Officials to improve pedestrian and cyclist safety at Highbury Corner roundabout

On Sunday 21 October the Highbury Fields Twitter account released that roads surrounding the Highbury Corner roundabout will be closed while Transport for London (TfL) builds a new route for cyclists as a part of the mayor’s Healthy Street Agenda and Vision Zero goal.

After completion this summer, “Highbury Corner will see two-way roads, with the installation of segregated cycle lanes on all three remaining sides of the roundabout. The creation of safer cycling infrastructure will enable more people to cycle in and through the area who are currently put off by the traffic-dominated roundabout,” said a press officer for TfL Mika Murray.

A sales associate at Cycle Surgery and an avid biker, Hubert Gawyis hopes that the reconstruction will be “logically designed with a cyclist’s mind,” he said, where cyclists won’t have to get off their bike in the middle of it, walk, and get on their bike again.

“Hopefully there’s going to be fewer collisions over there,” he said.

The roundabout will be completed in summer 2019.

TfL and the mayor are investing £2.2 billion in Healthy Street schemes which are designed to make “cycling, walking and public transport safer, cleaner and more appealing and to encourage more people to leave their cars at home more often,” Murray said.

It is also a part of the mayor’s Vision Zero goal of nobody killed or seriously injured on London’s streets, according to Murray.

The full list of improvements at Highbury Corner according to Murray are:

• Closing the western arm of the roundabout to create a public space including the Highbury & Islington Station forecourt, and part of the arboretum (the green space at the centre of the roundabout)

• Installing segregated cycle lanes on all three remaining sides of the roundabout

• Introducing two-way traffic

• Encouraging more walking with wider pedestrian crossings - making it quicker and easier to cross and with Legible London signage to improve wayfinding

• Providing local residents and visitors with more green space by partially opening the arboretum to public access while protecting the existing trees

• Closing the southern section of Corsica Street to motor traffic and creating a 'continuous footway' across the junction entrance to give pedestrians priority over traffic

• Installing a shared pedestrian/cycle 'toucan' crossing across St Paul's Road to allow two-way cycling to and from Corsica Street

Additional information can be found here.