elephant & Castle increasingly

> as part of my journey, since the works at London

> Bridge have been causing delays and cancellations

> to the train service from East Dulwich.

You should maybe give the train a go again.Since the timetable was adjusted in early summer, it's been very good (fingers crossed). Delays are few and cancellations almost non-existent.

[first mate]

It is all part of the cycling agenda/ vision.

[malumbu]

Cars are rubbish

Take the train, or cycle

Not that it is much fun cycling at the moment, I have done everything that you would probably criticise cyclists for in the last few months trying to get through down towards the Imperial War Museum.

Buses are probably not a good idea through there at present, and sadly congestion across central London has reduced patronage in recent times.

Perhaps it will be like pedestrianising Traf Square (or banning smoking in pubs), in a few months time we will wonder what all the fuss was about.

[jueyro]

I think this is not good for us.