Major road works are planned for the Croydon Flyover later this month, including the replacement of damaged expansion joints at the eastern end of the A232 arterial route into Croydon – where it leads on to Duppas Hill Road.
Croydon Flyover soon after it was built in the 1960s. Is it beginning to show its age?
TfL’s notification of the works says that, “The westbound carriageway on the Flyover will be closed overnight during the week of the works”. Diversions will be in place.
“I hope you will appreciate that a certain level of disruption is inevitable,” TfL’s official said, describing the works as essential.
An expansion joint is used by engineers in bridges and roads to absorb temperature-induced expansion and contraction of construction materials, to absorb vibration, to hold parts together, or to allow movement due to ground settlement.
These latest works follow replacement of damaged expansion joints on the Flyover in December. Then, TfL says, ” a full condition survey of the expansion joints was undertaken. This survey identified joints at the eastern end of the viaduct and a large area of the carriageway surfacing that were in poor condition and in need of replacement.”
Construction of the Croydon Flyover began in 1965 as part of a ring road scheme conceived in the Croydon Plan of 1951 that has never been completed. The building works on the Flyover were completed towards the end of 1968. Last year, TfL completed strengthening work on the similar vintage Hammersmith Flyover, which ended up costing £100 million.
Those planners sketching out a Croydon future with the Westfield supermall must be hoping that nothing quite so drastic will be required with our Flyover, which has a key role in bringing what Tory Assembly Member Steve O’Connell called “the Surrey wallet-share” into our town centre.
Anyone with questions or requiring more details about the roadworks is asked to call TfL’s “customer services team” on 0343 222 1234 or visit tfl.gov.uk/contact.
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The Surrey Wallet Share. Hmm.
While Croydon has been chasing its tail over Hammersfield, John Lewis has been busy opening ‘At Home’ stores in Tunbridge Wells, Horsham, Chichester, and a full service branch is due in Brighton soon. All attractive locations with far more to offer the Surrey wallet share looking for an afternoon out than a sterile box full of high street chain stores. Where would you prefer to go if you live in, say, Bletchingley and need to replace your bedroom furniture?
I’ve a feeling the Croydon Glee Club will have to hold their noses and join the great unwashed at the Purley Way branch or schlep up to Sloane Square for the full JL experience for many years to come.
Could always just order online like most JL customers do these days and wait and wait for an order that never arrives.
By the way everyone is normally negative about 60’s construction techniques, but this structure has shown that the methods deployed if carried out correctly were efficient and effective. This has lasted far longer than the normal design life of 30 years before maintenance and probably had to deal with far more traffic than was expected.