| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Cycling on ythe pavement | |
| Posted by: | Bryony Evens | |
| Date/Time: | 22/07/10 12:58:00 |
| I emailed my friend who's a Sustrans ranger for this part of the Thames Path and she says the following, which she has gleaned from her involvement in this area: "During the Greenway CRISP consultation [about 2 years ago] we were told by the Council officer present that there is a plan in some sort of gestation to redesign the junction by narrowing the LRR approach to one lane to allow a wide cycle lane for cyclists turning left over Putney Bridge and a wider pavement. While this won't help anyone trying to get across from St Mary's it will include a rethink of the pedestrian crossing lights so that pedestrians and cyclists can cross the whole junction in one go though this may have been wishful thinking. The plan apparently will also make the crossing wider. I don't have the details. This gives hope that a rethink of the traffic lanes coming from the Bridge may be in the air. It was AGAIN agreed that a solution would be to go under the bridge and yet another feasibility study would be made but it's extremely unlikely to happen. Main reasons are flooding, the bridge being in 2 halves and occupied by drainage/electricity something or other, and the fact that on the upstream side the ground is not embanked. In other words, forget it as a solution. In any case this doesn't help any cyclists/walker who needs to negotiate the junction eg from Putney Bridge Road or who needs to get up the hill from LRR. I agree the whole junction requires a redesign in favour of walking and cycling and should by now be very high up the Council's priority list. It's much more likely to be done in partial bits here and there which I suppose is better than nothing. As the proposed Thames Cycle Route between Wandsworth Bridge and the borough boundary on the Putney Embankment has been designated an important link in the Southwest London Greenway network as well as part of the National Cycle Network, Sustrans is pushing hard to get a solution." |