TfL opens consultation on proposed improvement to two of London's most dangerous junctions

Transport for London (TfL) has opened consultation on proposed changes to cycling provision at two locations south of the Thames at Tower Bridge road and Waterloo Bridge in line with its ongoing review of junctions launched at the end of last year.

That review was ordered in the wake of a series of deaths of cyclists in the capital in late 2012, each victim killed by a lorry at a junction.

The location of one of those fatal incidents is one of the junctions now being consulted upon, where Tower Bridge Road meets Abbey Street, where 22-year-old Ellie Carey, originally from Guernsey, died last December.

TfL says: "We’re proposing to ban the left turn from Tower Bridge Road into Abbey Street. This would reduce the potential for conflict between cyclists and left-turning traffic". According to TfL's traffic count less than four vehicles per hour make this turn at peak times.

The ban on turning left would is the first stage of TfL's proposed changes for this junction.  TfL sayd that it is  "also developing proposals for more substantial improvements for cyclists and pedestrians at this junction, including improved pedestrian crossing facilities." These will be put forward for consultation in the New Year.

The first stage proposals can be viewed by following this link, where you can also leave comments.

Ellie's death followed those of Deep Lee at Kings Cross and Brian Dorling and Svitlana Tereschenko at Bow roundabout last autumn.

In the aftermath of the first of those incidents, bloggers Danny Williams of Cyclists in the City and Mark Ames from ibikelondon organised the Tour du Danger to highlight ten of the most dangerous junctions in the city.

One of those, the IMAX roundabout on the south side of Waterloo Bridge, is the other junction now open for consultation.

TfL's proposals for that junction include:

New cycle feeder lanes leading into new longer ASLs, meaning that some sections of the roundabout will have three lanes for all traffic instead of four

Extending footways and traffic islands to reduce traffic speeds and provide more space for pedestrians

Developing proposals for a 20mph speed limit at the roundabout to be introduced in early 2013.

Again, the plans can be seen and commented upon by following this link. 

In both cases, the consultations are open until 14 November.