The major roadworks at the Bow Roundabout continue, now more obviously because the hi-vis workforce have shifted their focus from 'under the flyover' to 'the perimeter of the roundabout'. Their task has been to slightly reshape the roundabout to better accommodate the influx of traffic expected after the Silvertown Tunnel opens, in most cases a light trim followed by the addition of a lovely new kerb. The orange barriers are now out with a vengeance on the Bow side of the roundabout whereas during the first three months we got off quite lightly. Contractors are also fitting and cabling the new traffic lights, which I suspect are the old traffic lights they uncabled and removed from their original positions in October.
One thing which hasn't yet happened is the repainting of the lines. Back in September local residents were sent a letter saying that carriageway resurfacing works would be taking place overnight in January 2025 and they'd send us another letter to tell us when. No such follow-up letter has been received, mainly because the carriageways are nowhere near ready to be resurfaced, so I suspect some date later in February is being lined up. Another thing which hasn't happened yet is the return of buses on route 8 to Bow Church. These were whipped away to Old Ford in September with a promise they'd be back at 5am on 15th January but obviously they weren't, neither have TfL made any noises whatsoever about an amended return date, and I fear it could be March before we see one again.
The most ludicrous addition to the roadworks saga took place yesterday and involves the bus stop bypass at Bus Stop M. For months now the cycle lane has been filling with water when it rains and not draining away. I showed you a photo in November, and above is another photo of the same phenomenon during a deluge in January. This flooding offers cyclists three choices - splash through the middle of it, divert via the pavement or divert via the bus stop - none of which are ideal. Now finally Thames Water have turned up, indeed they were setting up their cones yesterday morning and I thought "ooh good, they're finally going to unblock the drain and solve the issue". Alas not so.
Instead what they've done is put up a sign saying Cycle Lane Closed. This is bad for cyclists so what they've also done is cone off one lane of Bow Road as a replacement cycle path. Fair enough, but in doing so they've also made it impossible for buses to stop at Bus Stop M which is now closed "until further notice for emergency Water Works". This is miserable news for bus passengers because it's wiped out a well-used interchange and added a 1km gap between remaining bus stops. It's also miserable news for vehicles because it's reduced Bow Road to a single lane immediately before a roundabout already gnarled up by a width restriction so is simply making the queue even worse.
I'd have hoped it wasn't rocket science to pump an inch or two of water out of a brief bus stop bypass, making the coned-off mitigation debacle no longer necessary. Alternatively it wouldn't be impossible to divert cyclists via the bus stop now it's closed and nobody's waiting there, indeed it's what a lot of them have been doing anyway for months, but seemingly that's not an option. Whatever, a blocked drain is buggering up the lives of cyclists, pedestrians, queueing vehicles and anyone who wants to catch a bus at Bow Church for god knows how long, and all because the curse of Bus Stop M has struck again.
