Britain’s first junction designed to avoid cyclists being hit by left-turning traffic is unveiled today, the beginning of a new wave of such junctions on London’s busiest main roads.
Cyclists and turning motor traffic will move in separate phases, with left-turning vehicles held back to allow cyclists to move without risk, and cyclists held when vehicles are turning left. There will also be a new ‘two-stage right turn’ to let cyclists make right turns in safety. For straight-ahead traffic, early-release traffic lights will give cyclists a head start.
These innovations aim to significantly cut the cyclist casualty rate. Around 85 per cent of cyclist accidents happen at junctions, mostly involving turning traffic.
Today’s new junction, on the upgraded Cycle Superhighway 2 at Whitechapel Road and Cambridge Heath Road, will be the template for junctions to be introduced across London’s main road network in future. These will be at smaller locations than the 33 biggest and most complicated interchanges being improved under the Mayor’s “Better Junctions” programme. The junction unveiled today is not one of the 33 Better Junctions locations.
Cycle Superhighway 2, part of wider plans by the Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) to improve cycling safety, will deliver a world-class substantially segregated cycle route between Aldgate and Bow Roundabout in east London. Once complete, by early next year, 11 major junctions along the route of Cycle Superhighway 2 alone will involve a mixture of these innovative safety measures, keeping cyclists separate from other traffic.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “I made a firm commitment that we would upgrade Cycle Superhighway 2 to ensure that cyclists get the time and the space they need to cycle safely. That’s exactly what’s happening here in east London. The innovations we’re using at Cambridge Heath are a fantastic taster of the raft of improvements that are coming down the track, ensuring that people can cycle safely and more confidently in our city.”
Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport at TfL, said: “It’s great to see once again that London is leading the way in bringing safe cycling infrastructure to our streets. This innovative junction, conceived and designed by our in-house team of designers and engineers, is a key part of the Mayor’s wider cycling vision. By improving Cycle Superhighway 2, as well as miles of roads and numerous junctions across the Capital, we can encourage more safe cycling and further bolster London as a truly world class cycling city.”
TfL began constructing the upgraded Cycle Superhighway 2 in February 2015 and now, just six months later, almost half of the work is already complete. Once finished, the vast majority of the route will be separated with a kerb, which will keep cyclists away from traffic. Where there is less space for kerbed segregation, cyclists will be separated from traffic by pioneering highly-visible traffic ‘wands’ - regularly spaced flexible poles that clearly define the cycle track. Later this year, TfL will also begin work on pedestrian improvements at Bow Interchange, providing new pedestrian crossing facilities at the roundabout, making it easier to cross from east to west and north to south.
Across London, major work delivering on the Mayor’s Vision for Cycling and Road Modernisation Plan is taking shape. Transformations are underway at Elephant & Castle, Vauxhall and work on delivering Europe’s longest substantially segregated cycle route, the East West Cycle Superhighway, is progressing along Victoria Embankment. Plans are also underway at Oval and Apex junctions, with works to remove gyratories at Stockwell and Archway to begin later this year.
Nearly £1 billion is being invested in making cycling in safer in London, including through major improvements to some of the busiest junctions. Plans for more than two thirds of the 33 priority junctions will have been published and consulted on by April next year. Work on 13 of these is on track to be fully delivered by the end of next year. These improvements will also be supported by the Quietway network of back-street cycle routes on borough roads across London, providing well signed, quieter route for riders of all ages.