On 4 Feb, 16:35, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
In article ,

(Richard J.) wrote:
I drove along Westway (A40) on Thursday evening, and noticed that
all the lamp columns in the central reservation had been cut down,
leaving stumps about 3 metres high with the tops covered over with
plastic. This means that Westway is currently unlit apart from the
slip roads.

Does anyone know if they are just replacing the lamps, or if the
lack of lighting is permanent? Either way it's daft.

If they are replacing the lamp columns, why not replace a few at a
time rather than leaving the whole road unlit? If it's permanent,
presumably that would be to reduce light pollution for nearby
residents. But a 6-lane 50-mph ex-motorway is not the best place
for that sort of exercise.

Something similar appears to have happened in Camden. Nearly all the
columns were cut down like than in Tavistock Place recently. Nw a few new,
smaller, columns have been erected so it's not in total darkness. Looks
like some Health and Safety panic to me.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Two sides to that argument of course - perhaps the design of said
columns has been found to be structurally flawed after corrosion (i.e.
rust) has affected them, and one has fallen down somewhere. Plus a
crash on an elevated roadway such as the Westway could be pretty ugly.
Health and Safety panic vs sensible precautions...

Anyway I think prefer the Westway like it is - you can see the lights
of London town as you 'fly' through west London rather than merely
drive under the glare of harsh sodium lights - somehow it appeals to
my romanitic side! There's so much ambient light that it's far from
pitch black anyway.