Friday 5 March 2021

Restored Bridge Road/North End Road junction expected to open to pedestrians and local traffic in late May

 

Works taking place at present

 

A 2019 impression of the completed junction

 

In a statement to Wembley Matters, Brent Council has said that the restored junction of North End Road and Bridge Road, Wembley Park, is expected to open in late May:

We are working hard to complete the works as soon as possible. It is a complex project and there was an unforeseen delay due to discovery of an uncharted gas main and old pedestrian subway. However, we are working at pace to make up time and currently anticipate that there will be access from Bridge Road to North End Road from late May 2021.

 

In the meantime, the existing pedestrian diversion arrangements will remain in place, with access to Michaela School from North End Road near Victoria Halls.

 

We are in discussion with TfL about their signals programme. They are experiencing delays due to staff being furloughed, however, our current intention is to open the road up to local traffic late May.

 

Further to his comment below, local historian Philip Grant has sent me the following aerial photo, taken in 1948, which clearly shows the old pedestrian subway from Wembley Park Station that caused an 'unforeseen delay' in the work:-



3 comments:

Jaine Lunn said...

Why they in such a rush, it will open and then be closed on a regular basis when the Stadium re-opens and events days traffic management start happening again lol.

Can't wait to see the back of all those bs banners "love where you rent" I suppose they have to publicise now as when the Stadium is back to normal, these so called residents will be fleeing in droves, after all since Covid they have enjoyed a lot of peace and tranquility, it will be a whole different experience when you have 90,000 fans outside your door, all happy chanting and swigging their beers, using your doorways as a public toilet, the sound of Ambulance and Police sirens, collecting all the people who have fallen down the very steep Steps that cost us Brent residents 17.9 million in CIL monies. Can't wait I hope you will join me Martin along with Phil cameras at the ready to capture all for posterity.

Philip Grant said...

'... an unforeseen delay due to discovery of an ... old pedestrian subway.'

How could they be expected to know about that old subway?

Well, if they had bothered to look at "The Olympic Way Story", which I wrote for Brent's Regeneration Department in 2017, and was subsequently published online by Brent Archives, they would have read (in the section on the construction of Olympic Way in 1947/48):

'Wembley Borough Council had also agreed to make improvements to the road from Forty Lane to Wembley Park Drive (at a cost of £100,000, paid for by Middlesex County Council), which would link with the new “stadium avenue”. Their plans had to be co-ordinated with both Wembley Stadium Ltd and London Transport, who were adding a pedestrian subway under Bridge Road.

By early May 1948, work was underway on the roundabout at the junction, and
the concrete retaining walls for the slope down from this to the new road. It was anticipated that the work should be finished by the end of June, and Sir Arthur Elvin met the Mayor on site to discuss the final details. The Council approved Sir Arthur’s suggestion that the new road should be called Olympic Way, and that the Mayor should invite the Minister of Transport to open
it in early July.'

The old pedestrian subway, which ran just to the east of the present Bobby Moore Bridge subway, should not really have come as a surprise!

Anonymous said...

Pray tell Brent Council and Brent Labour Councillors, what speed is "we are working at pace"? This is without doubt a load of verbal diarrhea.

Also, when was the last time we heard an honest or accurate statement comong out of Labour's Brent Council's Civic Centre other than about their Council Tax Rises?