The major roadworks at the Bow Roundabout are reaching their peak. It's resurfacing week which means the roundabout has been descended upon by a huge hi-vis army of drivers, operatives, technicians, contractors, stewards and supervisors keen to get the job done as quickly as practical. Thankfully they're only descending overnight (from 9pm to 5am) else the disruption would be far worse, but it's still a major imposition and can't be much fun to live next to either.
Four nights have been pencilled in, two of which have already happened and two of which have yet to come... one tonight and one on Friday. I only know these precise dates and timings because TfL sent all local residents a letter - I haven't seen them anywhere else. The clever part is that only half of the junction is being worked on at a time. So far all the bitumen focus has been north of the flyover and for the rest of the week it'll be to the south. This means that one set of A12 slip roads is always open while the other set is totally closed. The flyover and underpass remain open at all times, so the only drivers being inconvenienced are those attempting to make a turn.
I went down on the first night to have a look, or at least I tried because the pavement had been closed as well as the road. "It's closed," said the operative positioned outside McDonald's, "you'll have to go round." Alas he couldn't explain how to walk to Stratford because he hadn't been told what the alternative route was, this being entirely non-trivial thanks to a river, a dual carriageway and a flyover carving up the landscape. There were supposed to be signs directing pedestrians back round the other side of the church, a good five minute detour, but the workmen responsible didn't start setting them up until 11pm, a couple of hours late. They also failed to come back later and take them down, so there was still a 'Footway Closed' sign in the morning even though it patently wasn't.
When I finally got round to the far side of the roundabout the hubbub was in full flow. At least half a dozen white trucks were in play, lights blazing, some tipping steaming black gloop onto the road surface and others flattening it down. Smaller niftier trucks were scuttling around or parked up waiting, two men were walking up and down blazing the new surface with blowtorches, and all attended by a considerable workforce because when you've only got four nights you really have to knuckle down.
Into this mêlée appeared an angry woman who didn't want to have to walk to the far end of the flyover and back to reach her flat. The barriers had just been opened to let out a huge lorry so she crossed the traffic and walked right in front of its headlamps, then dodged purposefully into the quarantine zone and strode brazenly across the worksite. Pretty much the entire workforce joined in chorus by shouting at her, and rightly so because big trucks and hot stuff aren't just a risk but a real and present danger, but she carried on regardless.
Also lucky not to get injured was a delivery rider heading down the cycle lane from Stratford. He'd followed what he thought was the right route only to suddenly find his way blocked by two blowtorchers in the middle of the carriageway. He stopped and wobbled, uncertain what to do next, then attempted to overtake only to proceed into the path of a reversing truck. A loud yell from a nearby operative prevented anything unpleasant, but I was a bit shocked at how poorly the route for cyclists had been signposted. It wasn't great for pedestrians either, not least because one of the sets of temporary crossing lights was inoperative so I could only second guess when it was safe to cross the stream of undiverted traffic. To be fair the layout of the Bow Roundabout is much more awkward than your average road junction, but it did feel they'd done more to support drivers than those of us on foot or in the saddle.
The roadworks were also causing considerable disruption to bus services, particularly those routes that couldn't simply sail over the flyover and avoid everything. Thankfully some yellow posters had been produced explaining everything, but they were extra-complicated because the works have been split into two halves and inevitably they included inaccuracies.
• According to the poster Phase One of the roadworks is from 22:00 Monday 24 until 05:00 Wednesday 26 February, which makes it sounds like the whole of Tuesday was disrupted whereas in fact daytime services were untroubled.
• According to the poster routes 25 108 276 425 D8 N25 and N205 wouldn't be stopping at 'P' by the Bow Flyover, which'll have surprised nobody because that stop's been closed since September.
• According to the poster the nearest stop on route D8 southbound would be 'P' by the Bow Flyover or 'X' at Hancock Road. But 'P' is long-term closed - see above - and route D8 has never ever stopped at 'X' because that's a bus stand.
• According to the poster the nearest stop on route D8 northbound would be 'H' in Poplar or 'W' at Marshgate Lane. But 'H' is over a mile away, so hardly near, and 'W' is temporarily closed which is why the 25 108 276 425 N25 and N205 aren't there stopping either.
• According to the poster the Phase Two advice for routes 25 108 276 425 N25 and N205 is the same as for Phase One, except it won't be the same because 'W' will actually be open this time.
• According to the poster 'buses will serve stops on diversion', in which case a lot of the advice about nearest stops is bolx, for example because Bus Stop J and Bus Stop M at Bow Church will be a lot nearer.
If you are the team that compiles these yellow posters then thanks for putting in a lot of effort to create a complex list for four overnights that hardly anyone will read, but a fair amount is either unhelpful or wrong.
While we're discussing Bus Stop P, I've kept quiet about this for three months to see if anyone would notice but nobody has. This is the westbound bus stop immediately before the roundabout and it's been closed since September because buses have been skipping it and hurtling over the flyover instead. According to an old yellow poster it was due to reopen at 18:00 on Friday 29 November 2024 but it never did, indeed the roadworks weren't scheduled to end anywhere near that early, so it's now been closed for 90 days more than they said it would be! It is astonishing how unaware TfL are of the out of date incorrect information here, especially given an operative must have visited recently to put the diversions poster up, or perhaps it's just par for the course.
When I went back to the Bow roundabout after the first set of overnight works, about a third of the roundabout had a fresh new tarmac covering. It'd didn't spread right up to the edge of the kerb and as yet no lane markings have been painted, only a single very-necessary stop line. But it looks like things might be on course to be finished in four nights flat, hopefully, if the mammoth resurfacing work continues apace. With a bit of luck the entire set of roadworks might be over by this time next week, or definitely in two, and then I can report back on what's actually been created here rather than griping about how they did it.
