On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 20:07:11 +0100, "John Rowland"
wrote:

Oops, didn't send it to all the right groups first time...

"John Rowland" wrote in message
...

Hi all,

I live on a residential suburban London road used by many cars as a cut
through, despite the fact that there are no jams to speak of on the main
roads in my area. They use it because it is (by a short amount) the shortest
route between a number of major suburban town centres and pinchpoints in the
road network. The council has sent us all details of their plans to alter
the geometry of a local dangerous scissor junction between two heavily-used
cut-throughs to reduce the number of accidents, and wants our opinions. Both
cut throughs have width restrictions to prevent lorries using them, but this
does nothing to stem the continuous flow of cars.

I don't want the council to alter the geometry of the junction. I want them
to either turn the width restrictions into barriers, or remove the width
restrictions and put barriers where it will be easier to do three-point
turns. Or, best of all, to locate barriers through the neighbourhood such
that through routes will still exist to enable us residents to get out in
any direction, but they will be so zigzaggy that no-one will use the
neighbourghood as a cut through any more. Because the main road routes are
uncongested and only slightly longer than the cut throughs, forcing cars to
divert around a few blocks should remove all incentive to cut through my
neighbourhood.

I know that there are many neighbourhoods where cul-de-sacking has occurred.
They tend to be the poshest neighbourhoods or the scummiest neighbourhoods,
but not the in-between neighbourhoods. I live in an in-between
neighbourhood. How do councils decide which neighbourhoods to cul-de-sack?
How will it affect property values? Will my neighbourhood become posher? Or
scummier?

Has my idea about leaving through routes but making them zigzaggy been
performed anywhere?

What's my best next step - going to the council, or trying to organise
neighbours or start petitions? Printing up posters for people's windows and
distributing them?

Same thing near here (Teddington: Hapton Road & Coleshill Road for the curious).
A motorcyclist was killed when he attempted a right turn from a highway onto a
rat-run through a residential street. The council's solution was to impose a
20mph zone on the street. Madness! A cul-de-sac would have solved the problem
much better IMHO, but I'm sure council had their reasons.

I've seen zig-zaggy routes on too-fast highways through sleepy villages, but
never on residential streets (though they may well exist). You might prefer
humps, or 20mph signs, or speed cameras, or local-access-only signs. Talk to an
estate agent to see how cul-de-sacs or other traffic-calming measures affect
property values. Has there been a serious or fatal accident (the police might
know)? That's usually a great motivator for road re-engineering. But whatever
is done you have to get the neighbors on board since it'll affect every one of
them.

Good luck!

And don't let the Usenet b*st*rds get you down.