The London Cycling Campaign has put its money where its mouth is and brought forward some impressions of how the Blackfriars gyratory could be removed to make the junction safe for cyclists and pleasant for pedestrians.
The double-T junction, based on an early TfL proposal (that was considered to be too slow for motorised vehicles) brings a dash of Den Haag to the Detroit-esque proposals. Gone are the swooping high speed slipways and elongated traffic islands – instead a pair of simple, safe and criss-crossable junctions connects the tangle of roads. You can see the full proposals on the LCC's site, complete with animated traffic movements (in far more detail than TfL have ever provided).
TfL has earned the wrath of livability, pedestrian and cycling campaigners for proceeding with a rebuild (now underway) of the junction that was rejected unanimously by the London Assembly. If you've not followed this sorry tale there are excellent summaries here on the Cyclists in the City blog.
Last week Central St Martin's student Min Joo Lee was killed on TfL roads at Kings Cross on her way to the new campus north of the station, bringing the total fatalities on London's roads to 13 this year. On Friday a cyclist was hospitalized on Blackfriars Road after a collision with a moped and today the London Air Ambulance attended a cyclist crushed by a left turning lorry in Hornsey.
The LCC is calling for all those who oppose TfL's approach to cyclists and pedestrians on its (our?) roads to join them and London Assembly Members Jenny Jones and Val Shawcross at Blackfriars this Wednesday at 17.45 to show their concern – details here.
