Putney Bridge closed for 3 months?

kurako

Walked over Putney Bridge tonight. Was pretty slow going. Nice sunny evening so a fair bit of eye candy. Everyone was well behaved apart from the guy trying to jog through the throng. If they're going to ban cycling they should ban jogging too. Joggers are some of the biggest douchers on the planet!!!!

itboffin

i direct your attention to rule #42

Wrath Rob

dazzTurning wrote:

Wandsworth Bridge was MAYHEM this morning. Even earlier than normal, it was gridlock. Not nice to cycle in...

Ride on the cycle path then, its there for a reason

KnightOfTheLongTights

cjcp wrote:

Well, **** to Hammersmith Bridge. Tried it this morning, and the Loop of Almost Certain Doom that is the roundabout at the end of it - Talgarth? - was no fun at all. Took a wrong turn and ended up in Kensington, rather than Fulham.

The Fulham Palace Road is less than ideal, too.

So, WBR it is, or a walk over Putney Bridge, the thought of which makes my skin crawl.

This should be a fun three months.

There's a cut-through cjcp, avoiding the gyratory altogether: hang a cheeky right over the pelican crossing you come to a couple of hundred yards after the bridge – then a bit of authorised pavement jumping (it is a cycle route) and you’re on Worlidge Street. A left and a right and you can work your way round the back of the Apollo to Fulham Palace Rd.

I do tackle the gyratory on a daily basis, as I am heading for Kensington and the cut-through doesn't seem to make quite so much sense for that - or rather it seems to more for the other direction when I am coming home.

kurako

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Well, **** to Hammersmith Bridge. Tried it this morning, and the Loop of Almost Certain Doom that is the roundabout at the end of it - Talgarth? - was no fun at all. Took a wrong turn and ended up in Kensington, rather than Fulham.

The Fulham Palace Road is less than ideal, too.

So, WBR it is, or a walk over Putney Bridge, the thought of which makes my skin crawl.

This should be a fun three months.

There's a cut-through cjcp, avoiding the gyratory altogether: hang a cheeky right over the pelican crossing you come to a couple of hundred yards after the bridge – then a bit of authorised pavement jumping (it is a cycle route) and you’re on Worlidge Street. A left and a right and you can work your way round the back of the Apollo to Fulham Palace Rd.

I do tackle the gyratory on a daily basis, as I am heading for Kensington and the cut-through doesn't seem to make quite so much sense for that.

If I have time on the way home I really like the run from Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes Bridge. First right as you go southbound. It's a bit bumpy but wide and not so much traffic. From Barnes Bridge you can continue to Mortlake, cross the level crossing (a long wait mostly quicker to use the footbridge) and up to URR and onto Sheen Gate.

KnightOfTheLongTights

Yeah that's my run.
Or sometimes if I'm in a hurry to get home I might follow LRR round to the A316 to Richmond.

surrey_commuter

the walk over PB last night was a real ballache. back into Wandsworth this morning and the route in down the A3 is OK and you can avoid most of one way system. Need to suss out Wandsworth on the way back

dyrlac

Last night took Wandsworth Bridge / Wandsworth Gyratory / Swandon Way / Wandsworth High Street / West Hill / Tibbets Corner / Parkside. Horrible throughout, actually had cars rev their engines behind me at ASLs in Wandsworth, and the less said of the West Hill climb the better: eventually took the shared use path.

This morning took RiP / Barnes / Hammersmith Bridge / A4 / Cromwell / Knightsbridge / Mall / Trafalgar / Strand. Middle bit on the A4 was no fun at all, esp the flyover down to Cromwell, which was not helped by a near clipless moment trying to clip back in in too big a gear uphill. The northbound Barnes bus lane on the approach to Hammersmith is good value though (perhaps less so for the cars that were backed up almost to Barnes Bridge).

Has the CS7 magically improved lately?

A lot of faff to avoid walking for 350m.

tgotb

Dyrlac wrote:

A lot of faff to avoid walking for 350m.

It also avoids the hassle of riding down a completely deserted LRR, with the added confusion of almost no traffic on the section of NKR between PB and WBR.

Cyclocross riders - the PB route also gives you the opportunity to practice gaining places on the dismounts and remounts (unlike a race you obviously need to do this without barging!)

kurako

Dyrlac wrote:

Last night took Wandsworth Bridge / Wandsworth Gyratory / Swandon Way / Wandsworth High Street / West Hill / Tibbets Corner / Parkside. Horrible throughout, actually had cars rev their engines behind me at ASLs in Wandsworth, and the less said of the West Hill climb the better: eventually took the shared use path.

