Work Starts on Bayswater Road Crossing

After many delays, work has started on a new cycle crossing of Bayswater Road, to replace the current zebra crossing near the junction with Stanhope Place..

The new crossing will connect Stanhope Place with a path to the North Carriage Drive in Hyde Park.. The crossing forms an important link in London Cycle Network routes 0 (Hyde Park - Marylebone - Bloomsbury) and 5 (Chelsea Bridge - Hyde Park - Kilburn) and will enable cyclists on north-south journeys to avoid Marble Arch.  In addition to the new crossing, two-way cycling will be allowed in Stanhope Place and cyclists will be allowed to turn right from Stanhope Place into Seymour Street.

A plan of the new crossing.

A crossing of Bayswater Road was first proposed in the autumn of 2005. Following a council member's objection to the original design for a toucan crossing, engineers prepared new plans for parallel pedestrian and cycle crossings.

The project was further delayed when Thames Water dug up the road. As is customary, the council then waited a few weeks in case TW needed to dig the road up again.

An unfortunate consequence of this delay is that the budget for this project could not be carried over from 2008-9 into the current year. Because it will have to be funded from the 2009-10 budget, the council will have less money to spend on other projects.