Dulwich Village Junction

[macutd]

So we have waited, how many months, with unbelievable delays for WHAT????

Couldn't they have just painted some cycle lanes on. Which looks like they have only done a little more than!!

Was it really worth the pain???

[Robert Poste's Child]

Hold your horses, there. This is just a lull, a brief respite of two weeks over Christmas before they block Court Lane for another five weeks (if they'd done any research at all they'd know this is the two weeks of the year where traffic is at its lightest due to the locals being in Cornwall or Meribel). Work is due - that's 'due' - to finish end of Feb.

[Melihoople]

There is changed priority but no signs. It feels dangerous as from Court Lane it's now a blind corner to cars speeding down Carlton Avenue to make the lights. :( Drivers beware.

[sillywoman]

...but still - all that time and all that inconvenience for what? A couple of teeny-weeny cycle lanes so short that they barely deserve the name . What a waste of time and money. Grrrr

[Robert Poste's Child]

The cycle lane on the Calton Ave side seems very narrow and with little protection, and with Court Lane now giving way to Calton Ave it doesn't seem like a big improvement. And turning right from Turney Road on a bike now seems more dangerous as you can't use the cycle lane for that. I also find the camber on the raised area at the end of Court Lane dangerous on a bike as with the now tighter left turn it throws you out into the traffic.

[annafb]

Have seen a few cars going really fast down Calton Avenue to catch the green light before it changes....

[Lucyalexandra]

It is an unbelievable waste of money and if anything the road is now considerably less safe. The disruption was horrendous - and more yet to come in the new year as they resurface this mess. At a time when the local schools and other essential services are losing out to lack of funds; how on earth can this be justified? Again there is a temporary respite - at the time when the roads are quietest.

[James Barber]

The resurfacing is programmed for February.

[slarti b]

I cycled through it yesterday on way to\from work. Some quick observations:

Going South along Dulwich Village to the junction the road seems to narrow alarmingly at the lights, not sure if you could safely get car and cycle going through together. Also not sure how easy it will be to access the cyclists advance stop line there.

Going West along Calton towards the junction the road is very narrow at crossing just before Court Lane and then the kink in the road makes for awkward cycling lines. I also felt vulnerable to cars coming from Court Lane and not giving way. I think that, with more traffic, turning right into Dulwich Village Northbound may be a problem.

The junction is not yet finished and, at the moment, there is not much traffic due to post Christmas lull so these comments needs to be caveated. New road markings may help a bit, eg the Court Lane\Calton priority, but clearly cant change the physical layout.

I will reserve full judgement till the work is finished.

[EDOldie]

Going north from Turney Road to Calton Avenue has always been a problem. In the past I have seen several drivers unintentionally drive directly ahead onto the wrong side of Calton Avenue. I think that the new layout could make this more likely. It is a very difficult junction to have traffic lights on because of the offset from Turney Road to Calton Avenue. The new layout has accentuated this.

The other immediate problem with the junction is on entering Calton Avenue (from any direction) the priority looks like it is towards Court Lane but the actual priority is to go straight and continue up Calton Avenue. The pavement has been built out so far that it almost looks like a left-hand turn into Calton Avenue. I think they will have to put a mini roundabout here to regulate traffic. The, rather badly painted, yellow boxes are confusing and seem to have created a race to see who can get though first. From what I?ve seen over the last couple of weeks since they opened Court Lane again it has only reinforced many locals views that roundabouts would have provided a far safer and created a much slowed traffic solution to the problems of this particular junction.

[kibris]

As JB said that the resurfacing is programmed for February so once done it may be a lot better as everything will be clear. I think it looks a lot better than before with more room for the kids

[alex_b]

I went through last night. Although I appreciate the change in priority between Calton Av and Court Lane, I suspect there will be plenty of accidents as the priority is a bit counter-intuitive. Coming the other direction (Tourney to Calton) is confusing and has turned it into a left turn followed by a right turn; at a minimum some no-entry signs or road markings are needed.

I also noticed that the natural place for cycles to stop coming out of Calton (ahead of the stop line) means that they can't see the priority signal for cycles, even behind the stop line the priority light isn't exactly obvious.

[mikeb]

I tried this out on my bike last night as well. Coming down Calton Avenue, the entrance to the cycle lane after Woodwarde was not intuitive - needed to go a long way to left hand side. And then for some reason the bike lane was on red while the car lane was on green (so I didn't join the cycle lane in the end).

In my view, another needlessly over-engineered cycle path.

