Thursday, August 23, 2007

Transport authorities knew Blackwall tidal closure would cause congestion

A report produced in 1996 and released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that Transport for London were fully aware that ending the Blackwall Tunnel tidal flow would "reduce overall average network speed and increase fuel consumption". The report also says that "the proportion of accidents occurring in and around tidal flow operations is not significantly higher than would normally be expected on this type of road".

The information was revealed on the Little Man, What Now blog and a scanned copy of the report is available here. We certainly hope that Greenwich Council will be asking question of TfL as to why they felt the need to close the tidal system when their own research told them accidents were not a problem and it would increase not only congestion and but have a significant environmental impact too.

4 Comments:

Blogger Charles Pooter said...

Thanks for the link. The full report is very interesting. It is a balanced report which shows that there were safety problems with the tidal flow system but it definately shows that accidents could have been reduced without ending the scheme.

1:46 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bet this will be blamed on the EU again, convenient at times (and accurate at others) but the report clearly states "even though the Blackwall Tunnel does not lie on the Trans-European Road Network, TfL is seeking to harmonise standards on key connecting routes and to adopt the proposed measures"

So more gold-plating by UK officials.

10:01 pm  
Blogger Major Gripe said...

Very caustic stuff. Have linked you on my post about your post about their post. Welcome back from your holidays, good to have you back.

And I really, really wish that when I had seen that weasel Mayor I had punched him out.

11:14 pm  
Blogger Charles Pooter said...

I've added you to our blog roll.

11:18 am  

Post a Comment

<< Home