Dave Arquati wrote:
TheOneKEA wrote:

Not really. One of the major stops near the Square is on
a very thin sidewalk, and is so busy that people regularly
spill out into the street. Very dangerous in heavy traffic,
as it forces people to walk out in the street to avoid the
crowds.

I did notice that. Such a scenario implies to me that the
road should probably be pedestrianised, and the bus stop
relocated somewhere nearby where people can wait more easily
without disrupting the flow of pedestrians.

For that particular bus stop (which serves the 65, 371, H37, R68, R70
and more) I think the only thing to do would be to straighten the kink
in the road past the Square. The sidewalk on the bus stop side is thin,
but the corresponding sidewalk on the other side is quite wide.

Of course, that may not be possible in Richmond - but perhaps
removing private through traffic might help. Mind you, they
have a similar problem in Oxford on a road which is bus-only.

George Street could do with being pedestrianised, as long as people
could turn right off of Richmond Bridge and climb Richmond Hill, to
eventually link up with Queens Road. Otherwise it would be a disaster,
especially for the bus routes which use it.


Well, for a start, there's a public car park next to the
station, though it might be possible to construct a different
access to it.

Not really. It's hemmed in by buildings on all sides.

I didn't notice which side of the station it was. If it's the
northern side,

It is - right next to platform 7.

perhaps Kew Road could be public transport and car park
access only. Perhaps more radically, a new car park could
be built on the eastern side of the station over the railway
line, with access from Church Road, and the current car park
replaced with something else. However, I imagine that would
be extremely expensive!

There's already a car park over there, which is regularly rammed. A far
more controversial option would be to build the carpark on top of the
District and Windsor lines and ditch the eastern parapets of Church
Road bridge. There's certainly no lack of horizontal or vertical space
to install a truly massive carpark; the nearby Sheen Road junction
provides access as well.


The problem with the inner parts of Richmond (i.e. George
Street and the Quad) is that it is used by everyone coming
inward from the A305 Sheen Rd., Richmond Bridge via Hill
Street and Petersham Road to get onto the A316. If more
people went via Queens Road to Sheen Road, across the
Windsor lines and down into the Manor Road area, it could
improve things enormously.

Could the Manor Road level crossing cope with the extra
traffic?

I don't think so. Unless SWT could be persuaded to divert some of the
Reading semifasts and a few of the west-of-Hounslow stoppers via the
loop, I suspect that people would do a lot of waiting at the level
crossing.

If not, I wonder how much it would cost to grade-separate
it.

fx: loud and raucous laughter

It's hemmed in on both sides by houses and retail developments. You
would have to build a diveunder and take the Windsor lines underneath
the road. Oh, and you'd have to reconstruct North Sheen station, and
probably knock down the buildings immediately on either side of the
crossing.

IOW, grade separation is unlikely.


Is there a reason why traffic from the Bridge comes through
the town centre, rather than reaching the A316 via St Margarets?

No clue. Perhaps a key road in St. Margarets is blocked, or maybe the
roundabouts southwest of Twickenham Bridge are even worse than the Kew
roundabout...