Last updated 17th Feb 2018
Quietway 10 is a route from Finsbury Park to Amwell Street, which is already Islington’s busiest north-south corridor for cycling. Islington and TfL have been working on the Quietway plans since 2015. Cycle Islington is flagging in the starkest terms that Islington Council needs to change its approach to Quietway 10 if it is going to enable active travel for all residents of the borough.
Interventions described in the 2015 feasibility studies exclude older residents, unaccompanied young people and many women from using the route. Islington Council’s goal is to make active travel possible for the many. Unfortunately, without significant changes, older residents, the young and many women will continue to be excluded from using the route. The plans in the feasibility studies will either make little difference to existing users or actively make their trips worse. And, much more seriously, gaps in the route will mean non-cyclists will still not feel safe using it.
Failures from Quietway 2 must not be repeated. Traffic flows on Islington’s other quietway, QW2, already make it a deeply hostile environment in rush hour. There is simply no way that unaccompanied children or older residents can comfortably use QW2 during peak times.
Repeating these errors on QW10 would be a waste of money and at odds with Islington’s goals.
A majority of residents support enabling active travel for all. Islington has always taken a lead in promoting equality and social justice in the borough. We are confident that there is a strong majority of local residents that support the right of both unaccompanied children and older residents to use bikes for shorter journeys.
Follow design standards
Transport for London has published comprehensive standards for evaluating the design of routes and facilities for cyclists, both the Cycle Level of Service and the London Cycle Design Standards. These guides are relevant to the Quietway 10 scheme.
These standards include:
- The width of cycle lanes and tracks, which should be an absolute minimum of 1.5 metres and a recommended 2–2.5 metres (depending upon cycle volume).
- Total volume of traffic (where cyclists are not separated), must be less than 1000 vehicles per hour, with fewer than 500 needed for a Good score on CLoS.
- Route capacity matches predicted usage and has exceedance built into the design, to accommodate increases in numbers of cyclists for the future.
We are calling for an exemplary scheme and ask TfL to seek the same goal. Islington must build an excellent implementation that will support growth for years to come. This will help the Council with its public health goals (Public Health England and NICE recommendations) as well as the recommendations of Islington’s own Fairness Commission to enable more daily exercise.
We look forward to working with Council officers to give constructive feedback on new plans, and working with the Council executive to build community support for an exemplary scheme.