Bricklayer's Arms Flyover: Gone. Playing fields? Thoughts?

As you might have guessed based on past posts, I think the flyover at Bricklayer's Arms is one of the worst things in the Southwark universe.

What does everyone think about the councilor's recent suggestion to tear down the monster and turn it into playing fields for the kids at the nearby school?

To be honest, as much as I want that piece of horrible-ness gone, I don't really think that playing fields in the middle of the road surrounding the congestion zone is the best way to use the space. The air would be dirty, and the space noisy.

So, do you guys like the playing field idea? What would you suggest to replace the beast?

P.S. If anyone from the council is reading this and wants to have the subway on NKR power washed, please jump on it! It is absolutely atrocious and smells -- literally -- like a dirty toilet.

Cant say playing fields in the middle of that junction sounds a good idea - not even healthy. The flyover is indeed ghastly, but unless they make the underpasses traffic conduits (and make the upper part pedestrian friendly instead) I cant see a decent alternative. It is, after all, a major junction.

I'm presuming the junction is to one side. I think it's a great idea. The rest of the inner ringroad manages perfectly well without such aberrations, I'm sure we could too.

A sill idea indeed. Especially because the middle of the roundabout is, potentially, a very nice green playing field.

I hope they don't proceed with the stupid idea about the demolition of the flyover. When works were being carried out on it the drivers just swerved into our little street (bartholomew ) and sped down to great dover street and swung right into the traffic nearly causing several crashes.

It would be permanent chaos. It is a major route for traffic and is the best way to handle traffic going out of central london.

@ jamesup 10.08am
Where do you imagine the traffic not going over the flyover would go? It would have to go through the street-level junction which anyone will tell you is already choked at peak times (and a lot of the rest of the time) already. There wouldn't be room for a park - there'd need to be a much bigger road. So instead of the relatively (albeit unsightly and not especially pedestrian/cyclist user-friendly) human-scale arrangement we have now, there'd be something like a motorway in its place. I don't think this would be an improvement.

The traffic would have to go UNDER the road...as I said before.

The only alternative is an underpass, which I believe would be rather expensive. However, it would leave room for a nice new park at ground level.

There has been talk of putting Park Lane underground for years and it's never happened despite the property values around there...

Other cities have removed far greater road capacity than this one lane flyover and lived to tell the tale. The removal of a major elevated motorway in seoul is a good example (been, it's amazing now). That was achieved by reducing traffic with better public transport - something that a Bakerloo Line extension or Tram could achieve here (if that's even necessary).

http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/FreewaysCheonggye.html

Anyway, chances are this isn't going anywhere for the next four years, 'smoothing the traffic' won't allow it.

I agree that better public transport would help to reduce traffic a bit, but the bulk of the traffic on this arterial road is largely not local but tends towards trade vans and lorries who genuinely don't have an alternative.