We had a fun time round here before Christmas - a water main burst, leaving a nicely flooded road and consequent days of disruption due to traffic lights. It’s still leaking. London’s water mains are clearly in a fairly rotten state - the ones down the High Road go pop repeatedly, and there’s only so far Thames Water can go in keeping pressure high enough to fill a litre bottle in seven seconds (apparently the target above which you can shout at them) while low enough not to burst pipes all over the place.
Boris Johnson, of course, has a solution to this - he wants to trade Thames Water’s working space for roadspace for car drivers, in order to prove that congestion charging doesn’t work reduce congestion.
A scheme to keep London’s traffic moving was unveiled by Boris Johnson today as Thames Water agreed to slash the number of road closures.
Under the deal between the water firm and the Mayor pilot schemes will be conducted to find ways of keeping routes open even while work is going on.
Thames Water’s work to replace Victorian water mains with plastic tubing is one of the biggest causes of congestion in the capital.
The error in this thinking is assuming that Thames Water dig the road up when they want to, rather than sometimes having to when the phone is ringing off the hook with borough highway engineers and local residents shouting about the floods and dry taps. The consequence of Boris’s initiative is that the water mains aren’t replaced when they need to be, because Boris decides to prioritise car drivers. That this means more water main explosions and subsequent damage and disruption is apparently not a concern, although when things like this happen…
The A3220 West Cross Route in Hammersmith and Fulham has been closed between the A40 Northern Roundabout and Holland Park roundabout due to a burst Thames Water hydrant and low temperatures which could turn the water to ice.
With temperatures due to fall below zero this evening and overnight there is the potential for the water to freeze, making the roads slippery and dangerous.
…he might usefully rethink things. After all, he is Chairman of TfL, who are the ones who had to close the road. It’s the main car access to Westfield, as well. Ouch.
[While we're on the subject, TfL has some rather spiffing tools which are worth a look. For instance, check here for traffic cameras and here for congestion maps]
3 responses so far ↓
I was up the High Road this morning, I was a little suprised not to see any burst mains.
There are, however, people complaining about low pressure…
The A23 had a burst water main on Friday, affecting things over the weekend. Not sure if it’s re-opened yet - TfL claim not.
http://www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/news.cfm?id=550&headline=Burst%20water%20main%20causes%20traffic%20chaos
[...] to emphasis how much trouble bursting water mains is causing in London right now, here’s a useful link. Searching for ‘burst’ finds a nice [...]