Tour de Crouch End
More Covid transport news
Tfl are pedalling furiously to stay ahead of the emergency, despite most of the staff being on furlough. On Friday, new guidance intended for Borough engineers landed – with much to say about cycling and walking interventions. Click here for details.
A peruse of the image above (culled from the TfL document) suggests a number of desired cycle routes through Haringey, with one running Turnpike Lane/Tottenham Lane/Broadway/Crouch End Hill. However, we notice that the key describes this as “Streets which do not have sufficient width for temporary cycle lanes”. Which is helpful.
The document suggests:
On these corridors, interventions could include:
- Removing or significantly restricting general traffic from the main road, including retiming freight and servicing;
- Providing an alternative cycle route using a parallel, back-street alignment, potentially tying into Low Traffic Neighbourhood proposals;
- Measures to significantly improve the experience of cycling on the corridor, such as making bus lane operation hours 24/7 and restricting parking measures.
So, will Tottenham Lane be closed to traffic? Will the route avoid it totally? Whatever happens there is no magic cycleway through the town centre that doesn’t bring impact and cost. The Forum believe that the economic fortunes of the town centre will shortly be top of everyone’s list of concerns, and agree with TfL’s guidance that as first priority, –
The type of intervention required will be driven by the space available at the town centre or high street and expected demand for it as lockdown eases… [including] … Existing footway widths, particularly anywhere less than 3m.
Which suggests to us that footway widening and trading come first. Meanwhile, ideas for the cycle route currently include the diversion below… daringly, it includes running along The Broadway …
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5 Comments
‘Ello, ‘Ello. Almost a play on words. We already have the Tour de Henry Reader Williams, which I think the French would refer to as a clocher
Tour d’enry Williams or Carry on Campanile
When the panic ends the traders are going to need all the help they can get. Which won’t include cycle lanes instead of customer parking.
TfL has produced a great document on the benefits to businesses of more walking, and less car parking, and more cycling. But yet, one of the first comments here from Bob is anti-cycling, pro-parking. It should be a priority in Crouch End to cut motor traffic, get rid of parking and get wider pavements. Because that’s how folks will socially distance *and* that’s also how businesses will do best.
The prevailing mood seems to be one generally of more outdoors. Outdoors is considered safer than indoors as much infection is spread by touching infected surfaces rather than just breathing. Another initiative that might be in the pipeline is the setting up of stalls outside food and beverage places. For this we would need much wider pavements and additional public squares. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/05/16/al-fresco-pubs-dining-save-high-street/