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Greenwich news and information

Vehicle Fire Forces Blackwall Tunnel Closure

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The Blackwall Tunnel has been closed northbound and is not expected to reopen until Wednesday after a vehicle fire yesterday.

The incident happened on Sunday at around 17.45 and  two people were taken to hospital – one due to smoke inhalation and one with an ankle injury.

Transport for London say that the road surface, lighting and CCTV systems were damaged in the fire and TFL engineers are working 24 hours a day to repair the damage.

The closure of the northbound tunnel has caused gridlock on surrounding roads, with motorists advised to use the Dartford river crossing, Rotherhithe Tunnel, Woolwich Ferry or Tower Bridge to cross the Thames.

Greenwich Council responded to the closure by saying that it underlined the need for additional river crossings.

Cllr Peter Brooks, Deputy Leader of the Council, said, “The travel difficulties experienced this morning – and which are forecast to last at two more days – starkly underline the dangers for Londoners of relying so heavily on the Blackwall Tunnel.

“Greenwich Council has consistently pressed for a package of further river crossings, to relieve the pressure on the crossing at Blackwall, which is why we were extremely disappointed at the decision of the Mayor of London to scrap plans for the Thames Gateway crossing.

“We are continuing to press the Mayor to put the Thames Gateway crossing – together with a new crossing at Silvertown – firmly back on the agenda.”

UPDATE: The Blackwall tunnel reopened tonight after TfL engineers worked quickly to repair fire damage, well ahead of the initial estimate that it wouldn’t reopen until Wednesday.

Garrett Emmerson, Chief Operating Officer, London Streets, said: ‘I would like to pay tribute to the tireless work of the emergency services, tunnel engineers and many others who have ensured we have been able to reopen the tunnel so quickly.

Pay As You Go Oyster Arrives in Greenwich

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Greenwich commuters will finally be able to use Oyster pay-as-you-go for rail journeys from 2 January, after years of negotiations between Transport for London and the capital’s private rail operators.

But there’s a sting in the tail for some rail passengers, with cheaper off-peak tickets withdrawn for those who don’t use Oyster cards, and higher fares for all in the evening rush hour.

Many local passengers have been using Oyster on local rail services for some time, but because they have Travelcards loaded onto their tickets.

Now all passengers will be able to use the smartcards to pay for individual journeys, just as Tube and Docklands Light Railway users have done for the past six years. On the Greenwich line, this means the cards will be as valid as far out as Slade Green, on the edge of zone 6.

From 2 January, passengers who don’t use Oyster cards will be charged a flat rate of £2.40 from Greenwich and other zone 2 stations to London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross or Cannon Street, with a return costing £4.30.

Those travelling from Maze Hill or Westcombe Park, in zone 3, will be charged £3.10 single, or £5.30 return.

But passengers who do use Oyster cards will be charged cheaper rates, with all journeys being charged as singles.

From Greenwich, passengers for central London will have to pay £2.10 if their journey takes place in the morning or evening rush hour – between 6.30am and 9.30am, or 4pm-7pm.

If their journey avoids those times, or is at weekends, then they’ll be charged £1.70.

Oyster card holders from Maze Hill or Westcombe Park will pay £2.60 for a peak journey, or £2 off-peak.

The new system also means passengers can combine rail and Tube/DLR journeys. If their journey does not include Zone 1, it’s at no extra cost. Someone travelling from Maze Hill to South Quay DLR via Greenwich would be charged £1.80 in peak hours, £1.50 at other times – the same fare as Maze Hill to Deptford.

But there’s an extra £1.10 added for journeys through zone 1 – so Maze Hill to Goodge Street will cost £3.70 or £3.10 single.

A cap will apply on fares, so passengers making different journeys during the day will find they pay no more than the appropriate rate for a one day Travelcard.

For people using paper Travelcards or season tickets, it’s business as usual.

However, the Oyster deal will not make travel as convenient as some users might like.

Passengers with Travelcards who need to travel outside their zones will be expected to get a free “Oyster Extension Permit” from a ticket machine or ticket office, or Oyster shop, before they travel to a National Rail station.

So someone with a zones 1-3 Travelcard will need to get a permit before travelling to Abbey Wood, in zone 5, for example. However, permits can be picked up weeks or months in advance, and will stay on Oyster cards until they are actually used.

Gold Card holders – who have annual Travelcards – will still have to buy paper tickets to get their usual one-third discount on tickets outside their zones.

And all passengers wanting to travel to Dartford or deeper into Kent will need to buy a paper ticket as normal.

As part of a separate agreement, Thames Clippers river services have already started to accept Oyster pay-as-you-go tickets, offering a 10% discount on normal cash fares, while Travelcard holders will get a 30% discount.

