SOUTHALL
Showtime
on Broadway
Southall’s town centre
has undergone a radical
change thanks to a
recently completed
overhaul to the layout of
its main thoroughfare,
the Broadway.
T
he project is a crucial part of the
project to transform the town,
called Southall Big Plan.
The Broadway fully reopened to
two-way traffic as normal, ahead of schedule,
in mid-December after a range of measures
were implemented which have made a real
difference to the way the Broadway, and the
connecting streets, function.
Wider pavements have given pedestrians
more room to shop and move around, and have
HERBERT ROAD CAR PARK
Beachcroft Avenue, Orchard
Avenue and Herbert Road have
got a new one-way system –
reversing from clockwise to anticlockwise – to tackle congestion
in Uxbridge Road. Therefore, to
access these streets, including
Herbert Road car park, traffic
now has to enter via Beachcroft
Avenue and exit via Herbert Road
40
around ealing
Summer 2015
improved safety by making it unnecessary to step
on the road to get past crowds. They are more
attractive, too. Smart, granite paving has been
used, interspersed with decorative feature stones.
Among the key features of the changes are
four long ‘island’ strips in the middle of the
road, replacing the old signal-controlled
crossings – making it easier for you to cross
safely when you like and where you like.
These ‘boulevard zones’ favour pedestrians
and cyclists, with narrower road lanes
to slow down cars without causing
stop-start congestion; but there
are also ‘street zones’, where
the roads widen out again for
bus stops, loading bays and
traffic, in strategic places, to
keep it flowing smoothly
Jagjit Sagoo
while allowing cars to pass cyclists safely.
There is a 20mph speed limit now in force,
too, with an eye on safety but the new layout’s
aim is also to keep the traffic moving rather
than enduring the frustrations of constantly
stopping and starting.
The road has been completely
resurfaced, with the last sections done
in the spring, while new street lights
have gone in, along with CCTV
cameras, trees, bins and benches.
‘IT HAS
MADE A BIG
DIFFERENCE’
Southall optician
Jagjit Sagoo, owner
of Optical World in