Tom, its interesting you follow my posts so avidly. Like others, I remain very concerned that when life and traffic normalises we will see real problems. Based on the appalling traffic we have all known for years. As someone whose livelihood depends on ease of travel this concerns me a lot.I am happy to admit that traffic levels are still very low around W4, do you dispute that? I dont need London wide aggregate data from a increasingly irrelevant data provider to know this. Traffic was light today, less than last week for some reason. I also had to drive back from Ealing early evening and took a longer route to see the reality. A4 to Chiswick roundabout pretty quiet, as was the roundabout. Normal blackspot of the High Road westbound to the roundabout was astonishingly quiet, even with the closure of Wellesley/ Stile Hall. A 20 yard queue that a 'normal' evening can extend almost a mile back to Acton Lane. Very short queue down Sutton Court to the A4, modest queues into town on A4 and none outbound. I am sure as anyone who actually lives and travels around the area can attest, this is far far below normal. As I posted before, I think its partly reduced activity at Heathrow, that generates a huge amount of A4 traffic. Its also the commuters, for whom M4/ A4 is the most convenient route to West End and other areas. I know other areas are far busier, the north circular from Ealing is terrible. But we seem to be lucky. I am far from the only person concerned that these schemes are being implemented and trialed during such low traffic periods. No football or rugby, no commuters, no theatres and cinemas, few diners, few accidents or roadworks etc. We know what that produces and its ugly.There is a broader point related to the aggregate data, we are seeing a change in the nature of journeys. Far fewer trips in and out of London, far more local and around London. Hence, north circular very busy, A4 quiet. Which then concerns me why a superhighway is being forced through Chiswick to facilitate arterial trips in and out of London that may be permanently reduced.
Paul Green ● 2244d