Junction Review : East Dulwich Library

The theme of my last blog was the need to change the way we move around London. I suggested some broad themes - cut car usage, build cycle lanes, pedestrianise shopping areas etc. - but now I'd like to start talking about specifics; what, where and how.

I'm going to start with junctions that I use regularly. I travel to work by bike and I have developed some fairly strong opinions about junction design and the prioritisation of motor traffic in particular so finding junctions about which to write (complain) shouldn't be tricky.

Here's a nice easy one to start off with:



This light-controlled junction is the first that I hit on my way to work and the last on my way home. Most of the roads around here are mixed use with a predominance of residential streets. From this junction the east (Barry Road) and west (Eynella Road) are both residential; Lordship Lane runs north and becomes East Dulwich high street and south till it meets the South Circular.

Like most reasonably sized road junctions in South London it features multiple lanes of traffic, left/right turn lanes and erratic width changes to accommodate car parking and bus lanes (several routes run along Lordship Lane and Barry Road). Lordship Lane in particular is very wide featuring 4 lanes on the north side and 3-4 on the south.

All four roads have Advanced Stop Lines (not great infrastructure, by the way) and narrow feeder lanes for bicycles but it's not a friendly junction for cyclists turning right because traffic moving is released in both directions at the same time so you're always turning across the path of oncoming vehicles or sitting in the middle of the junction waiting for vehicles to pass. Not fun and a source of conflict between cyclists and motorists.

And the problem is that the layout doesn't really work. It's poor for motorists, who must navigate a badly signed and ill-marked junction in the face of oncoming vehicles, buses trying to get into their stops pedestrians heading to and from the library and nearby Dulwich Park and parked cars. It's awful for cyclists who, facing the same onslaught of vehicular traffic, often jump the lights or simply walk or ride around them using the pedestrian crossings and pavements.

So what do we do? Here's a brief list of things we could change:

• Firstly, let's get rid of the ASLs and replace them with bike-specific signals that give cyclists time to clear the junction before the motor vehicles are released. Simultaneous Green lights might be worth considering, especially as there aren't all that many bikes using this junction at the moment.
• A protected cycling lane on Barry Road, which is 3-4 lanes wide along its full length and could easily accommodate the change, would help ease congestion and encourage cycling. This is something the London Cycling Campaign has requested as part of its 2014 campaign.
• Northward link to and from the centre of East Dulwich where most of the shops are situated. Lordship Lane is 3-4 lanes wide along most of its length so bi-directional protected cycle lanes would be possible for only a modest loss of parking and/or road space and this would help alleviate the congestion caused by private cars.
• Southward cycle lanes to Forest Hill to connect it with East Dulwich; improving the flow of traffic along Lordship Lane, particularly where it meets the South Circular, would have benefits for all road users.
• More cycle stands would be useful. There are some at the moment outside Lloyds Bank but there aren't really enough.
• If the above changes are too expensive (and I concede that building a few miles of cycle lanes might be a bit challenging) then let's at least extend the 20mph limit currently in force on the northern end of Lordship Lane so that it covers both this junction and the road down to the South Circular. Average speed cameras and light enforcement cameras at the junction wouldn't hurt either.

It would also be nice to sort out the parking around the junction since all the roads are clogged with parked cars. The cars you can see at the junction of Eynella Road and Woodwarde Road on the left-hand side aren't queueing to turn left, they're parked in clear breach of Highway Code Rule 243 which says you mustn't park within 10m of a junction. Obviously there has to be space for people to park their urban tractors but most of the houses are large with decent front gardens; a bit of concrete, some lowered kerbs and on-road parking space is suddenly free for other uses.

Make all these changes and the junction suddenly gets a lot better. Linking East Dulwich and Forest Hill with high-quality cycle lanes would reduce cyclist-motorist conflict, encourage cycling, reduce congestion and generally make life better for everyone using or living near the junction.