Today we have launched he ‘London Streetspace’ programme. This programme will rapidly transform London’s streets to accommodate significant increases in cycling and walking when lockdown restrictions are eased. With London’s public transport capacity potentially running at a fifth of pre-crisis levels, millions of journeys a day will need to be made by other means. If people switch only a fraction of these journeys to cars, London risks grinding to a halt, air quality will worsen, and road danger will increase.
To prevent this happening, we will rapidly repurpose London’s streets to serve this unprecedented demand for walking and cycling. We are working with all London boroughs and the City to focus on three key areas:
We have already begun making improvements to boost social distancing using temporary infrastructure. Pavements have already been doubled in size at Camden High Street and Stoke Newington High Street and widened at six further locations, with more to follow in the coming weeks. Many of our local authority partners are also already making changes on their road network, and we ask everyone to consider what they can do to ensure we maintain social distancing and aid London’s recovery.
The measures announced today are just the beginning, and more information is set out in the Mayor of London’s statement https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/mayors-bold-plan-will-overhaul-capitals-streets
I hope this information is useful, and please do let me know if you have any questions by emailing LocalCommunitiesandPartnerships@tfl.gov.uk
Best regards
Abbas Raza