“The Mayor must be judged on delivery” states Darren Johnson as cyclists in London suffer another setback.
Farringdon Street (A201) in the City of London, picture courtesy of Tbmurray.
TfL’s new draft business plan reveals that the scope of its junction review programme has narrowed and the scheme will now address just 33 ‘high priority’ locations instead of the 100 previously promised (page 18).
According to TfL’s new delivery schedule, 25 of the 33 junctions will be completed by 2015/16 and the remaining 8 will be delivered by 2020/21. Last year, TfL committed to completing improvements to 10 junctions by the end of 2012, with a total of 50 junctions being timetabled for improvements by the end of 2013.
The Mayor has pledged to spend £100m on the junction review programme up until 2015/16. However, a unanimously-agreed London Assembly transport committee report called on the Mayor to increase funding for cycling infrastructure by allocating 2% of the TfL budget to cycling. This would reflect the proportion of journeys undertaken by bike in the capital (also 2%).
Responding to the news Darren Johnson, Assembly Member said: “Over two years ago the Mayor promised to urgently overhaul 500 of the capital’s most treacherous junctions but what we are now seeing is the Mayor’s ambition is shrinking as cycle casualties are rising.
“Setting out a grand vision for cycling is all very well, but at the end of the day the Mayor will be judged on delivery. By downgrading his junction review programme so drastically he will end up delivering less than a third of the junctions he promised by the time he leaves office.
“If a lack of funds is the problem, the Mayor could boost funding to tackle dangerous junctions in his next budget. If a lack of expertise is the issue, he could easily get Dutch cycle engineers to redesign our dangerous black spots. This Mayor is more than happy to champion ambitious schemes like Crossrail. It’s time he gave cycling the same treatment.”