Rather than West Hill I would recommend taking Buckhold Road/ Granville Road/ Wimbledon Park Road. You can go past the tennis and up Church Road to the Village. Much more civilised. If you really fancy a challenge swing right onto Bathgate Road and go round the back of the tennis for a short and steep climb.

jonnyboy77

I don't mind the walk over the bridge, although they've not allowed much room for pedestrians, pretty much single file in each direction. I think its only adding about 2 mins to my ~60min commute which is acceptable. If it gets any worse I might consider a re-route.

- Jon

fat_tail

Kurako wrote:

Dyrlac wrote:

Last night took Wandsworth Bridge / Wandsworth Gyratory / Swandon Way / Wandsworth High Street / West Hill / Tibbets Corner / Parkside. Horrible throughout, actually had cars rev their engines behind me at ASLs in Wandsworth, and the less said of the West Hill climb the better: eventually took the shared use path.

Rather than West Hill I would recommend taking Buckhold Road/ Granville Road/ Wimbledon Park Road. You can go past the tennis and up Church Road to the Village. Much more civilised. If you really fancy a challenge swing right onto Bathgate Road and go round the back of the tennis for a short and steep climb.

+1. Alternative is to avoid the one way system by going down Smugglers Way after Wandsworth Bridge (which you can't avoid) and then follow the road until you hit Putney Bridge Road. You then go up Oakhill Road, Keswick Road and Rusholme Road which then gets you close to Tibbets roundabout.

tgotb

What would really make a difference on Putney Bridge would be if they could open both pavements and set up a one-way system. There's probably a good reason they can't, but I'll be frustrated if the other pavement remains untouched and unused for the next three months...

alan_sherman

What would really make a difference would be if people would actually do what the signs say and keep left! People try to 'overtake' and then just create a block. It's like a chipper 4th cat at Hillingdon

cjcp

Kurako wrote:

KnightOfTheLongTights wrote:

cjcp wrote:

Well, **** to Hammersmith Bridge. Tried it this morning, and the Loop of Almost Certain Doom that is the roundabout at the end of it - Talgarth? - was no fun at all. Took a wrong turn and ended up in Kensington, rather than Fulham.

The Fulham Palace Road is less than ideal, too.

So, WBR it is, or a walk over Putney Bridge, the thought of which makes my skin crawl.

This should be a fun three months.

There's a cut-through cjcp, avoiding the gyratory altogether: hang a cheeky right over the pelican crossing you come to a couple of hundred yards after the bridge – then a bit of authorised pavement jumping (it is a cycle route) and you’re on Worlidge Street. A left and a right and you can work your way round the back of the Apollo to Fulham Palace Rd.

I do tackle the gyratory on a daily basis, as I am heading for Kensington and the cut-through doesn't seem to make quite so much sense for that.

If I have time on the way home I really like the run from Hammersmith Bridge to Barnes Bridge. First right as you go southbound. It's a bit bumpy but wide and not so much traffic. From Barnes Bridge you can continue to Mortlake, cross the level crossing (a long wait mostly quicker to use the footbridge) and up to URR and onto Sheen Gate.

May keep this in reserve for the homeward bound journey. Southbound on FPR wasn't much fun, either.

Feck, I'm a miserable sod at the moment.

jonnyboy77

So it was more rubbish last night and this morning

jonginge

Most of the congestion on the bridge this morning was caused by the workmen building their fence. Schools are out next week so there should also be fewer people out and about at commute time

kurako

Just saw in the local paper there was no district line between Wimbledon and Earls Court. That definitely would not have helped. Roll on the school hols. 2 massive queues south side this morning just to get on the bridge. I turned round and went to Wandsworth.

KnightOfTheLongTights

Even the traffic in Richmond Park last night c.6.30-7pm was worse than it normally is - I can only think because of PB closure. You'd expect London traffic to be getting quieter by the day at the moment ....
And this morning, more back-ups going through Sheen / Barnes / Mortlake etc.

Bi50N

I usually cross Putney Bridge around 8.45 on my route from Wimbledon > Hammersmith. Last two days it was bearable walking across, but this moring (due I guess to the defunct district line) there was a massive queue of peds just waiting to get on the bridge... I detoured via Hammersmith Bridge and the roads were remarkably clear, added very little time...

cambs

Anyone tried the ped crossing next to the district line bridge at Putney? Any less congested than the main bridge?

Edit: i see TGOTB has tried it and it's not busy but no quicker.

okgo

As I said over on SCR - I did Wandsworth one way and then the bridge, it was totally fine, and arguably more safe than Kings Road.

I will try staying south until Vauxhall tomorrow. But To anyone avoiding Wandsworth, its not that bad, I will see how it is on the way home.

kurako

Should add that this morning from Putney Bridge Road i turned left after the railway bridge onto Point Plesaant then right onto Osiers Road. From there you can get onto Smuggler's Way totally avoiding the Wandsworth one way system. The path next to the McDonalds comes out on Wandsworth Bridge.

