London borough of Camden announces ambitious new cycle safety project in the West End - but will TfL agree to it?

The London Borough of Camden is proposing to implement what it calls the West End Project - which along with improving traffic flow promises to improve cycling facilities.

Tottenham Court Road will be redesigned as a two-way street, with bus routes moving from Gower Street to Tottenham Court Road. The council says that traffic levels overall will be improved - especially as they hope to remove taxis and private vehicles along most of the length of Tottenham Court Road.

The original plans were met with outcry from cycle campaign groups, leading to some changed, including “stepped cycle tracks” in Gower Street, Bedford Square and Bloomsbury Street for safety, and a new westbound lightly segregated cycle track on the south side of Torrington Place.

Controversially, there however remain no cycling tracks planned for Tottenham Court Road, although almost all existing one-way side streets would be converted to two-way cycling contra-flows.

The whole project is estimated to cost around £40 million with £33 million already available. The plans now rely on approval from Transport for London .

Camden’s council has warned that doing nothing is not an option, due to the high incidences of traffic collisions, along with dangerous levels of pollution and the opening of the new Crossrail station nearby in the coming years.