Vicarage Road Closure causes chaos

As feared the closure of Vicarage Road this morning has caused chaos as feared judging by the WCRA mailbox.

A selection of quotes from local residents caught up in the chaos is shown below.

Things started calmly enough, with a local posting a warning photograph at around 5:30 am this morning:

Be warned It’s only for six months!

By the start of the rush hour the impact was becoming all too apparent:

“Traffic is shocking taken 20 mins to get down Westfield Avenue and I’m not even at the end of the road yet.”

“½ hour to get down Westfield Avenue!”

“Took me 40 mins to get down Westfield Avenue this morning so rather late for school!”

“Complete chaos out there now, traffic all the way up Westfield avenue, cars badly stuck across roads, a lot of annoyed people. How can this go on for 6 months?”

“This is going on for 6 months! Cars still ignoring signs and think they can get down Loop road or Vicarage Road and mounting pavements. Someone is going to get hurt!”

Ongoing works relating to the Willow Reach development were not helping matters:

“It’s a feckin nightmare. Doesn’t help that they’re still working at the entrance of Westfield Ave. They were line painting today. Completely blocking the road. Utter chaos!”

“The futility of trying to turn right at the top of Westfield Ave is made oh so obvious with the diversion!”

Nor was normal commercial operations:

“Sainsbury delivery lorry was struggling. He had to come in the exit and trying to get round the cars to unload. How long will it be before they start unloading on the road causing another problem?

Locals are left wondering why these works were not done when it was less busy:

“It was beyond chaos this morning.”

“Great! Works should of started in July to take the school holidays in, would have helped.”

And some are mobilising a revolt:

“To complain about the road closure call Surrey County Council on 03456009009 option5. They have had a lot of complaints today. So keep them coming. Hopefully something will have to be done about it”.

In summary, the quote of the day was succinct and to the point:

“Aargh!”

Clearly something has not quite worked in terms of advertising the closure or communicating the severity of the impact in a more meaningful way.

WCRA has sent a summary of issues to our local Council representative.

Please let us know about your ongoing problems.