Consultation begins on Cycle Superhighway from Greenwich to Tower Bridge

Transport for London have commenced consultation on the proposed Cycle Superhighway 4 which will run from Tower Bridge to Greenwich. Earlier plans to run to Woolwich have been dropped.

CS4 will run along Tooley Street before reaching Jamaica Road, then heading through Bermondsey onto the Lower Road near Canada Water and Surrey Quays stations before reaching Deptford passing through Evelyn Street and Creek Road. It just scrapes in Greenwich borough before ending at the junction by Waitrose and New Capital Quay:

The major selling point with superhighways is that they are almost entirely segregated from other road traffic. Sharing narrow and congested road space is a major factor in putting off potential cyclists.

The range of people cycling in other nations is far wider than in the UK where it often seems only the bravest dice with some dire roads. A bit of paint isn’t going to change that in the UK and separate lanes are the way forward.

There’s good ideas in evidence. At the junction of Creek Road and Deptford High Street the street furniture clutter and railings will go:

How it will look after:

Much easier to get about on foot and buildings shine without messy obstacles on the street.

Some road changes are foreseen. Right turns at Deptford High Street will be banned and the crossings relocated as shown above. Single yellows become double yellow on parts of Evelyn Street and Creek Road.

Another good piece of design is removing wide central reservations. Something this site has covered a fair bit in Greenwich borough where doing so allows space for cycle lanes to be created.

The crossing outside Bermondsey station will be simplified and widened to eight metres.

Down at Greenwich and crossings at the junction by Waitrose will be altered, shortly after Greenwich Highways installed it.

Woolwich no more

It’s a great shame the section to Woolwich has gone. There’s some truly awful junctions along the route which havn’t been touched in decades:

When it comes to cyclists dicing with cars and buses, last night was a textbook case. In the middle of the evening rush hour around 10 cars in east Greenwich were parked on yellow lines blocking the westbound bus lane and cycle lanes.

And its not much better on foot. Despite many, many new developments all over the area it appears almost nothing has gone towards improving conditions for pedestrians.

There is sure to be a lobbying campaign to bring back plans to extend the cycle lane to Woolwich. The many poor junctions need improving as soon as possible. With TfL’s stretched finances alternative funding could need to be found.

Click here to read TfL’s page and comment on plans. There’s far more information and also a list of public meetings and events to be held.