Work on Euston Road cycle lane set to start alongside multiple ’rat run’ road closures in London

Construction will start this week on a brand new temporary cycle lane on Euston Road as part of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and TfL's world-leading Streetspace for London plans to rapidly transform streets to accommodate claims of a possible ten-fold increase in cycling and five-fold increase in walking. 

The major new protected temporary cycle lane along Euston Road, which could be in place for 18-months and made permanent, will link up with TfL's new temporary cycle lane on Hampstead Road, and Cycleway 6 on Midland Road/Judd Street.

Construction of the new route will begin on Thursday. Under new COVID-19 emergency measures, no consultation was required or gathered with local businesses and residents.

The work follows the recent construction of major new lanes using temporary materials along Park Lane in central London, and on the CS8 route between Chelsea Bridge and Lambeth Bridge. Many more such lanes are set to be rapidly deployed across the capital, with construction work to start in the coming weeks on an upgraded, protected lane along the CS7 route in Tooting and Balham. Design work is also continuing at pace on routes between Mile End and Westferry and between Greenwich and Woolwich, which connect key destinations across east London to London's strategic cycling network.

TfL is working closely with local boroughs to create more space for walking and cycling at pace across London by building a strategic network for cycling, transforming town centres and reducing traffic on residential streets. More than £24m of Streetspace funding for schemes that will change how people move around the city has already been awarded to 30 boroughs. 

This includes funding for 47 cycle routes, prioritising routes linking town centres and other destinations. New cycle infrastructure is being built between Rotherhithe and Peckham, on Lower Road (Southwark), Liverpool Road (Islington), Romford Road (Newham) and Uxbridge Road (Ealing). Funding has also been confirmed for 124 low traffic neighbourhoods, 204 School Street schemes and 205 projects designed to create additional space at town centres.

In Lambeth, TfL funding has created a low-traffic neighbourhood in the Oval Triangle area between Vauxhall, Oval and Stockwell Tube stations, creating extra space for walking and cycling and improving people's quality of life by making roads in the area access-only for motor vehicles.

Boroughs including Hackney, Croydon, Lewisham and Hounslow have also installed measures on local roads, such as bollards or other traffic filters, to limit rat-running by motor vehicles and reduce traffic volumes. Schemes have been awarded funding on the basis that they can be quickly delivered, with these schemes set to be installed in the coming weeks.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "It is essential that we don't replace one health crisis with another fuelled by toxic air pollution, which is why I'm determined that our city's recovery from coronavirus is clean, green and sustainable. My world-leading Streetspace for London plans will help sustain the record boost in cycling over the past few months. I'm delighted that more than £24m has already been awarded to local boroughs to rapidly transform streets across our city, and that construction of the Euston Road cycle lane will begin this week. 

"With more than 500 Streetspace schemes already approved and hundreds more still to come, we will enable millions more journeys to be made by walking and cycling."