As a local resident in Marylebone, l have just had a flyer through my front door, about the imminent closure of the Westway & Marylebone flyover for critical maintenance works. Looking at it does raise a number of questions about the displacement of traffic in this part of West London.
The Westway (A40) in London carries an average daily traffic
volume of approximately 200,000 to over 210,000 motor vehicles,
based on Department for Transport data from recent years. In
2023, the Average Annual Daily Flow (AADF) was estimated
at 209,368 motor vehicles with a significant Heavy goods vehicle
traffic, of around 10,000–11,000 HGVs counted on neighbouring
links. So there is huge scope for traffic displacement in
North Kensington, Paddington & Marylebone whilst these works
continue. Unfortunately the flyer does not really indicate this at
all where this traffic will be displaced into as
vehicles make their way into Central London from West London.
I suspect it will have knock-on effects into Holland Park,
Bayswater, South Kensington, Earls Court and Belgravia as well
as the vehicle traffic finds other ways of getting into Central
London particularly from Heathrow and Thames Valley but we
have not been given this information from TfL.
So whilst it may have improvements in air quality and traffic
noise who those immediately under and around the Westway
and the Marylebone flyover during the works, the displacement
of traffic into other neighbourhoods could well be detrimental
too many others.
Whilst TfL tell us on the map where this huge volume of traffic
should be going through to pass through Central London, it does
not mention the measure taken to protect local residents from
additional traffic noise and air pollution. This has to be taken up
with them before, during and after the works by the local
councils at least.