[alex_b]

mikeb Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> And then for some reason the bike lane was on red

> while the car lane was on green (so I didn't join

> the cycle lane in the end).

My observation is that the bike lane goes green followed by the car lane. Of course cyclists who move to the front of traffic wont see the bike lane green.

[TJ]

I drive through daily, and I have had two close accidents when right of way was unclear (to others) and also a lot of backing up on the the crossing.

My son goes to school there, so I had hoped it would be safer for the 2 schools, but it?s not. I don?t think it benefits cyclists much either.

[lulu1]

The traffic light for cyclists coming from Turney Road turns green at the same time as the pedestrian light for crossing Turney Road. So pedestrians have to cross the cycle lane whilst the traffic light for cyclists is green. Hope this is a mistake with the facing of the lights and not intentional. It's an accident waiting to happen; pedestrians assuming it's safe to cross as their light is green and cyclists thinking the same thing and possible cycling at speed to catch the green light.

[apbremer]

*I despair. I cannot understand why, with government cutbacks everywhere, we can't afford policemen or soldiers, NHS under pressure,and a host of others, there seems to be a bottomless pit of funds for daft road "improvements". The greatest fun in all the world seems to be spending someone else's money, preferably on some absurd project that nobody wants or needs (and don't start me on the mad foreign aid fiasco!) As the taxpayers forking out for this vanity project to keep some cossetted bureaucrats employed at the Town Hall, are we allowed to discover how much this fiasco cost us or are we not allowed to know?? Perhaps our councillors, who seem to be powerless, can elucidate??

[goldilocks]

Drove through this the first time at the weekend. Whilst its pretty clear that there is a change in priority when you are driving from Court lane towards the junction things aren't clear at all coming down Calton ave onto the junction.

Once the lights are on red, to avoid the box junction you wait on calton ave behind what was the previous give way sign, but then when the light change back, you should have right of way to go straight on to Townley Rd. Our experience was though that someone coming from Townley road and turning what is now right onto Court lane just carried on and had we not been expecting them to do that, they'd have driven straight into us. Think that some better signage alerting to changed priorities on the lights might be required!

[georgek]

Being a cyclist, this junction is an improvement and safer than before. However, with the queue of traffic up Carlton ave (heading South) you find yourself having to cycle down the wrong side of the road all the way to the junction and squeezing between the traffic when cars turn up Carlton ave, then having to cut right across the cars to get to the cycle lane at the lights, which inst ideal.

[TheCat]

I think its just a matter of time before we have an accident between traffic going 'straight' from Turney (across to Calton/Court), and traffic turning right from Court/Calton (to go North along Dulwich Village).

Previously going straight across from Turney was what might be described as a 'lopsided' straight across, now its a clear 'zig-zag' to get across the intersection.....and I've noted those turning right from the other direction creeping further and further into the intersection, and not realising that the traffic coming across from Turney is about to make a sharp right in front of them to get into Calton....

[Alexthecamel]

Is it finished? I thought it was reopened for a few days over Christmas, but it's still

open...

The traffic certainly doesn't feel any more managed- the traffic from Turney Road as you turn right into the village has to swerve and go fast.

[Louisa]

I was walking here 5 or 6 days ago, swift walk to the Village P.O. is often quicker than waiting around in the queue at the LL branch.

I have to say, these so called improvements, are an accident waiting to happen. Turney Road traffic is now having to completely re-route as it heads across the main road into the village, and if someone isn?t a local they?ll quite possibly become confused and miss the correct turning. I was shocked at the pedestrian crossing by how long I had to wait for the lights to change, and court lane traffic was queuing early afternoon! Unheard of previously. A total shambles and if anything, it will make the entire situation worse, not better.

Louisa.

[Reg Smeeton]

This is an utter disaster. Cars on Calton Avenue supposedly have right of way, but in practice cars coming over from Turney Road and heading up Court Lane regard that right turn as the right of way (as it used to be), cutting across in front of the line of cars on Calton Avenue who seem to let them go. It's in desperate need of some signage and clear road markings. What a fiasco.

[Robert Poste's Child]

Even worse if you do that turn on a bike after catching the end of the green light for cyclists as traffic waiting at Calton Ave goes next and are reluctant to let you through, and meanwhile traffic from Turney Rd comes up behind you and tries to force it's way past. Hope they get back to finish this off soon.

[Sqiggles]

If you cycle south through Dulwich Village the cycle lane is suddenly blocked by the new bit of pavement, so if there is a car waiting at the lights it is a real squeeze to get into the cycle waiting area.