Chiswick road traffic worst in London

10:06am Friday 18th February 2005

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CAMPAIGNERS have called for an urgent programme of traffic management to unlock Chiswick High Road - which was named this week as one of the capital's congestion hotspots.

The south circular section of Chiswick High Road took ninth place as one of the capital's worst traffic snarl-ups in a report by business campaign group, London First, ranking even more congested than Wandsworth's one-way system and close on the heels of Hammersmith gyratory.

Traffic build up in the area is largely due a cluster of main roads - A4, A406, A315 - and the M4 motorway, and London First has called for an urgent four year programme of traffic management to banish the bottleneck area along with other congested areas in the capital without extending the congestion charge zone.

The group said that while it supports the principle of congestion charging there is no case for the proposed increase in price from £5 to £8, or for the westward extension in the interests of the capital's economic well-being.

None of the top 10 hot spots, which also includes Gunnersbury Avenue and Hangar Lane, are part of the Mayor's proposed western extension to the congestion charge zone, and a recent Transport for London (TfL) survey found that the near 36 per cent of road hold-ups per annum lands the capital with extra costs of £627 million a year.

A spokesman for TfL said: "It is very clear from research that the proposed western extension area is the next most congested part of the capital after central London. Considerable engineering resources are going into alleviating congestion where possible, especially on principal roads."

London First identified the worst hotspot as the notorious southern approach road to the Blackwall Tunnel and the tunnel itself, followed closely by Trafalgar Square and in third place Euston Road at King's Cross - part of the congestion charging ring.