40mph Limit on the A40 Westway Elevated Section

The request was successful.

Matthew Miliffe

Dear Transport for London,

I understand that the speed limit was reduced on a temporary basis from 50mph to 30mph. This was due to several bridge expansion joints that needed repairing.

Recently this limit has changed from 30mph to 40mph.

Could you please tell me:
- why has it moved from 30 to 40mph?
- is 40mph still a temporary limit and when joint repair has completed, the limit will return to it's previous standard of 50mph

Yours faithfully,

Matthew Miliffe

FOI, Transport for London

Our Ref: FOI-0217-1112

Date: 26.05.2011

Dear Mr Miliffe

Thank you for your e-mail received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 May
2011 asking for information about the speed limit on the A40 Westway
elevated section.

Your request will be processed in accordance with TfL's Freedom of
Information Act 2000 procedure and a response will be provided to you by
24 June 2011 in accordance with the Act.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

Corporate Governance Directorate

General Counsel

Transport for London

[1][TfL request email]

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FOI, Transport for London

Our Ref: FOI-0217-1112

Date: 26.05.2011

Dear Mr Miliffe

Further to my e-mail below, please note that I have passed your query to
our Customer Services team to provide a response.

I am sure that they will contact you in due course with the information
requested. If you have any questions about your query please contact them
directly at [1][email address].

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

Corporate Governance Directorate

General Counsel

Transport for London

[2][TfL request email]

From: FOI
Sent: 26 May 2011 09:40
To: '[FOI #72786 email]'
Subject: FOI Request - Speed Limit on the A40 Westway Elevated Section

Our Ref: FOI-0217-1112

Date: 26.05.2011

Dear Mr Miliffe

Thank you for your e-mail received by Transport for London (TfL) on 26 May
2011 asking for information about the speed limit on the A40 Westway
elevated section.

Your request will be processed in accordance with TfL's Freedom of
Information Act 2000 procedure and a response will be provided to you by
24 June 2011 in accordance with the Act.

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

Corporate Governance Directorate

General Counsel

Transport for London

[3][TfL request email]

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Transport for London

Our Ref: 1008918387/AJ

Date: 26.05.2011

Mr M Miliffe

[FOI #72786 email]

Dear Mr Miliffe

Thank you for your email dated 25 May 2011 regarding the ongoing works on
the A40 Westway.

As you mentioned a recent routine maintenance inspection of the A40
Westway uncovered two bridge expansion joints in need of repair. To allow
the flyover to remain open, temporary repairs have been carried out to
these joints and more detailed investigations of other expansion joints on
the bridge have been conducted. To protect these bridge joints and the
temporary repairs from further damage, a 30mph speed limit was
temporarily put in place on the A40 Westway until permanent repairs can be
completed.

We have installed “designed” temporary plates to cover the holes left
by the broken parts of the expansion joint. These plates protrude 30mm
above the carriageway although they are chamfered at the sides. It is
necessary to have such thickness to avoid buckling and bending with the
change of temperature and wear from the traffic. This creates a “bump”
when driven over and hence the reduction in speed is necessary,
especially for motorbikes travelling over the plate at high speed.

We are currently looking at the method of replacement which allows us to
keep traffic moving during the day and allows us to work on the replacing
the joint at night. Our proposal is to install a proprietary temporary
bridging unit which can open and close the gap within minutes at the start
and end of a working period. This proprietary temporary bridging system is
designed to accommodate speed limits of 40mph. The temporary speed limit
has now been raised to 40mph as planned.

The permanent repair to the bridge is likely to take several months to
complete, given the bespoke nature of the replacement parts. Once the
full repair programme has been successfully implemented, the temporary
speed limit will be removed.

I hope that you find the above interesting and informative and thank you
for your patience during this issue. If there is any other matter with
which I may be of assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Alexander Jackson

Customer Service Advisor

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Matthew Miliffe

Dear Transport for London,

Many thanks for an excellent reply.

Yours faithfully,

Matthew Miliffe

Transport for London

 

Thank you for your email.  We can now confirm that this has been
received. 

 

For further information about the Surface Transport Complaints and
Feedback Policy including timescales, please see
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tf...

 

Problems with roadworks or other street faults? In support of the
Mayor’s Streetworks Code of Conduct to help cut congestion, please
report these issues by visiting
[2]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/roadusers/reportas...

 

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References

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