CROSSRAIL CAUSING CONGESTION IN CENTRAL LONDON!!!!

CRASS behaviour by Crossrail-peddlers in central London councils: messing up freight transport in London

http://www.roadtransport.com/Articles/2009/01/28/132878/crossrail-works-congestion-for-the-next-nine-years.html

"Crossrail works: congestion for the next nine years?
28 January 2009
Transport operators delivering to central London will face disruption for the next nine years now that the first stages of construction work for the £15.9bn Crossrail project (due for completion in 2017) have started - without apparent reference to the work's impact on the movement of freight into and out of the capital.
While the main construction work on the east-west cross-London line starts in 2010, the Crossrail development team (in tandem with Transport for London, the London Borough of Camden and Westminster City Council) has enacted bus diversions for up to seven years on Tottenham Court Road to allow the Tube station to undergo £1bn of redevelopment - work that started earlier this month.
Plans for the management and movement of project-related construction traffic are in hand, with further Crossrail-specific logistics to be planned by DHL.
But as FTA director of policy James Hookham attests, those who carry freight in and out of London every day have not been consulted. "They [Crossrail and TfL] had thought through arrangements for buses and taxis - but not freight. It's early enough in the process to achieve a solution."
Traffic management changes could also lead to an increase in penalty charge notices. "As kerb space is denied, operators could be forced into streets where access is restricted," says Hookham. "The ideal [solution] is temporary [loading] bays or the relaxing of unloading restrictions."
The FTA has invited TfL to set up an enquiry point (operating through the FTA's member advice centre) to handle operators' questions. "We need a one-stop-shop with up-to-date information," Hookham says.
A Crossrail spokeswoman says: "The traffic management for each stage of the works will be discussed at regular meetings with the local highway authorities. Where major diversions are required, Crossrail will take advice from the local highway authority on the companies to be informed, including freight operators.

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