Chancery Lane has been part of my weekday journey to and from work since, about 5 years ago, an office move gifted me a walk that included this bleak stretch of chaos (though occasionally I take a slightly longer and slightly more tranquil detour). Of the roughly half mile from Fleet Street in the south to it's northernmost tip exiting onto High Holborn, I'd estimate during that time 30% of said lane has been constantly buried in scaffolding, smothered in dust, lost in a cacophony of drilling and hammering, and decorated by heavy machinery including enormous cranes, diggers and trucks.
All at the same time.
I've sympathy for anyone who has to take this route. It's tough on car users, taxi drivers and cyclists. But I think it's the pedestrian who gets the worst deal of all. And there's no sign of the building companies joining forces to provide any relief. How about a "safety equipment station" at the top and bottom of the lane offering goggles, ear muffs, a face mask and a hard hat for loan and return?
The place is dangerous. I've even seen a sign that says so - in a red triangle - so it must be true. It boldly states as you reach the end of the mayhem: "End of danger zone". That said, it only lasted a week or two, then it disappeared. Unlike the building works. What got me was there was nothing on the reverse side of the sign, or indeed there was no other sign anywhere, to inform those entering the "danger zone". Wonder what it would have said. "Start of danger zone. Good luck"?
If it was on a Monopoly board, rather than houses and hotels scaffolding would be the "currency" for this permanent work-in-progress. As for the little metal thingy (at least it was when I last played) used to navigate around the board, I'd suggest the best you could do is choose a tank, and failing that the aforementioned hard hat.
Posted originally on old Google Blog in 2016
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