Public and Street Art in Westminster

A few quick snaps from today's Cycle Confident ride looking at Public and Street Art in Westminster

Space to make Kennington and Oval junctions child cycle friendly, part 2

On Friday 28th February, just after the water main had burst causing Clapham Road to be shut, I blogged with photos showing the traffic from Elephant and Castle in the morning.

A week on, with the closure still in place, Lambeth's Cycle Programme Manager took these photos, observing,

I took this sequence of photos this morning between 0835 and 0838. They show Brixton Road North bound looking towards the junction with  Camberwell New Road, 7 days into the closure of the A3 between Stockwell and Oval. Whilst busier than normal, the junction was not backed up and cleared completely or almost completely every time. When the A3 was first closed last week this junction was blocked and backed up, but we can see from evidence this morning that traffic is already evaporating just one week on.

 Putting in place cycle facilities to Dutch standards, that children can use safely, will require a little change at the junctions here, but nothing like the scale of the closure of Clapham Road. The forced closure of Clapham Road shows that there is no reason for TfL to compromise on making this area really cycling friendly for all.

A pride of lions in Westminster

It was a glorious day to lead a Cycle Confident ride around Westminster in search of lions. Here, in no particular order, are a few of the ones we saw:

First you don't see it, then you do

The Dutch design cycle routes to be safe, direct, comfortable, attractive and cohesive. Excellent signage is recognised as a vital aspect of cohesive routes.

One of the biggest flaws in London's existing cycle routes is the use of long signs that are strapped onto round poles. I suspect they're cheap, but it is a classic example of a false economy since they don't work.

Today I was asked for directions right next to these signs.

 I checked my map, gave directions, then wrestled with one of the signs to make it point the right way, at least until the next windy day

A little earlier in the day I was on the cycle route, below

 which now looks like this (and will do until the wind blows again)

I hope the new London Cycling Design Standards will lead to the replacement of these signs with ones that are more resistant to swinging around. In the meantime it would probably make sense for the Mayor of London to employ a person just to cycle around London constantly checking and adjusting the signs.