The leak was serious enough to require immediate attention so work began at 8am on Saturday – Thames Water and their contractors have repaired the leak and will now be repairing the road surface and pavement.

Initial estimates were that this all might take two days and a temporary traffic-light signal system will restrict traffic whilst this takes place.

Combined with the gas works on Park road and traffic heading for the rugby final at Twickenham (Harlequins are now premiership champions for the first time ever!), long tail-backs blighted the area throughout Saturday. Thames Water ref 10469 if you wish to find out more info.

Twickenham Road has had sections resurfaced recently in preparation for the Olympic cycling road races. Now ageing gas pipes are causing concern – Richmond Council have held urgent talks with the gas board and brought forward repair work in order to minimise any impact along the Olympic cycling route.

From Monday 21st May, Park Road will be closed in one direction when work starts to replace the ageing Victorian gas mains that have led to many leaks over recent months. The work that will lead to traffic and parking disruption in the area, is expected to last for 7 weeks but be completed well before the races on July 28th/29th.

Another stretch of the high street will be worked on by Thames Water now from the 7th until the 10th of February – potentially creating more tail backs during busy times.

In addition to this, unfortunately yet more work is required on the railway bridge roundabout because the previous additional repair & rebuild did not meet the council’s required standards after it was replaced during bridge strengthening work.

Locals might feel history repeating itself – several years ago the same roundabout was moved several times due to long vehicles such as buses finding it difficult to manoeuvre around the raised roundabout.

Council contractor Conway Ltd will carry out these works between 9:30am and 4pm from Monday 13th February 2012 at the junction of Broad Street, High Street and Park Road. Weather permitting, the work should take one week.

During this time, traffic management will be put in place to prohibit right-turns into Park Road (from Broad Street) – instead road users should cut down The Causeway or find alternative routes. Parking restrictions will be in place nearby and cars parking in “no waiting” areas may be towed away.

In order to carry out planned work on behalf of Thames Water, some roads have been reduced to one lane in places temporary traffic lights have been put in place. Tales of woe have been passed around telling tales of taking 20 minutes to move 20 metres – central Teddington has been choked with slow traffic due to this work.

Although the work on Broad Street has now completed, road users will also experience similar delays this week when further work will be carried on High Street from the 16th-20th January.

Nearby roads have also been affected by long-term road works which started last week on the A308 (Upper Sunbury Road) – these will continue until April. Bushy Park has also been particularly busy at weekends and traffic build-up has been noticeable along Chestnut Avenue too.

Some concerned residents have noticed that this work also starts very early in the morning – particularly this Sunday where the sound of drills started at 8am.

This work is not to be confused with at least one emergency water main repairs – one in particular spectacular leak in Elfin Grove occurred near Cafe Nero which is currently being completely refurbished along with a re-designed garden and patio area.

140 world-class international cyclists will be speeding along the 140km long route that will be used during next year’s London Olympics. The Olympic organising committee has been working with Richmond Borough Council, TFL, the emergency services and Royal Parks to ensure the minimum of impact will be experienced by residents whilst racing fans can enjoy watching the event itself.

Tour de France in Kent

Since the initial letter was distributed, considerable discussions have taken place with Richmond Council to minimise disruption to residents and businesses. Roads will close on the Sunday from 4-6am and start to re-open at 11:30am – this is expected to impact on traffic over a wide area. Approximately 1,000 roads will be closed and 80km of barriers put up along the route.

Hampton Court bridge and Kingston Bridge will remain closed until approximately 3pm due to the race following this route on the return journey. Bushy and Richmond Park will closed to traffic as usual on Saturday night and not re-open until Monday morning. Pedestrians and race-watchers will be welcome along the route and in the parks – estimated to be passing through Teddington at 9:30am and returning to Hampton Court by 11am.

TFL Maps & lists of restricted roads & cycle route.

During the road closures there will be marshalled limited crossing points for pedestrians and traffic. Journeys usually made by bus or car should be made by alternative methods where possible on the day. Some bus routes will have diversions in place whilst others may not run at all. In addition to road closures, cars won’t be able to park on the race route roads themselves after 6:30pm on Saturday night (13th August).

If you wish to find out more information about this event, a drop-in session is being held at Teddington Train station on Tuesday 26th July 2011 (4:30-7:30pm).

Currently Teddington’s central roundabout is being rebuilt all this week leading to long tailbacks throughout the day in all directions. This roundabout was rebuilt several times in slightly different locations several years ago after the placement caused buses to strike it when negotiating the bridge junction.

Signs before the work started

Elsewhere traffic into Kingston is severely affected by the Kingston one-way system being restricted to one lane in parts. More road works & temporary traffic lights on Kingston Road / Normansfield Avenue area and around Hampton Wick bridge that has reduced available lanes are compounding these problems further.

Road users are advised to expect much longer journeys – some bus users have spoken about journeys of well over an hour to Kingston (that usually less than 20 minutes) and traffic backed-up as far as Hampton trying to get to Teddington High Street.

