The expensive disaster that is Whipps Cross Roundabout

Clyde Loakes and his merry band of cycling ideologues devised a plan at enormous expense and at the loss of many lovely trees which was supposed to IMPROVE the roundabout. Of course they did not listen to any dissenting voices as is the norm. Here is one of our members, James O'Rourke's record of his first journey using the new disimproved roundabout.

WHIPPS CROSS UTERUS JUNCTION: WALTHAM FOREST'S BERMUDA TRIANGLE

Having read all the posts on Facebook I thought I'd video my journey to and from Tony's flat as he is joining Gill and I for lunch today. When attempting to review the footage for both journeys strangely I was presented with a blank screen. Definitely a Twighlight moment!

So I'm afraid you're going to have to suffer my grammar.

On the way to Tony's I turned the camera on at the waterworks roundabout. Traffic started backing up from the old Rising Pub and took me several more minutes than usual to get to the Snaresbrook lights.

Arrived at the lights where you turn left to Snaresbrook and I could see traffic backing up and being added too by traffic from Snaresbrook. It took about 12 minutes to get from those lights to the new junction lights which has replaced the, closed off, left filter to Whipps Cross Road. In the time it took to get to the new junction I noticed a bus at the top of Lea Bridge Road had not moved.

I turned the camera on again on my return journey at the top of James Lane. Traffic wanting to filter left to the new junction was delayed due to traffic backing up. A blue light ambulance, wanting to turn left, was delayed for several minutes as there was nowhere for vehicles to go as the northbound junction was blocked by traffic backing up to the new junction.

When I eventually turned left onto Whipps Cross Road Tony's and my journey was relatively unhindered. However, if we had wanted to access Lea Bridge Road and/or Wood Street I guess we would have been there for quite some time.

I recognise that it is early days given the junction has only been open for less than 24 hours. However, having worked within the Council Directorate responsible for the installation of this new road scheme I would have expected engineers could have been able to limit this disruption.

It will be interesting to read posts following journeys on a work day.