They've confirmed dates for the upcoming major roadworks at the Bow Roundabout.
Starts 30th September, ends 4th February... which are a Monday and a Tuesday respectively.
This is annoying for a number of reasons.
First it means disruption for 18 weeks, which'll be tough given there are no alternative crossings of the Lea for a mile either way.
Secondly they reduced the frequency of five local bus routes on 31st August in readiness, but four wasted weeks will have passed by the time the disruption starts.
Thirdly buses on route 8 haven't served Bus Stop M since 7th September, again in the expectation that the roundabout would be snarled up, but as it turns out they curtailed the route three weeks early.
It's hard to comprehend why local bus services have been worsened entirely unnecessarily for several weeks and I can only assume that this is because schedules and rosters are very hard to alter at short notice. Alternatively it might be because The Team That Deals With Bus Changes is fundamentally inept, a conclusion backed up by the fact that there still aren't any signs at Bus Stop M saying route 8 no longer starts here, not even after a fortnight.
As a neighbour to the Bow Roundabout I've also received a letter this week confirming a 30th September start date.
This confirms further details of the majorness of the roadworks, which are being introduced as mitigation in advance of the opening of the Silvertown Tunnel.
The big thing will be creating "additional traffic lanes around the roundabout", which currently has two lanes and I guess will be going up to 3. This will also require "adjusting the kerb lines", which I assume means taking away superfluous pedestrian space and giving it to vehicles. Squeezing in the extra lane is going to be tricky in places given the flyover's pillars aren't shiftable and a cycle lane has to thread through too. I fear this means the two pedestrians shortcuts are going to be removed and the existing crossings widened, making my life a little bit worse every day, but I'll save moaning about that in considerable detail until it happens.
They'll also be playing around with the contraflow lane between Marshgate Lane and the roundabout which'll be diverted under the flyover opposite Cooks Road to join the interchange on the westbound side. That'll probably save someone's life one day. The big overnight carriageway repainting switchover is expected to happen in January.
And all of this suggests considerable civil engineering chaos involving temporary lane closures, temporary traffic lights and innumerable cones snarling up the roundabout and local roads for over four months. Steel yourself for disruption on a scale not seen round here for decades. I shall be catching the DLR a lot more during, and I suspect sighing a lot more after.