A £5.80 single ticket from Greenwich or QEII piers to central London will be reduced to £4.80 with Oyster PAYG, or £3.55 with a Travelcard.

Woolwich Ferry may be tolled as new river crossings proposed

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Toll booths could be introduced at the Woolwich Ferry and for the first time, as part of plans to pay for a series of new river crossings, it was revealed today.

Current legislation prevents any tolls at Woolwich. However, this could change under proposals to upgrade the existing ferries and boarding facilities.

Plans announced today for a series of new bridges, tunnels, and ferries across the river could also mean that existing crossings will be tolled.

Among the new river crossings proposed by Transport for London today are:

1. A Foot/Cycle Bridge between North Greenwich and Canary Wharf

This would be an expensive and tricky project. It’s position on the Thames means that any bridge would need to be at least 50m high in order to allow ships to pass. Despite this, TfL say that it would be an “iconic” scheme and would be “strongly supported” by both Greenwich and Tower Hamlets. The Canary Wharf group and AEG (O2) have also agreed to the bridge in principle.

2. North Greenwich to Canary Wharf passenger ferry

Cheaper than the bridge, this would require new piers on the Western side of North Greenwich and the Eastern side of Canary Wharf. Journey times would be quicker than the existing services from the Eastern side of the Peninsula. Cyclists would be able to use the crossing and like all other river services it would be fully ‘oysterised’ under current plans by the Mayor.

3. Silvertown Crossing

Talked about for many years, Boris Johnson has already signaled that he’s keen on this project. Running from Silvertown to the Greenwich peninsula, the crossing would feed into the Blackwall Tunnel approach via John Harrison Way.

Both a bridge and a tunnel are under consideration by the Mayor, although the former would almost certainly meet strong resistance from environmental campaigners and from the Port of London Authority. On the other hand, the latter would be less attractive to pedestrians and carry added safety risks.

As with any road crossing, the biggest worry is that it would just add further congestion to an already highly congested and polluted area.

4. Woolwich Ferry Upgrade

TfL say that the current ferries and landing stages are “coming to the end of their life” Under today’s proposals, tolls would be introduced to pay for replacement ferries and a full upgrade of facilities. Once finished, TfL say that the crossing would be able to carry a much greater volume of traffic. However, any tolling would need a change in the current legislation. TfL also say that tolling would be dependent on extra crossings being created elsewhere.

5. Gallions Reach Ferry (vehicles and pedestrians)

Following the route of the now abandoned Thames Gateway Bridge, this would be a relatively inexpensive way of opening up Thamesmead to much-needed extra jobs and transport links. Although not a long term solution, it would at least offer some extra provision to commuters and businesses. Supporters say that it would be unlikely to create anything like the influx of traffic that the Thames Gateway Bridge would have doneH.

6. Local Gallions Reach crossing

The final crossing under consideration, is effectively a smaller version of the Thames Gateway Bridge. Planned for a similar position as the TGB, this crossing would be designed for mostly local use, and unlike the TGB it has already received crucial support from Bexley Council.

Among the more ambitious plans ruled out by Transport for London today, were proposals for a joint vehicle and train Crossrail tunnel, and a cable car between North Greenwich and Canary Wharf. TfL say that the cable car would have created “significant access and privacy concerns” and would not have coped well with crowds at the O2.

The Mayor will now consider which, if any, of these proposals should go ahead.

Reactions

The Mayor’s decision to drop plans for the Thames Gateway Bridge last year was strongly welcomed by the London Green Party, who had long campaigned against it. They are also supportive of today’s plans for extra ferry and pedestrian crossings.

However, London Assembly Member for the Green Party Darren Johnson said today:

“Building a road tunnel or crossing is environmentally damaging and will do nothing to regenerate East london. The mayor is ignoring all the evidence that new roads just cause new traffic jams. It is incrediable that he would even consider building a new, traffic generating road, at a time when london is facing court action by the European commission over air pollution.”

Labour Assembly Member for Greenwich Len Duvall said the Mayor should “come to his senses”:

“The reality that Boris Johnson has so far failed to accept is that the Thames Gateway Bridge is the real solution to east London’s river-crossing needs. While it may be controversial to the few, it makes perfect sense for the many. A Silvertown crossing would have to go under rather than over the river and should be in addition to, rather than a replacement for, the Thames Gateway Bridge. Any other proposals, such as a pedestrian crossing, would have to allow for large ships to travel and berth up the Thames and would not redress the unequal distribution of vehicle crossings between west and east London.

“I’m glad the Mayor now finally accepts the need for a further crossing in east London, but his position still makes no sense. He opposes the Thames Gateway Bridge on environmental grounds, yet proposes a potentially damaging vehicle ferry and a road crossing at Silvertown. He should come to his senses, accept he made a mistake and go ahead with the Bridge for which London had already banked around £300 million of PFI credits.”

