A flagship safe cycling route in London’s first “mini Holland” borough was opened today as campaigners urged Sadiq Khan to take swifter action on dangerous junctions.
The 2.5-mile segregated “Cycleway 23” along Lea Bridge Road is the highlight of a £30 million investment won in 2014 by Waltham Forest council from Transport for London.
The changes include the Whipps Cross interchange, where a roundabout has been replaced by wildlife meadows and segregated lanes, returning 1,800 sq m of former road space to Epping Forest.
The lanes alongside Lea Bridge Road are already used for about 2,000 cycle trips a day. TfL says cycling has more than doubled across the borough while car use is down seven per cent.
Meanwhile, cycle campaigners today submitted a petition to the Mayor calling for “urgent and stronger action” to improve safety at notorious junctions already identified for action by TfL.
A total of 108 people have died on London’s roads between January 1 and September 30. A Mayor spokesman said they were overhauling the most dangerous junctions and were set to have completed 41 by May.
