The Gateway development will greatly increase road congestion
10 bus routes: 98 buses an hour, on completion of development, crossing eastbound traffic on Loampit Vale at three traffic light controlled junctions.
New Traffic Lights: To allow buses entering the new bus station plus extra traffic generated by proposed residential C (18 storey, 500 residents) and the new B+Q (188 car parking spaces). to cross east bound traffic. More detail
Existing Traffic Lights: Buses leaving the station will cause extra delays here.
New Traffic Lights: Relocating the bus station means that the extra bus traffic on Loampit Vale will have to negotiate this new controlled junction twice (inward and outward), 196 bus crossings an hour.
New Traffic Lights: This new controlled junction has perhaps the most potential for causing havoc for evening peak hour traffic coming into Lewisham along Loampit Vale. More detail
In order to avoid the chaos on Loampit Vale traffic from the swimming pool, new residential units (A and B ) and the Sundermead estate will use this route. We can also expect an increase in traffic on the standard rat runs from Loampit Vale to Ladywell and Brockley. More detail
New Traffic Lights: The entrance to the car park for the Gateway development and service delivery will be here. Also any service traffic wishing to travel south must turn north out of the car park before doing a U turn at the new roundabout in Lewisham Road. In general the transport assessment carried out for this new road layout is so flawed that Transport for London have asked for a resubmission. Some major failings are:
- It does not factor in extra traffic generated by residential developments A,B, and C ( 2300 new residents in all ), the new B+Q store, or the new swimming pool (B).
- It does not factor in any general increase in road traffic the area can expect by 2012.
Even without taking into account these factors it estimates that traffic congestion will be worse as a result of the new road layout (Lewisham Gateway Transport Assessment: Section 8.3).
As an illustration of how far off the mark this assessment is, it estimates the current maximum queuing on Loampit Vale back from the roundabout at 180 metres at PM peak. Anyone using the area knows that the true figure is more like 800 meters, with traffic queuing back to Lewisham College, Wickham Road and beyond.