1. Remove through motor traffic from St George’s Road. The proposed right turn into St Georges Road makes this junction extremely complex. A simpler solution is to return London Road to 2-way working. London Road is 5 lanes wide. It is within the congestion zone and the traffic figures indicate could carry the existing traffic plus the motor traffic that presently uses St Georges Road. Buses and cycles could continue to use St Georges Rd and local access could be made via Garden Row. Changes would also be needed at St Georges Circus, but these are needed anyway.
2. Get the highest volume cycle traffic off the motorised roads and on to a separate cycle route straight across the middle of the system. This is the traffic coming down the Link Road and heading for the city via London and Southwark bridges. The biggest problem concerns northward cyclists who on the TfL scheme would be at risk from left turning vehicles at both the St Georges Rd and London Rd junctions. Our proposal is to create either an underpass or a bridge/flyover from the top end of the Link Rd across to Newington Causeway. An underpass may be slightly the better option. The depth required is less than the bridge height to clear double decker buses. Also part of the line of one of the present pedestrian subways could be used. To make it more attractive it would be possible to bring the bike path into the open between the two crossings and landscape it. A diagram of a possible layout is below plus a possible profile.
3. Improve the east bypass cycle route. At present the east bypass goes way off to Rodney road. It is much too long a detour to be useful to commuter cyclists. A much better route is possible using Elephant Road (see map below). It would be necessary to move the crossing on New Kent Road. A more direct and safer route between London Road/ Newington Causeway to Walworth road would take some of the cyclists off the Peninsula road network. It would also be possible to link Elephant Road through to the exisitng bypass on Hampton St, thus creating a viable option for the heavy cyclist flow from Newington Causeway to Kennington Park Rd.
2. Get the highest volume cycle traffic off the motorised roads and on to a separate cycle route straight across the middle of the system. This is the traffic coming down the Link Road and heading for the city via London and Southwark bridges. The biggest problem concerns northward cyclists who on the TfL scheme would be at risk from left turning vehicles at both the St Georges Rd and London Rd junctions. Our proposal is to create either an underpass or a bridge/flyover from the top end of the Link Rd across to Newington Causeway. An underpass may be slightly the better option. The depth required is less than the bridge height to clear double decker buses. Also part of the line of one of the present pedestrian subways could be used. To make it more attractive it would be possible to bring the bike path into the open between the two crossings and landscape it. A diagram of a possible layout is below plus a possible profile.
3. Improve the east bypass cycle route. At present the east bypass goes way off to Rodney road. It is much too long a detour to be useful to commuter cyclists. A much better route is possible using Elephant Road (see map below). It would be necessary to move the crossing on New Kent Road. A more direct and safer route between London Road/ Newington Causeway to Walworth road would take some of the cyclists off the Peninsula road network. It would also be possible to link Elephant Road through to the exisitng bypass on Hampton St, thus creating a viable option for the heavy cyclist flow from Newington Causeway to Kennington Park Rd.