Chelmsford is grid locked!

[The Family Cyclist]

Essex live website is doing a live update on the traffic. I'm not at all surprised as gave up trying to drive into the city a few years ago when genuinely it took me an hour to move my car and meet the family 5 minutes walk from where we had been.

The stupid thing is it has a fairly central station and TWO Park and rides and a half decent cycle route into the town centre with only a few bits where the roads a better option due to the indirect route the cycle route takes.

[jiberjaber]

I've just checked the live traffic map and it doesn't look any worse than normal to me.  All the expected pinch points are in action as usual, exasperated by the closure of the Army & Navy flyover whilst it is demolished and a couple of local incidents (burst water main etc)

https://www.essexhighways.org/transport-and-roads/interactive-maps-and-live-travel-information/live-traffic-map.aspx

I've looked through the Essex Live 'live update' on traffic and it's nothing new shown in there... as you say - plenty of other options exist to get the shopping done re P&R but that is "inconvenient" apparently...

Essex Live (& Essex Chronicle) have a reputation of being sensationalist and flexing the truth to suit their clickbait approach to the news

Wait till the xmas turkey run clogs up Tescos & Sainsburys and see the effect that has on the local network !

Pro-Tip - avoid peak times and get in and out early to do the shopping if you must... 

[The Family Cyclist]

Well yes Essex live is click bait crap. I've only used the p&r on weekends but found it much less stressful then trying to park in Chelmsford but generally I just cycle in.

[Chris S]

The company I work for (in a previous incarnation) had offices in Chelmsford, and I very quickly learned the easiest way into/out of and around Chelmsford was train/foot. That was in the 1990s. I can't imagine it's improved in the intervening 25 years.

[The Family Cyclist]

The mad thing is it has pretty good non car infrastructure but hey people don't like not using their cars

[Rod Marton]

Nothing new there - it always was gridlocked, even in the 80s and 90s when I worked there. In rush hour the centre became a set of queues for the Army and Navy roundabout. Best (worst) example I ever saw was when a car got wedged sideways on the flyover - had to bring in heavy lifting equipment to shift it. Or rather try to bring it in through the jams.

[peter simplex]

The mad thing is it has pretty good non car infrastructure but hey people don't like not using their cars

Bingo.  Outside the rush hour commute to the railway station you hardly ever see a bike on the roads.  Only 30 miles from London and it's still not cool to cycle, and if you do, it's because you're too poor to own a car: the East Londoner made good mentality.  Additionally the developers/retailers with large sheds and even larger car parks seem to be in control of the town planning there.

[The Family Cyclist]

I cycled into Chelmsford this morning. No idea if it as gridlocked as stayed away from the major roads. Would it have been quicker to drive and park. Maybe slightly but not much in it especially as locked the bike pretty central for the shops. I'd definitely say I was in the minority not driving.

[rr]

Gridlock at the end of our road due to burst water main, chelmsford has a big program to build cycle routes (these middle bits look ok, but the ends are crap). There are over 1000 bikes parked at the station most weekdays.
Essex live once led on Sainsbury's running out of sandwiches and has an obsession with the new burger king.

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