Darren Johnson AM has welcomed comments by the Mayor’s cycling adviser that Old Street Roundabout will be scrapped, possibly as soon as next year. Darren spoke to local cycling and pedestrian campaigners, along with local business owners, during a visit to the roundabout on Friday.
Darren concluded his tour by visiting the nearby junction of Great Eastern Street, Commercial Street and Shoreditch High Street. This junction featured on TfL’s original list of 100 junctions with safety concerns but was subsequently dropped from its Better Junctions review programme.
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Darren Johnson AM commented:
“These big roundabouts and one way systems are unsafe relics of bad road design. If we want the area around Old Street to be for people, rather than simply for cars and lorries, then we need to get rid of the roundabout and reduce the traffic.”
“The main feedback I got from local people is the hope that the Mayor fast-tracks the start of the consultation on how to replace the roundabout and make the area a safe and friendly place for people to use on foot, or on bike. There are merits in both the ideas of a T-junction and a crossroads, but the key thing is to reduce the number of cars and lorries going through this area.”
ENDS
Notes to editors
- Darren Johnson AM is available for interview
- Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Adviser on cycling, made the comments about the Old Street Roundabout during the Hackney Cycling conference on Friday, 6th June. He was asked a specific question about scrapping the Old Street Roundabout.
- Details of cyclists killed or seriously injured in these areas can be accessed using the following map based on STATS19 data, a large data set covering all recorded collisions on the roads of the UK.: https://www.google.com/fusiontables/data?docid=1zyR4quGFjOSxZDToT8PI5wUPCx8djRVvHP1ddEg#map:id=3
- Transport for London’s web page stating its intentions for the junction: https://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/old-street-roundabout