The council is proposing another 20 mph zone, this time for the area to the west of Camden High Street. The area will be bounded by Grand Union Canal, Camden High Street & Hampstead Road (not included within the zone), and Granby Terrace, Park Village East, and Oval Road (which are in the zone).
The proposals will see speed humps added to all roads which don’t already have them at roughly 100 metre intervals, except Parkway & Delancey Street.
Raised tables to mark the entry to the zone would be implemented at the southern end of Mornington Crescent at its junction with Hampstead Road,
Park Village East at its junction with Parkway,
Raised tables would also be added to Albert Street at its junctions with Parkway & Delancey Street.
Arlington Road may be made one way (direction yet to be agreed) between Mornington Street & Mornington Crescent.
CCC’s response
The Camden Cycling Campaign (CCC) is pleased to be consulted about these proposals and welcomes this scheme in principle as it should lead to a reduction in road danger for cyclists & pedestrians on most roads within the zone.
Arlington Road one way
We do however have one major concern which is the proposal to make the southern section of Arlington Road one way; this aspect of the consultation has attracted considerable criticism from our membership.
The Camden Town area already features a large number of one way street systems which make it one of inner London’s most awkward locations for cyclists (due to the increased motor traffic speeds and circuitous routes. A further one way street will add yet more disincentive to [legally] travel around or through this area by bicycle.
Furthermore, Arlington Road is an official Local Camden Network route which currently offers a parallel northbound route to Camden High Street (which is one of Camden’s least cycle-friendly roads), as well as a southbound contraflow route to Camden High Street.
We therefore strongly recommend that instead of a one way street, a no entry plug with a cycle contraflow lane through it is used in order to retain 2 way cycle access.
Existing one way streets
We see a number of opportunities to greatly improve the cycle permeability of the area by opening up existing one way streets to two way cycle use. We propose that the following streets be modified with no entry plugs and contraflow cycle lanes to allow 2 way cycle use:
- Park Village East
- Mornington Terrace
- Albert St
and possibly Parkway (through to the Camden Rd/Baynes St junction)
Further issues
Other aspects about which we are concerned are:
Several of the entry points to the zone will not have raised table gateway treatment. We believe that these are important physical signals to motorists to slow down, and have the added benefit of making it easier for pedestrians to cross the road at this point. If raised tables cannot be deployed, we recommend that the council review the use of alternative indicators (in addition to the 20mph speed limit signs) to drivers that they are entering the zone.
The lack of physical speed reduction measures in Parkway & Delancey Street. Without physical speed reduction measures, traffic speeds will inevitably greatly exceed 20mph in both roads which we believe will undermine the success of this scheme. We appreciate the Borough Distributor status of these roads, but recommend a further review of potential speed reduction measures.
