Radical redesign of road layouts aims to boost the number of people cycling

CGI of the proposals, looking north-east along South Circular Road from Kew Bridge Road

New proposals have been published that would see a radical change to local road layouts with the aim of increasing the number of people cycling. Based on Transport for London’s (TfL) own modelling the scheme would significantly increase journey times around Brentford. A consultation is being held on the scheme with the deadline for responses at the end of next month.

Cycle Superhighway 9 (CS9) is planned to run from Brentford Town Centre to Kensington Olympia. TfL in cooperation with Hounslow Council are still drawing up plans for an extension of the route from Brentford to Hounslow.

CS9 would form part of an emerging network of Cycle Superhighways which are part of the Mayor's draft Transport Strategy and Healthy Streets Approach, which aim to encourage walking, cycling and using public transport.

A stepped one-way cycle track is to be installed eastbound on Brentford High Street from Ealing Road to Thames Row and Green Dragon Lane to Kew Bridge junction. There will be a similar tracl westbound from Kew Bridge to Waterman’s Park with cyclists being redirected through the park. The westbound bus lane will be widened to allow cycle use between Thames Row and Green Dragon Lane, and lengthened by approximately 50 metres. The new cycle tracks would be 2 metres wide, narrowing to 1.5 metres at bus stop bypasses and locations with specific constraints. The track would replace stretches of advisory cycle lanes on Brentford High Street and Kew Bridge Road. General traffic lanes would also be narrowed and some right turning pockets removed.

Bus lane operating hours would be extended to 7-10am 4-8pm, Monday – Sunday. A short section of bus lane between McDonald’s and Pottery Road would be removed to accommodate a new pedestrian crossing. The bus lane on Kew Bridge Road east of Pump House Crescent would be extended and widened to 4.5 metres, to provide a facility for cyclists where there is insufficient width to provide a fully segregated stepped track. Taxis and motorcycles would be permitted to use all bus lanes on Kew Bridge Road.

At five bus stops on Brentford High Street where space is limited and expected cycle flows are lower, the footway and waiting area would be combined and all pedestrians would cross the cycle track at raised, marked crossing points at each end of the island to continue their journey via the waiting area island. The combined footway and waiting area would be a minimum of 2.5 metres wide, to ensure bus stop accessibility is maintained.

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Between Chiswick Roundabout and Kew Bridge there will be just one lane of traffic travelling towards the roundabout shared by buses and general traffic with a segregated one-way stepped cycle track replacing general traffic space. Improved pedestrian crossings are promised at Kew Bridge junction but access between Capital Interchange Way and Wellesley Road will be removed for cyclists. The new segregated one-way stepped cycle tracks would be 1.8-2 metres wide. These tracks would be vertically separated from both the footway and carriageway (approximately 60mm above the carriageway and 60mm below the footway).

TfL have modelled the impact on traffic of the new road layouts and estimate that there are likely to be significant delays travelling eastbound during the morning and evening peaks in Brentford. There is expected to be an increase in travel time from Ealing Road to Kew Bridge of up to 12 minutes by 2021 during evening peak time 7-9 minutes of which is directly attributable to CS9. Without CS9 travel times were expected to increase by 3 minutes on the same route due to other factors.

In the morning peak the travel time between Ealing Road and Kew Bridge is expected to increase by 5-7 minutes because of CS9 but without it journey times would fall.

There will however be an improvement in travel times for all traffic between Kew Bridge and Chiswick Roundabout. Journey times west bound during the evening peak (travelling from Chiswick Roundabout to Kew Bridge) are expected to increase significantly over the next four years with 5 minutes being added to journeys. With CS9 the increase would only be around 3 minutes. Travelling in the opposite direction no increase is expected without CS9 and journey times will actually be reduced if CS9 is implemented during the evening peak and stay the same in the morning.

Overall an increase in journey from Ealing Road in Brentford to the Holland Park Roundabout is expected to increase by 20 minutes in the evening peak by 2021 of which half would be attributed to CS9. In the opposite direction journey times may actually be marginally reduced by CS9.

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Launching the public consultation, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said,“As the capital continues to grow, it is vital that we encourage more Londoners to walk and cycle to improve health, productivity and air quality.

“That’s why I’ve set out bold plans to change the way we look at how our transport network and committed record levels of investment to improve cycling.

“This new cycle superhighway will bring a high-quality segregated cycle lane to west London for the very first time."

You can let TfL know your views on these proposals by taking part in their online survey.

Alternatively, you can:

Email consultations@tfl.gov.uk

Write to FREEPOST TFL CONSULTATIONS (CS9)

You can also request paper copies of plans and a response form, copies in Braille, large text or another language using the above contact information.

The consultation closes on Tuesday 31 October 2017.

They will be holding public events at which TfL and borough staff involved in the project will be available to answer your questions:

Watermans Art Centre, 40 High Street, Brentford
Saturday 14 October 1100-1500

Brentford Market, Market Place, Brentford
Sunday 15 October 1000-1400

October 9, 2017