(and i had no idea about the footbridge next to the district line. Nice!)

KnightOfTheLongTights

Kurako wrote:

Should add that this morning from Putney Bridge Road i turned left after the railway bridge onto Point Plesaant then right onto Osiers Road. From there you can get onto Smuggler's Way totally avoiding the Wandsworth one way system. The path next to the McDonalds comes out on Wandsworth Bridge.

(and i had no idea about the footbridge next to the district line. Nice!)

From PB to WB - It's possible to follow the riverside path, then Deodar Rd, then Wandsworth Park, more of the riverside path, then away from river on to Osiers etc and through the industrial estate and past the Ship pub to Smuggler's Way.

rower63

Last night walking over the bridge was steady but slow, people all keeping to their side and being patient. Was OK. But in the opposite direction there was an elderly woman walking very slowly in front of a surprisingly tolerant queue behind her.
And this morning, one or two idiots trying to fight their way up the wrong side, I just turned my front wheel across forcing them back across onto their left. Then someone wheeling a scooter, then a full-blown motorbike!!
But the totally deserted NKR afterwards is nice.

clarkey cat

Took the A3 / West Hill / Wandsworth / battersea / Vauxhall route which was a little snarled up at West Hill but given there is an okay cycle lane was okay. Not looking forward to journey home but at least its sunny.

rower63

For a good like-for-like comparison of the walking-over Putney-Bridge route vs the PutneyBridgeRoad-ArmoryWay-WandsworthBridgeRoad go to http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#166587489,d+PtCQ== . Tick the top two riders in the list, and move the slider to 31:55. Then press the Play button, or >> forward one data-point at a time.

This is Edds and me, we arrived at PB at almost exactly the same time (I sneaked past him at Priory Lane lights hoping he hadn't noticed but in my kit that's nigh impossible), and he's the same speed as me.
It took me about 5 minutes to walk across the bridge.

You can see when I remount (36:26) he's already past Armory Way and on the approach to the big roundabout. But by the time he's got across the river and onto NKR, I'm nearly 1km ahead.
PB 1 WB 0

edds

rower63 wrote:

For a good like-for-like comparison of the walking-over Putney-Bridge route vs the PutneyBridgeRoad-ArmoryWay-WandsworthBridgeRoad go to http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#166587489,d+PtCQ== . Tick the top two riders in the list, and move the slider to 31:55. Then press the Play button, or >> forward one data-point at a time.

This is Edds and me, we arrived at PB at almost exactly the same time (I sneaked past him at Priory Lane lights hoping he hadn't noticed but in my kit that's nigh impossible), and he's the same speed as me.
It took me about 5 minutes to walk across the bridge.

You can see when I remount (36:26) he's already past Armory Way and on the approach to the big roundabout. But by the time he's got across the river and onto NKR, I'm nearly 1km ahead.
PB 1 WB 0

I was looking for your strava ride earlier because I thought it would be a perfect comparison to see if going that way is quicker. It did feel like it was faster (even though it was slower) because I kept moving most of the time. It really is just that much more tarmac to cover though.

surrey_commuter

edds wrote:

rower63 wrote:

For a good like-for-like comparison of the walking-over Putney-Bridge route vs the PutneyBridgeRoad-ArmoryWay-WandsworthBridgeRoad go to http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#166587489,d+PtCQ== . Tick the top two riders in the list, and move the slider to 31:55. Then press the Play button, or >> forward one data-point at a time.

This is Edds and me, we arrived at PB at almost exactly the same time (I sneaked past him at Priory Lane lights hoping he hadn't noticed but in my kit that's nigh impossible), and he's the same speed as me.
It took me about 5 minutes to walk across the bridge.

You can see when I remount (36:26) he's already past Armory Way and on the approach to the big roundabout. But by the time he's got across the river and onto NKR, I'm nearly 1km ahead.
PB 1 WB 0

I was looking for your strava ride earlier because I thought it would be a perfect comparison to see if going that way is quicker. It did feel like it was faster (even though it was slower) because I kept moving most of the time. It really is just that much more tarmac to cover though.

An interesting comparison (suggests PB slowness is between the ears) how much time would be saved by exiting the path onto A3 to get to PB?

Wrath Rob

rower63 wrote:

You can see when I remount (36:26) he's already past Armory Way and on the approach to the big roundabout. But by the time he's got across the river and onto NKR, I'm nearly 1km ahead.
PB 1 WB 0

It depends on where your'e going but from the bottom of WB, turn right towards Lotts Road and you have a clear run all the way to Embankment. There's absolutely no point going up WBR and then along NKR just to turn back down onto Ebankment.