Weiss Road is one-way and Putney Embankment now has CCTV enforcement. Two lanes return to Putney Bridge Road, and two trials go to committee on 24 September.

Wandsworth Council has changed how traffic moves through Putney over the summer, and it has more changes due this month.

Weiss Road is now a trial one-way street. Putney Embankment is getting CCTV enforcement. A traffic island and a redundant BT phone box have gone from Putney High Street to widen the carriageway. The council set all of this out on 3 September. (Wandsworth Council)

Two other trials have been suspended, and they hang on a committee meeting on Thursday 24 September. The council’s announcement does not mention that date, and it is the point at which residents get a say on both.

What has already changed

The council’s own works schedule dates each measure. Over July and August it:

  • reverted the Putney Bridge Road bus lane to its original hours, Monday to Saturday, 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm, in the week beginning 13 July
  • removed the temporary cycle lane wands on Putney Bridge Road in the week beginning 20 July
  • removed the traffic island outside Snappy Snaps on Putney High Street between 27 July and 29 August, extending two lanes back to the Putney Bridge Road junction
  • reintroduced the left turn for cyclists from Putney Bridge Road into Putney High Street
  • repainted the lane markings outside Putney station in August to make the two ahead lanes work harder
  • took out the redundant BT phone box outside TK Maxx
  • began enforcing the existing “no motor vehicles” restriction on Putney Embankment between Glendarvon Street and Rotherwood Road

The Weiss Road one-way trial is aimed at drivers cutting through to jump the queue on to Lower Richmond Road. The council says it will enforce the new signage with CCTV after an introductory period. (Wandsworth Council, Putney Bridge junction changes)

Timeline of Wandsworth Council's Putney traffic measures from July 2026 to winter 2026/27, showing the bus lane reversion, cycle wand removal, traffic island removal, Embankment enforcement, the two-lane reinstatement and the TK Maxx widening
The council's own timescales for each Putney measure, from its Putney Bridge junction works page.

What is still to come

Two lanes are due back at the stop line on Putney Bridge Road this month, once the current signal works finish. That is the change most likely to be felt by drivers, because it buys more green-light time.

Kerb realignment and junction changes are also planned through September. The widening of Putney High Street outside TK Maxx, the one the phone box removal makes possible, is scheduled for winter 2026/27 rather than now.

The council is still in discussion with Transport for London about two things it cannot change on its own: the traffic signal timings, and the position of the pedestrian crossing on Putney Bridge. TfL is responsible for every signalised junction in London.

The two suspended trials, and the 24 September meeting

This is the part the announcement leaves out. The council has suspended two trials “until further notice”, both pending a paper going to its September Transport Committee:

  • the extended bus lane hours on Putney Bridge Road. The trial would have run Monday to Sunday, 7am to 7pm, instead of the current Monday to Saturday peak-hours restriction.
  • the relocation of bus stop P outside Kenilworth Court on Lower Richmond Road. A temporary stop has been placed 40 metres further west to improve the westbound flow.

Both are described as suspended pending wider public consultation after the committee paper. The committee in question is the Transport Overview and Scrutiny Committee, which meets at 7.30pm on Thursday 24 September in Room 123 at the Town Hall on Wandsworth High Street. The agenda is published in the week before the meeting. (Wandsworth Council democratic services)

Why Putney’s traffic got worse

The congestion is not simply the result of more cars. The council changed the Putney Bridge junction between September and December 2024, adding a cycle lane, larger pedestrian islands and upgraded signals.

Its own post-implementation review, commissioned in mid-2025, found the safety case worked. More people are crossing the junction on foot than in 2021. Far fewer cross on a red signal. Cycling is up.

It also found what residents already knew. In the council’s words, “the changes to the junction have resulted in unexpected congestion, particularly on Putney Bridge Road and Lower Richmond Road”.

Two river crossings are pushing traffic through Putney on top of that:

  • Hammersmith Bridge, upstream, has been shut to motorised traffic since 10 April 2019. (Hammersmith and Fulham Council)
  • Albert Bridge, downstream in Battersea, closed to motor traffic on 7 February 2026 after a crack was found in a cast iron component at one of its abutments. Kensington and Chelsea expects physical repair work to start before Christmas 2026 and the bridge to reopen in 2027, with no firm date. (Kensington and Chelsea)

Councillor Nick Austin, cabinet member for transport, put it this way: “We all know that while other bridges across the river are closed, the weight of traffic through Putney has increased, and no one change is going to solve the traffic issues overnight.”

What the traffic counts actually show

The council measures the side streets with automatic traffic counters over seven-day periods. Its traffic management policy sets a threshold of 300 vehicles per hour in the peak hour before a residential road is considered for intervention.

On its own figures, the side roads off Putney High Street have not seen a significant rise in traffic between 2021 and 2025, and none of them passes that threshold on a weekday. One road came close to breaking the pattern: Felsham Road exceeded 300 vehicles an hour twice, both times at the weekend, between 1pm and 2pm and between 2pm and 3pm.

The council accepts that congestion on the High Street still makes it hard to pull out of the side roads, which is a different problem from volume on those roads.

On air quality, the council says the area on and around Putney High Street now meets UK standards, and it credits cleaner buses and vehicles. It has 11 monitoring locations there, and installed new nitrogen dioxide monitors in 2025 on Disraeli Road, Chelverton Road, Putney Bridge Road and Lower Richmond Road after residents raised concerns.

What it means for you

If you drive through Putney, the useful changes are already in. Two lanes now run back from Putney High Street to the Putney Bridge Road junction, and a third change, two lanes at the Putney Bridge Road stop line, is due this month. The TK Maxx widening is a winter job, so do not expect it yet.

If you use Weiss Road, it is one-way on trial and CCTV enforcement is coming. Check the signs before you turn in.

If you drive on Putney Embankment, the “no motor vehicles” restriction between Glendarvon Street and Rotherwood Road is now camera-enforced. It was always in force; what has changed is that breaking it now costs money.

If you catch the bus on Lower Richmond Road, stop P outside Kenilworth Court has moved about 40 metres west, and that is temporary rather than settled.

If you want a say, the 24 September committee paper is the moment. The agenda goes up in the week beforehand. The council also takes comments at trafficandengineering@wandsworth.gov.uk.

For live closures, diversions and rail works across the borough, see our Wandsworth roadworks and travel page, which is updated each week. Parking rules and permit zones are set out in parking in Wandsworth.

Sources