Part of Oxford Street is to be westbound-only from
February to November 2011. The street will be closed to eastbound traffic
between Duke Street and Vere Street and diversions put in place for buses, taxis
and cyclists.Part of Oxford Street is to be westbound-only from
February to November 2011. The street will be closed to eastbound traffic
between Duke Street and Vere Street and diversions put in place for buses, taxis
and cyclists.
While the partial closure is in effect, works will be taking place to strengthen water and gas mains and other utilities. An assessment has shown that these could otherwise be damaged during the construction of CrossRail and the new Bond Street Station.
A TfL spokesperson said: "Two-way cycling cannot be provided on Oxford Street due to the restrictions in road width caused by the necessary space required for the work site. Westbound traffic (mainly buses, taxis and cyclists) will continue to use Oxford Street at the point of the worksite between Duke Street and Vere Street. An eastbound diversion route will also be provided for cyclists to the north of Oxford Street (see plan (PDF 833KB)).
"In Oxford Street between Duke Street and Vere Street, alongside the work site area, a westbound lane width of 3.0m will be maintained which will discourage any overtaking, including by cyclists, in order to reduce the risk of collision or injury.“
Cyclists stand to benefit from a change in the arrangement of Hanover Square to accommodate a work site for CrossRail.
The west side of the square will be closed and the east side used for northbound traffic - reversing the present arrangement. As the plan shows, the scheme includes a cycle track for eastbound cyclists, leading to a contraflow cycle lane in Hanover Street.
At present, eastbound cyclists using Brook Street (a useful link from Hyde Park) can proceed no further than Hanover Square. The intention is to extend this cycle route across Regent Street into Great Marlborough Street and Soho.
For further details of the Hanover Street scheme, please see last August's report.
We have now seen plans for the proposed Cycle Superhighway over Chelsea Bridge and along Grosvenor Road.
On Chelsea Bridge, the centre line and pedestrian refuge will be moved further east to allow the widening of the northbound traffic lanes. This should make it easier for northbound cyclists to reach the advance stop line at the junction with Grosvenor Road. There will also be a marked waiting area for cyclists turning right into Grosvenor Road.
Current lane widths make it difficult for cyclists to reach the front of the queue.
Along much of Grosvenor Road, general traffic will be reduced to one lane, leaving space for a 2.5 metre-wide mandatory cycle lane. This should be wide enough to allow faster cyclists to overtake slower ones.
Cyclists are disappointed, however, that TfL appear to have dropped proposals for a cycle lane across Parliament Square. This would have removed the need for northbound cyclists to ride around three sides of the square and halved the number of junctions to negotiate.