26 April - Abbey Wood. The chaos continues
So Crossrail is unlikely to serve Abbey Wood until
late 2020 at best which for Bexley Council may be good news; it is just possible that they will have the local roads ready by then.
However
across the borough border Greenwich Council has sprung a surprise. After months,
years even, of telling local traders that there is no money available for CCTV
surveillance in Wilton Road, three support masts appeared. No consultation or
anything, they just appeared one day.
Can’t complain obviously but it is all rather strange. Just as well the CCTV is
to be on the Greenwich side of the road because Bexley doesn’t monitor theirs.
At
the station end of Wilton Road, Gayton Road is being given a smart new makeover and it is all beginning to look very good
but why is the construction method so very different to that employed elsewhere?
In Harrow Manorway where the traffic is much heavier granite blocks have been
embedded in concrete set above a steel reinforced concrete base.
The same technique was used in Overton Road and the entrance to Sainsbury’s
despite the traffic levels being much lower.
But not in Gayton Road. There concrete blocks have been set in sand above
an asphalt base. That is exactly the same construction technique used on my front drive.
That has remained stable for the past twelve years but then I don’t have buses
and delivery vehicles using it on full steering lock every few minutes.
It looks good but for how long?
On the other side of the tracks Felixstowe
Road was scheduled to get
the same treatment starting on 23rd April. How goes it?
Not especially well at present; the station lifts are barricaded and parking has
been restricted. Beyond that progress has been confined to some paint on the
footpath indicating where utility services might be.
The completion date is a beautifully vague Autumn 2019. After originally
forecasting
completion by June last year you can understand why Bexley Council is keen
to take a leaf out of Crossrail’s latest forecasting techniques.
In Felixstowe Road one must wonder if the new convenience store can survive
months of limited access. They have already applied for permission to convert
part of the shop to a take-away.