Camrose Avenue

History

The restrictions on Camrose Avenue are unique. They are the result of a failed experiment in 1974-75 to try to stop HGVs from using Camrose Avenue as a cut-through to and from the M1. This was to be achieved by imposing a width restriction. 

Unfortunately, Camrose Avenue was a bus route and buses are the same width as HGVs. The solution was to have bypasses around the width restrictions which only buses could use. Gates would be put across the bus bypasses which would be opened while the bus was sitting at the adjacent bus stop. 

This was Harrow's first attempt at combining width restrictions with bus bypasses. They tried again in 1976 on Headstone Lane, with a configuration which worked better and was repeated elsewhere, albeit with only occasional use of the bypass by refuse and emergency vehicles.

The configuration can be seen on the aerial view below (North is at the top):

Here is a closer view:

Eastbound traffic is split by the traffic island ringed in red: the bus gate to the left; the width restriction to the right. Westbound traffic is split likewise by the traffic island ringed in yellow. Eastbound and westbound traffic are separated by a snake-like object which is the central median strip. This carries a post-and-rail barrier to stop eastbound and westbound traffic crashing into each other (the image is from 2008; the signs have since been updated and the barrier has lost all it chevrons):

You can see how the restrictions appear when approached from each direction in Eastbound Approach and Westbound Approach.

Representations

The material for representations consists of:

• Traffic orders

• Adequacy of signage

• one of

  • Westbound Approach (omitting the section NIGHT if it was daytime)

  • Eastbound Approach (omitting the section NIGHT if it was daytime)

You need to decide whether to include the arguments about the traffic orders and the appropriate signage for them. If you go to appeal and have a hearing, you may well be asked about this. If you are uncomfortable with this, you may be better off omitting the analysis of the traffic orders.

You can still include the material about the Adequacy of signage. It does your case no harm to set out what the courts have said about the adequacy of signage and how to assess it. That includes assessing signs which could be present but which are not. 

The arguments are simpler for those who turn left from Dale Avenue through the bus gate. They are set out in

• • Dale Avenue Approach

Other material which is referenced includes:

• Curved Arrows

• 450-diameter Width-restrictions 

Written 31st October 2025; last updated 9th November 2025