Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Don't Forget - Wightman Road Closed for 5 months from Next Tuesday (29th March)

In case it's escaped your notice or slipped your mind, Wightman Road will be closed to through traffic for five months starting next Tuesday 29th March.

This will be a significant dislocation to North London traffic movement. So much so that warning notices have been placed as far away as Archway. No doubt it will also have a significant impact on Harringay's traffic.

However, there really is no alternative to at least partial road closure. The railway bridge between Alroy and Wightman roads is being replaced and there will simply be no road for a few months!

One option the Council could have taken would have been to simply reroute the traffic via the Ladder rung roads. It is to their credit, however, they recognised that with over 16,000 vehicles a day using Wightman Road, this would have placed an intolerable burden on our narrow residential roads, already beset by undue traffic volumes.

After consultation with residents, the solution decided upon is to place blocks at regular intervals along Wightman Road, in effect creating clusters of two or three rung roads. Whilst this will retain unfettered access for residents. it will render the whole Ladder, including Wightman, useless as a rat run. You can clearly see the details on the full size pdf map attached below.

Quite what it will mean for traffic in Harringay, Haringey and further afield remains to be seen. Those of us who have been working with the Council on this very much hope that traffic will quickly find other routes. It's fair to say, however, that at very best, we're going to experience some very heavy congestion on Green Lanes for a month or so.

At the same time, the Harringay traffic study will continue. The coincident timing of this piece of work with the bridge closure may be fortunate in that it will give the consultants an opportunity to study the outcome of diverting traffic away from Harringay.

A pdf copy of the Wightman Road closure is attached, along with some Council-produced documentation. You can stay up to date with what's happening on the Wightman Road closure on a dedicated page on the council website here.

Tags for Forum Posts: traffic, wightman bridge, wightman bridge closure

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Attachments:

wightman_road_faqs_2016.pdf, 29 KB
wightman_road_bridge_reconstruction_-_associated_road_closure_info.pdf, 149 KB
11164252_1080127775363419_1412675779995943495_o.jpg, 306 KB

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Permalink Reply by Dominik on March 31, 2016 at 8:08

try any bus from around mid-day to 7pm...i dont think you'd call it hysteria but frustration

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Permalink Reply by Liz on March 31, 2016 at 9:58

Yes I did just that. 141 going East at 1pm yesterday. A bit of a snarl up at the Arena (plus ça change) but waiting was probably less than 5 minutes at that point. I've known it slower on a 'normal' night at 8pm. Traffic was flowing and there was less panicky driving from car owners.

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Permalink Reply by V&M on March 31, 2016 at 10:11

Around 6.30pm yesterday Endymion Rd looked horrendous but there was no build up on Green Lanes going north up the side of Finsbury Park. But that bit only tends to get bad when a lot of people want to get to the Arena shops so the weekend will be the moment to avoid.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on March 31, 2016 at 10:25

I think that the Endymion/Green Lanes/Arena junction is going to be the problem whatever is done. As it's impossible for the traffic to come off Endymion and over the bridge to Wightman the volumes at the Green Lanes junction have increased hugely
For want of anything better to do I spent half an hour last week counting cars at the mini roundabout at the Endymion/Alroy Road junction. Something like 8 out of every 10 vehicles turned up Alroy to go on to Wightman. Even if Wightman was kept open as some people have suggested the impact would be the same because at some point all the traffic must pass the junction at the Arena.

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Permalink Reply by V&M on March 31, 2016 at 10:29

Completely agree. If Arena had a second exit/entrance point at side/rear life would be a lot nicer on Green Lanes. Though probably horrible for anyone at that second point, which is presumably why it's not there?

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Permalink Reply by Gordon T on March 31, 2016 at 10:59

Currently it would emerge onto residential roads only as wide as the narrower Ladder roads, if that.

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Permalink Reply by Hugh on March 31, 2016 at 11:02

An additional complication is that Finsbury Park Avenue is, for most of its length, a private road.

Permalink Reply by graemeTP on March 31, 2016 at 12:38

Green Lanes between Effingham Road and Turnpike Lane was weirdly quiet at about 8.10 this morning... Actually quiet. Attached photo looking northwards.

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