Jokers doing road works on southern approach to London Bridge

These road works are now getting quite beyond a joke. Its been going on for days and dare I say it why not nights too as it is soooooo not a residential area. The traffic chaos is a farce. Last night I was on a bus coming South accross London Bridge but traffic was so backed up in the bus staion unable to exit due to this work that the bus I was on couldn't get in. This then blocked traffic coming in from Tooley Street to say nothing of the tailbacks down Borough High Street that are occurring constantly now and all the knock on effects this is having.

I know the work needs to be done but why not 24/7 and why are they often not doing much during the day. This should be an intensive work site to get it done ASAP...or is it more of TfL's quite obvious policy of making road traffic as absoloutley unbearable as possible.

Could be worse....could be PENGUINS

urbanite wrote:

I know the work needs to be done but why not 24/7 and why are they often not doing much during the day. This should be an intensive work site to get it done ASAP...or is it more of TfL's quite obvious policy of making road traffic as absolutely unbearable as possible.

If pressed for a reason why the roadworks are not carried out 24/7 TFL would inevitably quote cost.
Apparently it is beyond their pea brain's capacity to factor in hidden costs, i.e. pollution, delays, etc.
I know that the L.Bridge works are a pain, as a black cab driver I won't go into the station until these are finished.
I drop people off in BHS now, or at the foot of the bridge, believe me, they are happy to get out there.
The last time I picked up in the station I had £6.40 on the meter when the fare gave up exasperated, and I hadn't even reached the lights at the exit.
Not my fault, as the fare agreed.
The situation at Westminster Bridge Road is just as bad in the a.m., likewise Lambeth Road as traffic seeks an alternative route.

it took 24 minutes from the moment the bus left its stand at London Bridge Bus Station to get out onto BHS...a bendy bus with maybe 100 people on it. Of course thats a huge number of man hours (and woman hours too) plus all the other buses being delayed here not to mention all the knock on effects in the entire area. The cost is astronomic but as you point out Tom TfL are the most inept people ever when it comes to looking at cost.

Any danger that anyone from City Hall could possibly ask TfL to look at the overall cost of these projects at sensitive junctions not just the simple cost of hiring a few guys to dig roads for a few hours a day.

8.10am this morning....3 blokes at the works site....1 having a fag and a mug of tea 2 sitting in the van doing nothing....brilliant.

urbanite wrote:

8.10am this morning....3 blokes at the works site....1 having a fag and a mug of tea 2 sitting in the van doing nothing....brilliant.

I noticed a works completion notice there yesterday, it said July 26, so we have a shade over two weeks to agonise over where the next TFL snafu will appear!
You can imagine them discussing it, "I know, what if we dig up so and so street while at the same time closing the only alternative route for re-surfacing?"

Lol....oh yes the idiots at TfL really do seem to be the lunatics running the asylum.

It's not just tfl - For the last couple of months, if not more, work has been going on on a little park in front of Southwark Street M&S. It looks pretty much finished to me, but for at least 2 weeks all that needs doing to finish as far as I can tell are 3 or 4 bricks on the corner with Gt Guildford Street. Every Saturday and sometimes Sunday for the last 2 - 3 weeks, 3 blokes and a dog turn up. One works alittle bit while the other 2 sit around or play with the dog, who happiply uses the grass as a toilet. Nice. What it is they do is a mystery to me as the park has been looking unchanged for quite a while, apart from that small part on the corner. I know, cos I walk past every other day.

I am a regular lurker on this forum but have been moved to come out and post about this craziness! Every weekday morning for the last two weeks, I have walked up Borough High Street (8.30 - 9.15am) to catch a bus - past huge lines of backed-up traffic (often at least to the corner of BHS and Gt Suffolk St),scenes of road rage and general frustration to find, at London Bridge, one of the following scenarios:
- no workers (even after 9am)
- 5 workers standing around staring down a hole speculatively
- 1 lone worker drilling yet another hole but no others in sight
- like Urbanite,I walked by this morning, at 8.50am, to see two workers having a chat and propping up the railings. No mugs of tea though!

I have no problem with people taking proper breaks but it does seem like the resources and lack of any sense of urgency to get things done at a key point in the city is the direct reverse of the levels of frustration, extra time and money it is costing everyone else. Sorry to repeat what others have been saying in this thread but it is mindboggling - I wait to see if it improves over the coming weeks with some interest and (disbelieving) amusement!!

It would be laughable if it really wasn't quite so important. The actual cost to the economy in terms of lost hours/wasted time must be straospheric and the pollution and anguish all this is causing to both people and the enviroment is just not quantifiable. Quite simply someone needs to address this ASAP from TfL's road management team.