Traffic backed-up in all directions

Some comments from Twitter:

Heavy traffic due to roadworks in and around #Teddington. Normansfield rd towards Kingston and at roundabout Broad Str/Park Rd.—
Tracey Wardhaugh (@wardhaugh) February 21, 2011

@Teddington_Town Traffic was so bad I stopped using buses to get from Teddington to Kingston and planned trips around train times.—
Conor Mulhern (@conormulhern) February 22, 2011

Last weeks emergency gasworks by Southern Gas Network on Park Road (opposite the Police station) came under fire from commuters after the busy zebra-crossing was blocked and they found themselves dashing across the road in between temporary traffic light changes. This work is now complete.

[Update] these problems are being compounded even further by temporary traffic lights near the water treatment works in Upper Sunbury Road, Hampton.

Due to ever-increasing travel prices, healthier lifestyle choices and government programmes, the number of people using cycles on our roads has increased significantly in recent years. The Council is committed to supporting cyclists that live and travel through our borough through these designated cycle routes and off-road/quiet cycle routes.

Suggestions for amendments and corrections (to the routes and the maps themselves) will be collated and forwarded to “LBRuT Smarter Travel” by Teddington Society’s Roads and Transport group organiser – email brianholder99@aol.com in plenty of time before the Council’s 14th of February so that they can be taken into consideration before the final maps are published in March.

Draft maps:
Cycle routes
Bus routes

[Update 5th February 2011] Richmond Cycling campaign secretly launched their ‘Lighten Up’ event by Teddington Lock footbridge on Thursday Night. The aim is to stop cyclists and offer to fit lights for free to raise awareness of the importance of having lights when cycling in the dark.

15 sets of lights were fitted to bikes where existing lights were either broken, of poor quality or simply missing. Other events are planned in the borough this month at further mystery locations and dates. If you like to help out volunteering then contact info@richmondlcc.co.uk.

Local schools are open but some are keeping students inside during breaks – so they will be bursting to experience the snow at home time this afternoon.

The London Borough of Richmond upon Thames have a statutory duty to ensure main roads and important public buildings (schools, hospitals, care homes etc) are accessible and not endangered by snow or ice using its five gritting vehicles. Currently all main roads in the borough are open – they were gritted three times over night using 36 tonnes of grit! The gritting teams are continuing this process throughout today.

There is an official list of roads which are gritted during these wintry weather conditions. Note however that footways and pavements aren’t officially on the borough’s gritting policy unless freezing conditions persists and this will firstly apply to areas outside priority buildings such as stations, schools etc.

Transport-wise, the general advice is to take care – some pavements are slippery, main roads seem to be OK but smaller side roads are now covered in slushy snow and ice, or at least will turn into ice later.

The trains seem to be suffering the worse – South West Trains have announced a special reduced train service across its network. Passengers are advised to check for updates before they travel – there is significant disruption to services and currently some routes are either cancelled or delayed up to 45 minutes. Even aside from the problems with the tracks themselves, on some services moisture on train doors has been freezing at station stops so train guards are having to scrape ice off doors at each station.

Earlier this morning some trains were running fast from Kingston to Waterloo and Shepperton & Richmond trains were cancelled completely. Also check the online live departure boards for updates before you travel.

[Update] South West Trains will be operating a special timetable for Friday 3rd December for lines that will be running to ensure “the most robust level of service for passengers tomorrow“. The Shepperton or Hampton Court branches will not be operating tomorrow.

Check the website and live departure boards before you leave in the morning.

To minimise the impact, the first of the bridge repairs are due to start at the same time as schools break up for their summer holidays – work is planned from the 26th July 2010 for 15 weeks.

Buses will be diverted in a similar plan to the temporary closure earlier this month and when not fully closed, traffic will be managed by using temporary traffic lights below the bridge during Mon-Fri and weekends 8am-6pm.

Traffic using Upper Teddington Road will still be able to turn onto Vicarage Road, however due to safety concerns traffic exiting Vicarage Road will only be able to exit right onto the High Street.

This stretch of road is one that TFL is considering as part of a scheme for removal of traffic lights in efforts to get traffic moving more quickly all over London.

Dates of full closure of Upper Teddington Rd and full closure of one of the footpaths from 8am-6pm
Sat 31st July – Sun 1st Aug
Sat 7th Aug – Sun 8th Aug
Sat 14th Aug – Sun 15th Aug
Sat 21st Aug – Sun 22nd 8th Aug
Sat 28th Aug – Sun 29 Aug
Sat 16th Oct – Sun 17th Oct

If you require any further information about the scheme/diversion then contact:

Community Relations
Network Rail
London and South East
Kings Place
90 York Way
London
N1 9AG
Helpline: 08457 114141

This particular work-around hasn’t officially been listed as one of the available options for the impending proper works but may be preferable to the other two options as it keeps at least one bus routes alive on Kingston Road.

It will see 281 buses diverted along Sandy Lane/Park Road and 285 taking the route underneath the lower bridge on Lower Teddington Road presumably along with general road traffic.

Click on this map for PDF

[Update] Network Rail are under scrutiny again – this time for making last minute changes to the plans that were announced just days before the public meeting – the 10 week closure plan has now been extended to 15 (including 7 weekend closures).

Which ever method is chosen, it is almost certain that the 281 bus route will be diverted along Sandy Lane because closing one lane under the bridge would only allow single-decker buses along this ‘angled’ road shape.

There is concern from Hampton Wick traders about the full closure option – particular concerning general trade loss as well as deliveries. A partial closure during the week then full closure on some weekends is expected to cause much confusion with motorists but may bring the least disruption in general.