TfL to overhaul Old Street Roundabout +publishes timetable for creating Cycle Superhighway routes CS1, CS4, CS5 and CS11

Transport for London (TfL) has revealed plans for an overhaul of the Old Street Roundabout, where bicycles now make up one third of rush hour traffic. Today’s announcement comes a week after it published its Road Modernisation Plan, confirming that work will begin next year on Cycle Superhighway 1, which will have that junction at its southern end.

The Road Modernisation Plan outlines details of the £4 billion that TfL will be investing in the capital’s streets in the coming years, including £900 million due to be spent on cycling from now until 2022.

It contains a timetable of proposed works with anticipated start (subject to consultation) and finish dates, with construction of CS1 which will run from Tottenham to the City due to begin in June 2015 and be completed in April the following year.

The consultation is now open on TfL’s plans for Old Street Roundabout, which in recent years has been nicknamed Silicon Roundabout due to the number of tech firms located there and in nearby areas such as Shoreditch, with the cluster collectively known as Tech City.

The roundabout will be converted into two way traffic, with the north western arm, which leads onto City Road heading towards Oval, transformed into a pedestrian space.

TfL says cyclists now account for one third of road users at the junction during the morning rush hour, and the junction will have cycle lanes, segregated where possible, plus separate traffic lights for bike riders.

The safety of pedestrians and cyclists is a key element of the redesign; TfL says that of 44 people injured at the roundabout in road traffic collisions from February 2010 to January 2013, eight in ten were on a bike or on foot.

Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “We are progressing at full steam with our plans to redesign some of London’s most dangerous junctions, and Old Street roundabout is next to be completely overhauled.

“These plans will dramatically improve safety for the thousands of cyclists and pedestrians using the junction, and also make it easier to access Tech City, which continues to nurture upcoming technology and creative talent from around the world.”

TfL says the proposals “would mean a much safer junction for cyclists, but would result in some changes in rush-hour journey times for buses, cars and coaches.”

However, it adds that most journey times would be unchanged,  “with the only significant increase being to traffic heading northwest on City Road, which may take up to two minutes longer in the morning and afternoon.”

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Islington Council’s executive member for environment and transport, Councillor Claudia Webbe, said, “We welcome the TfL public consultation on improvements at the Old Street roundabout.

“Old Street is not only a valuable part of Islington but an iconic landmark of London, yet in its current form it’s not fit for purpose. Positive changes to the access and roads at Old Street are badly needed to improve safety and travel.

“The council, local residents, cyclists and businesses have long campaigned for the radical transformation to this extremely busy, complex roundabout.”

She added: “It is exciting to see this project finally coming forward, providing a new public open space and safer pedestrian and cycling routes, improving pupil access to local schools as well as enabling local residents to access new employment opportunities.

“We want local residents and businesses to have their say on the proposals, and will ensure that TfL listen very carefully to these views.”

The consultation is open until 11 January 2015, and you can find more information here.

TfL’s Road Modernisation Plan outlines the timetable for various other works to be undertaken over the years to 2021, many of them cycling specific, and with a number of others such as planned works at major junctions incorporating a significant element of cycle infrastructure.

A full list appears below, in anticipated start date order.