Transport for London (TfL) has announced that it plans to restart work on several paused schemes aimed at improving infrastructure for walking and cycling, after it reached a funding agreement to last to 2024 with the government earlier this year.
As part of the £3.6bn deal, £80m per year was assigned directly to active travel schemes as part of the Healthy Streets Programme.
The allocations of £80m for healthy streets and £69m for walking, cycling and bus upgrades have been attributed to reduced government income by the local government body.
TfL claims it was forced to pause work on certain walking and cycling schemes due to successive short-term agreements with central government.
Some of these initiatives include the start of construction of safer junction schemes at Holloway Road/Drayton Park and Battersea Bridge (subject to a public consultation), plus walking and wheeling upgrades at Streatham High Road and Manor Circus.
TfL also plans to lower speed limits on roads to improve safety and reduce risk of collisions, with plans to introduce a 20mph (32km/h) speed limit on a further 28km (17 miles) of roads in the boroughs of Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Haringey by March 2023.
The next stage of the Healthy Streets programme will reportedly include the completion of cycleways currently under construction, as well as starting construction on up to 14km (13.5 miles) of new routes.
Some £12.8m has been allocated to the LIP Bus Priority Programme, to support boroughs to deliver bus journey time improvements as part of ambitions to develop 25km of new bus lanes (15 miles) by March 2025.
Some £69m in combined annual funding has been allocated to London’s boroughs to improve active and sustainable travel options.
Will Norman, London’s walking and cycling commissioner, said: “In the last two years we’ve seen more Londoners than ever choosing to walk and cycle around the capital, but successive short-term funding agreements from government forced TfL and boroughs to pause spending on some permanent walking and cycling schemes.
“With the funding now agreed, I’m delighted that we can now restart work on these vital schemes - as well as beginning the design work for the next generation of new projects.
“The mayor and I are determined to continue building a cleaner, safer and more prosperous London for everyone and encouraging more people to pick up greener and more sustainable transport options is a vital part of that.”
Of the total funding, £9.8m will be assigned in 2022/23 and £11m in 2023/24 to the boroughs through the Cycle Network Development programme.
Planned construction work will include the missing section of C4 on Lower Road, extending C2 from Stratford to Forest Gate, extending C6 from Kentish Town to Hampstead and protected cycle lanes on Loughborough Road.
