I bet that they are ready to resurface the road. It's just that it requires a few dry days in a row, which have been in very short supply lately....

shzl400.....

Just for clarification pusposes, Mick Hepworth is available on the email address supplied on the Lewisham website. Same way I did.

He is not my "mate" but someone from the council I converse with, try it

I too am concerned at the continual closure of the road, I look forward to reading your post when you get the reply.

Ambient, I make you right there. There has also been the sound of a lot of water coming from the site recently too.

Oh I apologise for my spelling mistake in the post above lol, should have been "purposes"

I hope Perry Vale will reopen towards the end of Sept as was planned in the last update.

I hope closed for a lot longer , traffic reduction a pleasure

Update from Mick Hepworth:

- BH?s funding for the road works was given to the Council, so it?s separate from anything to do with building the flats.

- he thinks work is about a month behind schedule and he?s now hoping it will be completed by Friday 3 October 2008. Delays have been caused because of bad weather and the old water mains: they?re now working by hand to avoid damaging the water mains again.

- they?re working on the new carriageway this week and will hopefully start the new footways next week. After the kerbs have been done they?ll be able to finish the carriageway and lay the paving slabs.

- there may be a bit of a problem with the footway on the northern side of Hindsley?s Place: the building site hoarding is set on the kerbline so Mick will see if it can be moved back so he can work on the footway.

Could I suggest that once Perry Vale reopens, we close a section of Westbourne Drive for 4 months so us Westbourners get some peace, quiet and much reuced traffic????

If the water main pipes are so fragile on this section of road, is it beyond the imagination of the project managers that this would have the ideal time to replace them.
They are clearly coming to the end of their useful life.
And the pipes as well....

What are the odds that this section of brand spanking new road will be dug up again looking for leaks, say, within the next year?

I spoke to Mick on my way to the station this morning and he said the water company was approached about replacing the mains but unfortunately it would have added too much time to the project.

Perryman, I thought I had already mentioned that the discussion regarding the replacement of the water pipe had was taking place, but it was decided against. I dont think this decision can be placed upon the shoulders of Mick Hepworth, give the bloke a break eh.

As Blushing has said, the decision went against the recommendation of the project management, and indeed you may be right that the water company may decide in a years time to ruin a perfectly good road.

Just as we saw a few days back as they started digging up the newly laid base to the road to repair pipes again. Im sure that section will drop once traffic starts going over it.

So how about some reactions to the layout of the road, now that it is actuallyu visible. Is the footpath good enough etc? Im interested to see the negative angles people can develop on this now.

Walking up the hill past the Horniman on Sat the water main is broken again. How many times has this one sprung a leak??

Slack, really slack.

The one on London Rd or PV ?
The London Road one will carry on breaking over time im sure, given the load its under being where it is etc. There is no point repairing one small section of roadway, as it only gives again under the constant pressure of buses going over it.

Im sure the same will happen to the PV one too. Given the area that was dug up and the depth it was dug to.

Road improvements making good progress this morning. Soon have the grand opening , or is it reopening of PV . Have heard Boris J may perform the ceremony but could be Lord Mayor Sir SB.

Personally I think from what I can see, the road layout will be good. Hopefully it also shows those "campaigning" for an island, WHY there is no room for one now.

If you cant safely get across a road of that width, without walking out in front of a crawling car, you should consider staying at home wrapped in cottonwool.

I think it would be hilarious to see a grand re-opening of the road.

Another road I would like to hurry up and re-open is Red Post Hill !! Outside the station (no quite FH, but hey)

The road that passes N Dulwich station at Red Post Hill looks as if it will re-open very shortly. Originally it was planned to take 6 months to strengthen the bridge, then it was due to re-open on 1 October, so if it re-opens before then, which it should, the repair gang will be able to claim to have finished the job early, even though it will be about 6 weeks over the original schedule!

London Road just opposite the bus stop.

Londondrz, I thought thats where you mean, shocking, but it will keep doing it til they do the whole job at once, and that would cause mayhem, so its never gonna happen.

Junegapi, yeah its looked ready to open for a couple of weeks now. i drive past daily in hope lol. Not sure whats left to do, but looks like the road could open at least in 1 direction for now.

I look forward to seeing PV as it develops now, and still look forward to some more negative comments from people not happy with it.

You are foaming at the mouth again snazy.
Your (misplaced) loyalty to this disastrous project shows no bounds.

I do not think we have had the honour of hearing a fuller explanation of why the water main was not replaced (not on this thread anyway) - just the passing remark made to blushingsnail that it would add too much time the the project.

There may well be a coherent reason, but adding time to the project is not it. The old leaky pipe was fully exposed. Would it have really added that many weeks to replace it? Weeks that could have been made up by not having to tip-toe around when building up the layers again?

In any case surely everyone would rather the job was done properly. This lovingly created stretch of road is literally undermined from the very start, by pipework that has come to the end of its life. These pipes were never designed to take the current traffic load in the first place.

I wish I could say I've benefited from reduced traffic during the works, but 'Perry Slough' is just as busy. I also sympathise with those on Westbourne Drive - pretty much all the traffic has been redirected their way.
And as already noted, this has also made the drive much harder to cross - especially as it has no pedestrian islands its entire length. (OK maybe 1).

Perryman, give the personal rubbish a rest eh

I think if you want a full explaination about the water main, you would need to contact the appropriate people, and not throw blame left right and centre.

I would have to agree about the pipes though, its the case all over London and the replacement of the old mains is still on going. It IS a shame they decided against the replacement at this time.

Hey, no offence meant snazy and certainly none taken on my part.

This thread is quite pioneering in an informal way, thanks to your input about the project. In the future, I would prefer all major works like this to have a formal public scrutiny/feedback mechanism - as long as it was taken seriously.

I believe I've raised constructive points for my part, but the explanations we have indirectly been fed are not well considered in my opinion. Hopefully this would improve if direct public feedback/accountability became part of the normal process.

Perryman , I tend to agree that all the utility companies shouls have been called in 3 months ago and instructed to replace any aged piped which were likely to need replacing in next 5 years or so. If acted on when first dug up should not have been much delay , anyway too late now.
So much time and money being sprent on new surface it will be a disaster if in next couple of years a utility digs it up.
Re less traffic I certainly have gained at end of Dacres. I know from when I drove for business you get used to new routes so let us hope that a number of Perry Vale drivers carry on alternative routes