Mayor Boris Johnson said earlier today:

“Anyone that has ever tried to cross the Thames in East London is aware of the lack of crossings and the congestion this causes. The residents and businesses in this part of London deserve better and I am absolutely determined to deliver the improvements they require. This report makes a series of sensible recommendations that we will now dig deeper into and that I will consider as I put together my transport strategy for the capital.”

Greenwich River Crosssing

Andrew Gilligan: No-Go Area

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At the bottom of my road, where it meets Royal Hill, there is every few seconds a sad little tableau. An impatient car (how can a car look impatient, you ask? But it does) drives up to the junction from the London direction. The driver slows to turn into my street, then notices the big notice saying “Road closed – No access to Shooters Hill,” whereupon he speeds up again and heads for the permanant traffic jam that is now central Greenwich.

At the top of my road, where it meets the A2, there is an even more poignant sight: a constant parade of U-turning drivers who have ignored the sign at the bottom of the road (there’s so little trust in government these days, isn’t there?) and driven all the way up, bashing the road humps in their haste, only to find that the warning is in fact correct, and their path is blocked by a high fence and an orange wall of traffic cones. Like that BBC reporter in the Falklands, I sit in my study window, counting them all out, then counting them all back.

For forty-eight hours now, pretty much every side street in West Greenwich has been filled with probing, questing motor vehicles, desperately trying to find an eastbound route without a 45-minute queue – and failing every time. The main roads are just filled. During this evening’s rush-hour, traffic was completely solid on Greenwich High Road, with something like 250 crawling cars between the Deptford Broadway lights and St Alfege’s church. Much of Blackheath village, too, is at a standstill. The old buildings of both places shudder beneath a constant parade of heavy lorries. Horns and emergency service sirens wail into the night.

The cause, as we probably all know by now, is that TfL have closed the eastbound A2 between the bottom of Blackheath Hill (at the junction with Greenwich South Street) and Charlton Way/ Shooters Hill Road. For the next two months. To install a cycle lane.

I happened to be up very early on Sunday morning, when the closure first went into effect. From 5.30am on the quietest day of the week, there was a procession of dozens of cars down my street as the first stage of the diversions kicked in. That was when I knew that this was going to be bad.

Even most foot access has been blocked by the fence – there’s only one pedestrian gap in it between the tea hut and Dartmouth Hill. West Greenwich has been cut off from Blackheath by land, air and sea.

Now, I’m a cyclist – I’ve never driven or owned a car in my life – and I’ve spent years asking for more cycle lanes. But I really don’t think that essentially pouring a giant vat of glue over the whole of Greenwich and Blackheath for the next eight weeks is a price worth paying for this one.

For one thing, there are already three parallel, and far nicer, cycle routes to the A2 – along Dartmouth Hill, Hare and Billet Road, Mounts Pond Road and Long Pond Road; up through the park to Vanbrugh Park; and along the river and through the grounds of the naval college. That last one doesn’t even involve a hill.

Even the justification in TfL’s own press release is rather carefully worded: “This stretch of the A2 runs through Blackheath, an area that attracts many cyclists and pedestrians,” they say. The “area,” yes. The A2, not so much.

The other reason for the closure is so that TfL can “reconstruct the carriageway” and install new streetlights. But what exactly is wrong with the current streetlights? What does reconstruction mean – does it mean resurfacing? What was wrong with the previous surface? Why does it all have to take two months? (Why, for instance, aren’t they working at night on the stretch across the heath, since there are no residents to disturb?) And let us not forget that the Blackheath Hill stretch of the road was subject to “reconstruction” only five years ago following the Blackheath Hole collapse.

The cynic in me does wonder whether this is another part of “Transport for Livingstone’s” historic jihad against motorists. Perhaps closing down this main arterial route is another way of showing those despised creatures (many of whom, to compound their offence, are white, heterosexual men from the suburbs) the error of their ways.

The other historic Transport for Livingstone impulse that this closure clearly satisfies is the need to spend large amounts of money on projects which don’t seem of obvious or front-rank importance.

You may, of course, object that Ken is no longer in charge. But this was presumably planned when he still was; and in any case, for the most part, under the new regime, TfL has gone on pretty much as before. Recently, I described to an appreciative senior City Hall figure some of the more bonkers ways in which TfL has been wasting money, ways that need to be mended rather more urgently than the A2 if the organisation is to survive the downturn with its services intact.

For the next eight weeks, though, we appear to be stuck with this. Let’s hope it is just eight weeks, shall we? Let’s hope the works don’t overrun; let’s hope, above all, that they don’t open up the Blackheath Hill hole again and let us in for another two years of local traffic hell. They’re bound to have thought of that, aren’t they? Aren’t they?