Welcome to News from the Streets, where we discuss the many cycling infrastructure schemes with spades in the ground in Newham. Since our previous instalment in late 2024 there is a lot to report.
Romford Road
Sections B and D westbound are largely complete and have been open since just before Christmas. Greenery is still to arrive in some of the rain gardens. We are also still waiting for the blue surfacing at the crossovers on these sections, which can only be done after a period of dry weather. The cycle tracks are already being well used and work well at rush hour—and traffic flows well, even bounded on both sides by the Earlham LTN and the newly-permanent West Ham Park LTN. So this is something great to celebrate!
Sections H is largely complete, but will not be opened until the junctions receive their blue surfacing. We also believe that section I is being held up by a serious flooding issue that Thames Water are taking a long time to resolve. We hope that once they are formally opened, the serious issues with people parking their cars on the cycle track outside the shops can be resolved.
Work on Green Street/Richmond Road junction is underway. The “classic” road closure that was at the roundabout with Windsor Road has now been relocated, and work is moving to the area of the junction itself. This will provide a new, protected cycleway for the east-west alignment, and toucan crossings to permit cycling movements to Green Street, along with rain gardens and resurfacing.
Work has also begun on Section F, with kerb lines starting to appear for the new cycle track eastbound from Balmoral/Katharine Road junction.
Finally, we understand that once work completes on Green Street junction—hopefully in summer—work should begin on Woodgrange junction, assuming no further delays in traffic modelling. We certainly hope that Thames Water’s existing works at this junction do not overrun or cause further issues.
Water Lane crossing
Work has, at long last, begun on the priority pedestrian and cycle crossing of Water Lane on the Stratford-Forest Gate backstreet Cycleway link, with its unusual diagonal design. This will also add a zebra crossing closer to the junction with Forest Lane, which is desperately needed by users of Maryland Station. It will also introduce new mode filters at the Manbey Grove and Louise Road junctions, further strengthening the successful Manbey and Atherton LTNs. We hope that the speed humps will also finally do something to control the serious issue with traffic speed on Water Lane.
Westfield Avenue
The new cycle track, which was consulted on back in 2022, is now open all the way from Montfichet Road to Olympic Park Avenue, with work ongoing on the International Way and Olympic Park Avenue junctions—the latter of which has now closed off the rat-run from Westfield car parks through East Village, for conversion to a protected cycle track. Planting has started to arrive in the rain gardens. We expect that once the junctions have finished, the last section of cycle track (and new pavement) will be built to connect to Marshgate Lane junction.
The cycle track is already proving popular, and not just with people cycling—we’re glad that Stratford’s rollerbladers finally have somewhere around Westfield they can feel welcome!
Leyton Road / Cycle Future Route 7
The permanent traffic lights are finally turned on at Chobham Road/Leyton Road/Liberty Bridge Road junction, albeit with the cycle crossings currently closed as the tracks have yet to receive their top surfacing. The cycle track is starting to creep its way southwards. The current phase of works, we believe, will run as far as Windmill Lane junction, as the extension over the Angel Lane bridge to join Great Eastern Road is dependent on a development in the area.
We understand design work is being sped up where possible on the southern section of CFR7, from Stratford to Plaistow, in reaction to the Greenway closure, and hope to learn more about this soon.
Royal Docks
The entirety of the Royal Docks corridor’s 5-stage initial scope is now complete, and an additional phase—funded by the original corridor coming in under budget and some extra external funding—is now underway to extend it to Seagull Lane (for Royal Victoria DLR and the Silvertown bike bus stop) and the new City Hall. This will extend the cycleway, remove the dual carriageway, and remove all the traffic lights and replace them with priority crossings. This will make life easier and more convenient for pedestrians, cyclists, and for the few drivers who use this street. Extra rain gardens will also appear which should make this somewhat windswept area much more attractive.
Good progress has been made since work started in October and the first section of new cycle track is already being used (albeit as a temporary footway while the main footway is being rebuilt.) We look forward to revisiting our City Hall to City Hall video once the works are done!
Additional projects
- Progress is being made on the cycleway at Pool Street by the London Aquatics Centre, which will include a short section of separated cycle track (albeit disappearing regularly into shared areas.) We are pleased that this will considerably reduce the carriageway to a sensible width, and believe this will eventually link to a protected track on Carpenters Road (both the existing one and an extension as far as Sidings Street.)
- The new ramp up to the north end of the Greenway at Marshgate Lane is still in progress. We understand that improved art and wayfinding for the underpass, which should make it much less grim, should be finished by the summer (hopefully with the new ramp.)
- The West Ham Park LTN has been made permanent. We note that in the Cabinet meeting where the approval was voted through, the Mayor of Newham read out a letter from the head teacher of Park Primary School in support of the LTN. We feel that this, plus powerful messages from residents with their personal experiences of cleaner air and safer streets, helped the Cabinet and councillors to make the right decision—and will hopefully make it much harder for anyone hoping to take the LTN out in future.
- The Beckton Corridor has been resurfaced, and the cycle tracks and crossings around ASDA are finished. Jake Russell Walk, which previously had an appalling tiled surface, is currently being resurfaced as well—this will connect the new Beckton Corridor and (hopefully) new cycle tracks on Woolwich Manor Way to the Royal Docks.
Keeping track of the many ongoing projects in Newham is a lot of work for our committee and volunteers. If you live or work near one of these sites, we’d really appreciate it if you would volunteer to tell us when things make progress. Email newham@lcc.org.uk or join our discussion group if you can help us, or want to get involved in our campaigning.