Cycle upgrade to major Croydon route

Cycling will be easier on a key route into Croydon town centre under council upgrade plans taking place over Easter.

Navigating the tram tracks at the junction of Addiscombe Road and Cherry Orchard Road currently means cyclists have to wait at two sets of lights before continuing their journey. Now the council plans to realign the crossing so that cyclists need cross only one junction and have more priority to continue their journey without waiting around a minute at lights.

The upgrade is being done in response to the death of cyclist Roger de Klerk in November 2013 by the same junction. A coroner’s inquest later called for the council to carry out improvements at this tram and road junction to reduce the chances of cyclists having an accident when crossing in future.

The Easter improvements will widen this road curve so cyclists cycling across the tracks can do so at a safer 90-degree angle. Cyclists who choose to dismount and walk across the junction will be able to use an improved single, direct and traffic light-operated crossing by the junction of Addiscombe Grove and Addiscombe Road.

The £250,000 works will take place between 31 March and 15 April to limit disruption to local road users, as Transport for London had already scheduled to suspend tram services between East Croydon and Sandilands stops for improvements over the Easter holiday.

While the council does these works, the Cherry Orchard Road junction with Addiscombe Road will be closed to all road traffic until 15 April. Buses using Addiscombe Grove, Cherry Orchard Road and Addiscombe Road will be on diversion. Trams will be running as usual from 9 April.

“Cyclists need roads that are both as safe and as convenient as possible to use, and these improvements will make a real difference to one of the main routes into central Croydon. A lot of planning has gone into meeting the coroner’s requirements, and to limit the impact on residents we have scheduled these works to happen when this junction is already shut for tram maintenance.”

Councillor Stuart King, cabinet member for transport and environment

For more information about this scheme and all other roadworks over the Easter holidays, visit the council website. This includes a link to Roadworks.org that has an interactive map of work being done by private companies and the public sector across the borough.

2021-08-20T15:43:17+01:00 March 23rd, 2018|Recent news|