The council is consulting on the final leg of the Seven Stations Link from the Tavistock Place/Judd Street junction to the Sidmouth Street/Gray’s Inn Road junction.
There are 2 key issues. The first is the proposal that the cycle track runs on the southern side of road for the section between the Judd St & Grays Inn Road junctions; west of Judd St the track runs along the north side.
The attractions of this switch are that:
there are fewer side roads roads crossing the track (so less risk of car/cycle collisions)
the cycle track would follow a straight line (due to the staggered alignment of the Judd St junction)
residents in Sidmouth St prefer this option (most house frontages are on the south side of the road and the track pushes motor vehicles away from rather than towards their houses).
The main disadvantage is the need for a separate traffic light phase for cyclists (which lengthens the traffic signal cycle for all).
The second issue is the design of the Judd St junction. The traffic light phasing would give cyclists & pedestrians their own crossing phase in the form of a Toucan crossing; for this reason the cycle track loses its segregating island just before the junction and is raised up to pavement level.
CCC’s response
CCC has already been through the junction design with the council and suggested a few tweaks – we are now reasonably happy with it.
