Developing London Cycle Network Plus in Westminster

Hyde Park - Constitution Hill - Buckingham Palace - the Mall - Horseguards Road - Westminster Abbey - Marsham Street - Lambeth Bridge

Westminster is discussing with the Royal Parks modifying the junction of the Mall with Marlborough Road to make it easier for cyclists using the service road alongside the Mall to cross Marlborough Road. 

Hyde Park - Connaught Square - Seymour Street - Wigmore Street - Wimpole Street (northbound) - Weymouth Street (eastbound) - New Cavendish Street (westbound) - Welbeck Street (southbound)

The main improvements expected are:

• a new crossing of the North Carriage Drive of Hyde Park (now complete)
• a new crossing of Bayswater Road, replacing the current zebra (see photo right)
• allowing eastbound cyclists to turn right from Stanhope Place into Seymour Street.

Chelsea Bridge – Belgravia – Hyde Park – Paddington

5 North

Marylebone – Hamilton Terrace – Kilburn

The route north from Hyde Park is likely to be via Stanhope Place, Connaught Square, Connaught Street, Seymour Place and Lisson Grove. Work on Route 0 (q.v.) will benefit the first part of this route.

The next part of the route is still being discussed. The council believes that Lisson Grove, Grove End Road and Abbey Road is the fastest and most direct route and would like to do some works to reduce collisions on these roads. Cyclists, including those from Camden, generally seem to favour Hamilton Terrace and Penfold Street, though this route has a difficult crossing of St John’s Wood Road.

The favoured link with Camden is via Connaught Hill (northbound) and Greville Road (southbound).

• Waterloo Bridge - serious rutting of road surface, bus stops, cycle lanes daytime only.
• Strand / Wellington Street junction - difficult approach from Lancaster Place (Waterloo Bridge), limited capacity of crossover, conflict with pedestrians, prohibition of certain right turns, use of crossover by motor vehicles.
• Wellington Street - vehicles reversing out of cul-de-sac, danger of collision with vehicles emerging from Exeter Street, inability of eastbound cyclists to join the route from Tavistock Street (west), inability of eastbound cyclists to leave the route along Russell Street.
• Long Acre - westbound only east of Bow Street: two-way cycling would create an eastbound through route from the Leicester Square area.

In the longer term, Camden expect to convert Tottenham Court Road back to two-way and to restrict Charing Cross Road to buses, cycles and possibly taxis between Cambridge Circus and St Giles Circus. This would allow the creation of a two-way cycle route. But this is unlikely to happen until after the reconstruction of Tottenham Court Road station for CrossRail. So an alternative southbound route is likely to be required in the shorter term, probably via Rathbone Place and Soho Square.

The inspection also identified a number of problems, including:

• Difficult positioning for cyclists in Parliament Street at the approach to Parliament Square from Whitehall.
• Traffic queues in Whitehall at the approach to Trafalgar Square.
• Weaving southbound traffic and potholes in Trafalgar Square.
• Prohibition of the right turn from Charing Cross Road (south) into Shaftesbury Avenue (east) at Cambridge Circus.
• Difficulty in reaching Charing Cross Road (south) from Soho Square.

Parliament Square will be considered separately as part of Route 4A (q.v.).

• Use of the existing route through Ebury Street, with small improvements.
• Contraflow cycling through Beeston Place (see photo) and Victoria Square, to allow eastbound cyclists to cut out the Victoria gyratory system.
• Various options for allowing cyclists to pass vehicles queuing through Admiralty Arch (see photo).
• Contraflow cycling along the eastern end of the Strand, to allow eastbound cyclists to cut out the Aldwych gyratory system.

Although some useful improvements are recommended for the western end of the Strand, only more drastic measures, such as a vast reduction in traffic, would make a significant improvement.

Admiralty Arch

The likely course of this route is via:

• Black Lion Gate of Kensington Gardens – with toucan crossing of Bayswater Road
• The path along the north side of Kensington Gardens (with obstacles to stop speeding down the hill near Marlborough Gate
• An improved crossing of West Carriage Drive at Victoria Gate
• The North Carriage Drive
• Park Lane crossings
• Upper Brook Street – Brook Street – Hanover Square – Princes Street – new right turn into Regent Street (eastbound)
• Maddox Street – Grosvenor Street – Upper Grosvenor Street (westbound)
• Great Marlborough Street · Noel Street (with contraflow) – Hollen Street – Great Chapel Street – Oxford Street (eastbound)
• Oxford Street – Berwick Street - Great Marlborough Street (westbound)

It has proved difficult to find a direct alternative to Oxford Street at the eastern end of this route.

This route is also affected by proposals for the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

• Marlborough Road
• St James’s Street – with contraflow cycle lane
• Albermarle Street (northbound)
• Old Bond Street – Piccadilly (southbound) · New Bond Street (with contraflow from Clifford Street to Conduit Street)
• Conduit Street – St George’s Street – Hanover Square – Holles Street – Cavendish Square – Henrietta Place – Wimpole Street – Dorset Street – Dorset Place Mews – Marylebone High Street (northbound)
• Marylebone High Street – Beaumont Street – Westmoreland Street – Welbeck Street – Henrietta Place – Vere Street – New Bond Street (southbound)

There may be scope for converting the pedestrian crossings of Marylebone Road at York Gate and Marylebone High Street to toucans for use by cyclists.

The route through Regent’s Park could be either via the Outer Circle, preferably with some kind of traffic calming, or via the Inner Circle and a path across the park.

The proposals for this route include several expensive, and possibly controversial, features. They are therefore likely to take several years to agree and implement.