Here is a list of the Quick Wins and longer term schemes that we submitted to Councillor James Murray after he came to our October 2012 meeting. They are not in any order and are unedited.
- More cycle parking. Sites suggested: Highbury & Islington and other stations; outside shops on Essex Road near Past Caring and Planet Organic; Kings Cross Station; Seven Sisters Road, Nags Head, Holloway Road on estates; on street cycle parking e.g. Bike Hangar for small flat/ bed sit cyclists.
- Prevent parking on downhill stretch of southbound side of Amwell Street and southbound on Penton Street at rush hour
- Enforce ASL at Penton Street / Pentonville Road
- Allow permeability at Shearling Way/enhance permeability from Shearling Way to Market Road
- Allow permeability at Hilldrop Road through the estate and to Dalmeny Avenue and Carleton Road.
- All one way streets to be made 2 way for cyclists , as Bunhill Row and Greenman Street have been
- Increase permeability at Huddleston Road/ Station Road
- Better treatment of cycle path exiting Whittington Park to cross Holloway Road as current treatment encourages pedestrians to encroach on cycle path and cause conflicts due to badly placed vehicle gate
- Resurface/ widen path through Tufnell Park playing fields to accommodate cycling (also wheelchair and pram users)
- Close Foxham Road and Dalmeny Road outside Yerbury & Tufnell Park primary schools to prevent passing traffic during school hours
- Deploy plantlock cycle parking outside schools to physically prevent anti-social parking and to trial cycle paths
- Retro-fit Cycle Hoops to parking poles and fit/ pre-fit CycleHoops to all new street furniture as routine policy
- Create a hole in the central reservation on Hilmarton Road junction of Hungerford Road/Penn Road. This is a back route to Finsbury Park from Camden but it comes unstuck when you try to cross Hilmarton
- Newington Green. I know this is a shared Hackney border, but the green is still rubbish for cyclists. Road markings need to be renewed
- Junction of Mildmay Park and Mildmay Road needs a cycle only pass through the central barriers. Similar to Hilmarton, when coming towards Newington Green, cyclists are forced left, instead of being able to go right
- Hercules Street N7 (currently one way from Holloway Road – it would be good to open it up to cyclists in both directions with similar treatment to Lorraine Road a little further south)
- The section of Annette Road between Arthur Road and Tollington Road (this one might need some engineering but would be provide a useful link for the communities on either side of Tollington Road)
- An advanced stop line at Tufnell Park Road outside the station would add greatly to safety
- Use new ‘No entry except cyclists’ signs around borough replacing old confusing ones
- Install a cycle counter at the Colebrook Row/City Road crossing
And these are schemes that we would expect to take a longer time.
- A sensible superhighway up the A1 including Highbury Corner
- Proper alternative to canal
- Reform Kings Cross gyratory
- Reform Archway roundabout
- Tufnell Park schools cycling plan as per David’s suggestion
- Connect all schools with safe routes as per Tufnell Park Cycles to School
- New pedestrian / cycle crossing of Junction Road from Station Road to Wyndham Crescent (Tufnell Park junction bypass)
- New pedestrian/ cycle crossing of Brecknock Road at Anson Road to Ospringe Road (Tufnell Park junction bypass)
- More link up with external boroughs such as Camden, City and Hackney, for permability across major roads, such as City Road in the south
- Close minor roads with modal filtering especially around schools to make them access only to prevent rat-running and promote cycling
- Cycle paths on distributor roads connected to cycle routes
- Raise road surface to pavement level at junctions with minor roads to signify pavement users priority (and cycle path users if present)
- Remove all gyratorys, restore two way traffic.
- Remove multiple lanes and stacking at junctions to create consistency of junctions and remove uncertainty for drivers
- Adopt Go Dutch principles of road design
- Upper Street/Liverpool Road. Left hooks so regular here. Aware this may be a TfL road, but the corner is too rounded to stop folk trying to drive through cyclists
- Enforce zig-zags outside schools during school run
- At least a part of Hertslett Road two way for cyclists, again creating more linkages for cyclists across Seven Sisters Road. Could need more work as several lorries use this road to deliver to the shops – still probably more of a quick win than getting rid of the gyratory
- Remove echelon car parking
- A proper cycle park outside H & I station
Agreed that cycle parking and removing layouts which cause confusion & accidents are probably easiest of easy wins. Doing something with the major routes, especially the A1 & Angel would make such a difference, probably not going to be quick but it’s going to have to happen eventually. Maybe the start of the process is to get the worst details changed – usually the ones involving pinch points and fast traffic (there are several on Holloway Road northbound).
