There could be new dedicated cycle lanes through central Woolwich in southeast London if a consultation comes out in favour of the improvements.
(c) TfL
The plans, put forward by Transport for London (TfL) would see a mix of opening up a quiet road for cycling, alongside a new fully segregated cycle lane along the busy A206 road through the town. The combination of quiet roads and segregated cycleways is needed to get around a bottleneck in Woolwich where there’s not enough space for a continuous cycle lane.
The lack of space could have been fixed as there’s a lot of housing development going up along the narrow and busy Woolwich High Street, but the council approved plans that allowed new towers to be built so close to the road that there’s no space for cycle lanes to be added later.
Which was a very short-sighted decision that will be almost impossible to fix.
If built, the new cycle lane will fill in a gap between Plumstead to the east, where there are existing cycle lanes, and the Woolwich ferry roundabout, after which there’s a shared cycle/bus lane.
The plans will also see pedestrian improvements, with a new crossing outside the Elizabeth line station and two large pedestrian crossings close to each other will be merged into a single super-wide crossing.
(c) TfL
The consultation documents are here, and there will be a public exhibition in the Elizabeth line station at Woolwich on Thursday 8th February from 2pm to 7pm.
This scheme is poor compared to others around London. The route is indirect and many will therefore choose not to use it, thus infuriating motor vehicle drivers and putting the cyclist and other cyclists more at risk. The route really should be as direct as possible for those travelling through the area and not intending to visit local shops and amenities in the Powis Street area (though should link well to this area and have adequate secure cycle parking available). Beresford St – Plumstead Road section is good, but the sections west of Macbean St are poor. The route should follow Woolwich High Street to provide a direct link to the Woolwich Ferry and Woolwich Foot Tunnel, without the need to navigate the busy Woolwich Ferry Roundabout which appears to have no cycling or pedestrian improvements planned. Parking and bus stands could be moved to enable this (eg to Hare St). Further – this scheme just stops at the end of Powis Street(!!). There is no facility provided for cycles to cross the VERY BUSY and hostile to cyclists (especially those without high levels of confidence for cycling in busy traffic dual carriageways) John Wilson St (A205 South Circular). Those heading westbound towards Charlton or Greenwich would have to turn left onto John Wilson Street and head – uphill – a considerable way out of their direction of travel, before being able to attempt a U-turn across the busy dual-carriageway, on which drivers are often speeding when not queueing in traffic. Alternatively they would need to mount the pavement and use the pedestrian zebra crossing, causing conflict with pedestrians. People heading eastbound from Woolwich Church Street will find it easier, but will still need to negotiate going most of the way around the busy roundabout. A route along Woolwich High Street avoids this. A way to enable this might be to restrict traffic on Woolwich High Street in one direction, eg westbound, making it ‘buses only’ westbound, with the central reservation removed to provide 2 traffic lanes eastbound as at present, and a contraflow bus lane westbound, with enough space saved for a segregated cycleway here without impinging on pedestrian space. To do this, eastbound traffic (other than buses & cycles) could be routed via Woolwich New Road, Grand Depot St and John Wilson St (A205 S Circular northbound). I’ll be putting all this in my consultation response.