There is a very big difference between repairs and development. Projects such as the development of Greenwich Market occur once a generation and necessarily involve a long lead time. Short of a fire or terrorist attack, nothing is going to happen that would require this work to be hurried through.

Maintenance of the highways however is an ongoing task and frequently has to be done at short notice. In this case, remedial repair work was undertaken around the start of the year to fill the many large potholes. However, the severe weather undid all of this work (I assume by water getting into the cracks in the surface, freezing, expanding and break out the filled parts) as a result there was clearly no choice but to force through the full refurbishment that was probably planned for later in the year because the road had become dangerous.

As for the posts, as I said before, the stretch of Heath between the tea hut and roundabout is lined with old wooden posts and noone seemed to be calling for these to be dug up on safety grounds. If there have been any recorded cases of the existing posts leading to injuries then this would certainly be worth knowing but as the old ones are still there, I’m assuming this is not the case.

As for the hills on either side, I find it very hard to see grass as an eyesore. I suspect the reason for them is to create defined crossing points for pedestrians and possibly to provide and additional barrier between those pedestrians and what is a very busy road. Both reasons seem sensible although not entirely necessary. But as I say, it a grass bank and I fail to see how that could be seen as in any way objectionable. It’s not like it a metal crash barrier.

The potholes that were scattered along this stretch of road were very obviously a danger to drivers, their cars, and particularly cyclists and motorcyclists. I suspect that the main reason for the lack of much prior warning was that the works had to be hurried through at very short notice due to the road becoming very dangerous, very quickly. Attempts to patch up the road had been undone by the spell of particularly bad weather which saw the snow and ice cause widespread damage to the surface and I’ve no doubt it was a case of “we can’t leave this any longer”.

As for the wooden posts, I have no idea whether they are a danger to cyclists or not. What I do know is that a significant stretch of the Heath had them already and noone seemed to be kicking up too much of a fuss. They look very smart and if they serve the purpose of preventing cars from entering the Heath then I’m happy.

However, the idea that collapsible alternatives should have been used instead is laughable. No doubt, had these been used, this blog would have been peppered with comments from people complaining about the defacing of a local landmark and demanding to know why something more sympathetic had not been used instead.

2) The 1 way system in Greenwich. How do we stop people cutting in at the last moment to go down Trafalgar Road. It used to be 1 or 2 now its a constant stream of selfish drivers

3) How much money was spent a few years ago at the Blackwall Lane/ tunnel approach slip Rd. Hundreds of cars leave the A2 via the long slip Rd then do the illegal right turn and go back on preventing people trying to access the Blackwall Tunnel. Surely a camera would do the trick.

4) Finally more queue jumpers coming from the northern approach to the tunnel. All the way back from Bow interchange cars leave the A12 cut by tesco back on leave via the local traffic lane and scoot along side the A12 back on then use the local lane traffic till the last minute and cut in to get onto the southbound lane to the Blackwall Tunnel. A 15 minute bus journey from work can sometimes take up to 1hr 20mins us

Robertually 45 mins

When they started back in FEBRUARY they say 8 WEEKS?????????????????

I used to believe that all would be well once the planned works have come to an end. I now know that to hope for such an end is unrealistic and each location must take its turn in hosting the steel carnival.