I think you’ve missed out on the Cally Road, it’s less busy than the Holloway Road and there’s more space, but it’s also a really good direct route in to central London. I suggest extending the existing cycle lane all the way down to Kings Cross and with a cycle lane to miss the hair pin & adverse camber in to Calshot Street (it’s scary to have to slow down so much to make the turn when everything is doing 30+ mph). Calshot Street needs a properly marked lane because most drivers think you’re going the wrong way down a one way street and that could link down right to the south of the borough while missing the Kings Cross accident blackspot. Admittedly the Cally route only really works south-bound, so there may be a need to upgrade the well-used backstreet route through Amwell Street & Barnesbury which generally nice & quiet but has numerous pinch points where cyclists are squeezed between narrow car lanes and parked cars. OK, so there’s actually quite a lot there but I feel this is probably significantly easier than the Holloway Road & it could provide a high quality direct route – probably over half of it already exists.
You’ve made s good list, all worthy of consideration – possibly looks a bit Tufnell Park centred with the more detailed suggestions, but when it comes to cycling I think it’s the details which matter. There could be more for central Islington (there’s still quite a lot south of the Angel by my map). I guess that’s where you know best, if you look at my list of suggestions you can could probably plot my route to work on a map!
Great list, has the Councillor responded to the suggestions? I would specifically flag Charlton Place (off Upper St) as crying out for a contraflow for cyclists.
Adam. Many thank for addition. Best that I can tell Cllr Murray forwarded the list to a council officer who has invited us in to talk. We’re focused on the bye elections at the moment.
For those interested in improvements to the Buhill Ward neighbouring the City, this is my verdict on the suggested changes:
Old St Roundabout: I certainly agree that the feeder lanes to the ASLs are too narrow in places, and that the problems of excessive speed and motor vehicles in the ASLs need enforcement. (Though don’t have high hopes for the latter). Candidly, however, I think that closing one side would be a major project about which we need to really build a consensus, involve other groups, present a cogent plan, etc. It is by no means a ‘quick win’, although it is definitely an important site and a dangerous one. REVIEW.
St John St: The fact that the cycle lane is an identical space to a long line of car parking spaces renders the cycle lane redundant. It’s hard to see it as anything more than a slightly cynical attempt to appease two different intereste groups by promising them both incompatible things, and the cycle lane is, if anything, a false friend that will lead cyclists too near the ‘dooring’ range of parked cars. Do we want a proper cycle path here? What would it look like if so (e.g. armadillos, etc). REVIEW
Fortune St: allowing contra-flow cycling on this road would require only small investment to produce significant gain for cyclists, and this definitely ticks the boxes as an ‘easy win’ for LBI. RECOMMEND.
Sekforde St: I think we need more from the proposer about why this is important. I predict a lot of objections from locals surrounding the narrowness of the roads, cyclists going too fast and threats to parking. So wouldn’t be high on my list. REJECT
Whitecross St: This is a relatively quiet road but a useful connection both with Chiswell St and the Fortune St/Fann St link above. As cyclists already use it in both directions, to some extent signing it up as contraflow would simply help to warn drivers and pedestrians of what is already happening, so would be an easy, cheap investment that will benefit all. The only caveat is that because this is a busy market street for several hours a day, six days out of seven, if cyclists were given this as their main north-south route from Old St to Chiswell Street we would be very short-changed. EASY REVIEW.
Gee St, Bastwick St, etc. These roads are NORTH of Old St not south. Very narrow, and are the sites of a lot of car parking. As they aren’t obviously very useful connections, they strike me as a lot of work for little return. REJECT.
Tabernacle St: this is a good idea. It is a quiet street with sufficient room, and would provide a useful connection with the existing cycle path running from Leonard Street to Featherstone St, which is widely used. RECOMMEND.
Have any of these happened? A year later and we have not seen a great deal of action from our council on improving our roads for people.