TRANSPORT FORUM
Friday 16th May 2003

BROADWAY BOTTLENECK

The Transport Forum provided some valuable insight into the
community view of sweeping road changes proposed for The Broadway in a
well-attended debate at St Mark's. The proposals - funded and jointly
supported by London Borough for Merton and Transport for London - envisage
the construction of a contra flow cycle lane running south-north up The
Broadway and aimed at improving cycle access to the station and improved
pedestrian facilities. Critics argue that since the scheme would result in
the closure of one of the present two lane traffic flow southwards from the
station, it will inevitably result in heavy new traffic congestion in the
whole area - while statistics indicate that less that one per cent of
station-bound traffic involves cyclists.

After a debate by a panel of experts drawn from both sides, the
audience was invited to join in the consultative process organised by the
Council and TfL into the advisability of the scheme and a record was kept of
the results. These were passed on, by prior arrangement, to John Lee, the
scheme organiser at TfL, and to Ray Puddy of Street management in Merton.

In summary, the majority of people present were against the scheme. Improved zebra crossings were welcomed, but the floor did not see the need for additional ones. People also thought that many of the benefits of the scheme could be achieved by opening up the station at the northern end obviating the need for the significant bicycle measures proposed. A 1.0m contra flow cycle lane was felt to be dangerous, especially when the recommended width is 1.5m. People were also sceptical about how through traffic could be discouraged at the expense of local traffic, but in general agreed that reducing traffic dominance was a good thing. The consultation leaflet was felt to be very poor, and given the mistakes coupled with the congestion caused by the recently introduced Alexandra Road junction scheme, people were sceptical about the accuracy of the modeling for this scheme, in particular, what sensitivity analyses had been performed to gauge the viability of this new scheme.