London facing nightmare traffic jams for a month while A40 is closed

A huge part of central London could be brought to a standstill from Friday when one of the city’s busiest roads is closed.

The A40 is being shut for a month while repair works carry out on a large section between Westway roundabout and the Marylebone flyover.

The route, which was opened in 1958 and now carries up to 100,000 vehicles a day, will remain closed throughout the duration of the works.

Work on the 2.5-mile stretch of road is expected to last until late April, although an exact completion date has not yet been confirmed.

During the works, joints will be repleaced so that the flyover can safely expand and contract according to temperature.

The primary impact zones are likely to be:

• Marylebone and Paddington: This is ‘landing point’ of the flyover. Marylebone Road, Edgeware Road and streets around Paddington Station may witness gridlock
• White City and Shepherd’s Bush: Westway Roundabout will be a major bottleneck. Long delays expected around Westfield and the Shepherd’s Bush interchange
• Hammersmith and Chiswick: The A4 corridor will likely see a significant increase in traffic as the primary alternative for traffic entering London from teh M25
• North Circular (A406): Heavy volumes of traffic expected from drivers heading to the M1 or A4/M4

Other bottlenecks facing sever gridlock could include:

• Uxbridge Road A4020 and Goldhawk Road: Local relief roads for the A40
• Westbourne Grove and Bayswater Road: Potential cut-throughs to avoid Marylebone
• Scrubs Lane and Wood Lane: Impacted by traffic towards the north of the closure

Bus routes affected:

• 6, 13, 16, 18, 23, 27, 28, 31, 49, 52, 70, 72, 74, 94, 95, 98, 113, 139, 148, 189, 205, 207/N207, 220, 260, 272, 274, 295, 316, 452, E3, C1, SL8

Once the initial work has been carried out, there will be further weekend closures for westbound traffic at the Westway roundabout every weekend until July 6.

Transport for London has warned that diversions and local roads will become ‘extremely busy’ throughout the works.

In a bid to mitigate the gridlock, they said the closure had been timed to fall over Easter when there is less traffic.

Drivers heading into London from the M25 are being urged to take public transport or use the A4 or M4 instead.

Stuart Harvey from TfL said: ‘We appreciate that, though necessary, these works will cause disruption to journeys, and I’d like to thank people in the area for their patience. 

‘I’d encourage everyone to plan ahead and use alternative modes of transport where possible.’

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