The road network
By 2030, an extra five million road trips a day will be made in London, on top of the 26 million trips already taking place daily. We’re investing more than £4bn to improve London’s roads through Transport for London’s (TfL) Road Modernisation Plan.
Road Modernisation Plan
The plan brings together a number of programmes and initiatives, including TfL’s responses to the Roads Task Force and the Mayor's Cycling Vision. It will make London's roads more reliable, safer and greener, and support new jobs and homes.
The plan includes:
- 17 major road schemes to create better public spaces and support redevelopment and economic growth
- 33 improvements to London's busiest junctions, making them safer and more attractive for vulnerable road users
- Four new Cycle Superhighways, as well as improvements to four existing routes, to provide safer, faster and more direct journeys into the city
- Modernising traffic signals and adding pedestrian countdowns to help people get around the city with greater ease
- Maintenance and improvements to essential roads, bridges and tunnels
Roads Task Force
The Roads Task Force (RTF) was set up by the Mayor in 2012 to meet the challenges facing London's streets and roads. The RTF carried out the first major strategic review of London’s road network for a generation.
London’s 13,600km of roads are vital to the UK economy - 80 per cent of journeys in the capital take place on the roads. That figure includes not just motorists, but also bus journeys, cycling trips, walking and most freight trips.
Offering an efficient and effective road network is essential to support London’s success. With the forecasted population increase, our roads will suffer from more congestion, worsening reliability and declining environmental and safety standards if we do not take action.
The RTF looked at:
- Redesigning gyratories and congestion blackspots
- Making journeys more reliable
- How the road network could better serve local communities
- Cutting pollution and easing congestion across the capital
- Making roads safer for all users
Along with addressing congestion and meeting growth, the RTF report recognises the need to accommodate more walking and cycling, and improve public spaces. The RTF also notes the importance of a longer-term strategy for investment in London’s roads to achieve this.
Implementing a Road Safety Plan
Making our streets safe for all who use them is essential to improving life in the capital. This is why in 2013 the Mayor and TfL published Safe Streets for London – an ambitious and comprehensive plan to make the roads safer for everyone.
Over the course of this decade, we will reduce the number of people killed and seriously injured on London’s roads by 50 per cent. The previous target of a 40 per cent cut, compared with the government baseline, was met five years early. Our ultimate goal is the total elimination of death and serious injury on the city’s streets.
In February 2014 the Mayor, along with TfL, set out six road safety commitments for London. We intend to build on Safe Streets for London and, with our partners, focus on the range of activities needed to make our streets safer. This includes:
- Leading the way in achieving a 40 per cent reduction in the number of people killed or seriously injured on the capital’s roads by 2020
- Prioritising the safety of the most vulnerable groups - pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists - who make up less than a quarter of daily journeys in London and yet account for 80 per cent of those killed and seriously injured on the capital’s streets
- Providing substantial funding for road safety schemes
- Increasing efforts with the police and enforcement agencies in tackling illegal, dangerous and careless road user behaviour that puts people at risk
- Campaigning for changes in national and EU law to make roads, vehicles and drivers safer
- Working in partnership with boroughs and London’s road safety stakeholders to spread best practice and share data and information
Although we are taking the lead to make roads safer, we cannot achieve these commitments alone. That’s why we will continue to work with our partners to make our streets safer over the coming months and years.
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