Examination of Witnesses (Questions 5360
- 5379)
5360. I am sure you do. What do they say at
the moment?
(Mr Walters) It is not their biggest concern,
but I think what we should do is, when we next meet them we make
a specific point of raising it.
5361. I think you had better because I think
it is potentially quite a serious problem. You have only got to
have one lorry breaking down in this short stretch; there is not
a great deal of room to overtake, if I remember rightly, and you
will have a real tailback. That is the sort of thing that you
have not started to discuss yet?
(Mr Walters) No, we have not.
5362. We will see how we get on. Now, Ms Singleton,
have you got some questions for Mr Walters? I dare say you have.
5363. MS SINGLETON: Yes, I have.
5364. CHAIRMAN: You are very welcome
to ask them.
5365. MS SINGLETON: Thank you. I have
just a little clarification on Vallance Road. A bit further north
of Durward Street there is a pedestrian crossing with lights.
5366. CHAIRMAN: Perhaps we had better
have the plan up so that we can see this.[18]
Now, where is the pedestrian crossing?
5367. MS SINGLETON: It is just above
Old Montague Street. It is the very furthest street to the left
just on a little leg of its own, Old Montague Street.
5368. CHAIRMAN: It goes across Vallance
Road?
5369. MS SINGLETON: It comes into Vallance
Road.
5370. CHAIRMAN: The pedestrian crossing?
5371. MS SINGLETON: The pedestrian crossing
is just above that point.
5372. CHAIRMAN: Is it across Vallance
Road?
5373. MS SINGLETON: Yes, that is right,
and it then goes into really what is the end of Hanbury Street,
but at that point it is only a pedestrian walkway, so there is
actually a break. I would have to say that Vallance Road is a
busy road with a lot of traffic backed up now, even despite that
pedestrian crossing being a little break, and it also has one
bus route on it, the D3, which is a fairly frequent bus, about
every ten minutes. The other thing to say is that at the actual
junction there are three bus routes which cross Whitechapel Road.
One is a bendy bus, the number 25, the busiest bus on the whole
network, and there are already quite a lot of traffic snarl-ups
there, so it would certainly need extremely careful management.
CHAIRMAN: You ask your questions of Mr
Walters.
Cross-examined by MS
SINGLETON
5374. I have got several questions. At peak
times how many of the lorries going along Durward Street will
go into the Essex Wharf site? As there are 60 lorries going along
here at peak how many of those would go into the Essex Wharf site?
(Mr Walters) They are roughly split half
and half between the Essex Wharf site and what is called the District
Line Works site to the south of Durward Street.
5375. So when they actually go into the Essex
Wharf site they also have to leave the same site to turn into
the west side of Durward Street, so the people who live opposite
that will have 60 movements per day in peak times of trucks entering
and leaving? Would that be true?
(Mr Walters) That is right, 60—30
in and 30 out.
5376. Quite a lot, so every eight or so minutes
there would be one. To turn from the Sainsbury's works site into
Brady Street and then turn almost immediately into Durward Street,
would that be very difficult for a very large lorry?
(Mr Walters) I think it is something we
need to work with Tower Hamlets and Sainsburys on because it is
a dog-leg, as it has been called. We were originally going to
go up Brady Street but have now agreed to go through the northern
end of our site. If you recall, my Lords, the previous photograph
showed an area of wall and railings almost opposite Durward Street.
We have been wondering whether it would be possible to move that.
There is a view from Sainsbury's car park. It might be possible
to considerably reduce that dog-leg by moving the pedestrian entrance
into Sainsburys.
5377. LORD SNAPE: Look at that bollard,
Mr Walters. Someone has already had a struggle getting round that
particular corner, is that right, the right-hand bollard of the
three?
(Mr Walters) With the white top?
5378. Yes, is that its normal shape?
(Mr Walters) I wonder if it is to fend
traffic back off into the road again.
5379. So that is its normal shape, then?
(Mr Walters) I think it is with the white
top.
18 Crossrail Ref: P23, Lorry Movements-Hanbury Street
worksite (SCN-20080317-002) Back
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