Rod Gonggrijp welcomes the cycle path but has concerns about the one-way system

A NEW cycle path making the stretch of road between Holloway Road and Finsbury Park safer is finally under way – after more than five years in the making and around 70 collisions each year.

Work on Cycleway 50 will begin this month and is expected to last until the end of the year as Transport for London (TfL) launch an experimental cycle lane. A consultation will follow in November upon completion of the route, which will go from Camden Road to Finsbury Park tube station and will make cycling around the Nag’s Head safer.

David Lincoln, a community nurse who travels by bike all over the borough visiting patients, said: “It’s been promised for quite a long time, a cycle path between Camden and Tottenham Hale and that’s what Cycleway 50 is, so I think it’s a good thing if there’s safe cycling between here and Finsbury Park.”

He welcomed the changes, adding: “Cycleway 50 will make many of these journeys quicker, safer and more convenient. For me, where I live in Tufnell Park if I want to go to the shops getting to Nag’s Head is difficult by bicycle and not really safe or to get to Archway along Junction Road is not really safe and for my kids getting to the scout centre in Holloway Road is not practical by bicycle.”

Plans to extend the cycleway to Tottenham Hale are yet to be announced, although cycle groups have been calling for them for a long time.

Others said the moves do not go far enough as the experimental lanes will still follow the one-way system rather than having bike lanes down either side of Seven Sisters and Tollington Roads. The bike lanes will have plastic poles placed into the ground to demarcate cycle space on the street.

Rod Gonggrijp, of Crayford Road, Tufnell Park, said: “It’s really good, of course, they’re introducing something. Cycling on Seven Sisters Road is not safe. The traffic is pretty quick and mingling with buses is not safe, so that will be an improvement but it’s a bit of a shame that after all these years and understanding the gyratory system and the one-way system doesn’t work very well, the cycleway is also going to follow the one-way system.

“It would be better to go in between the shops in both directions the way people walk – that would bring a lot more benefit to the shops in the area. I hope that will happen in the future.”

He warned there are roughly 70 injuries around the Nag’s Head gyratory each year, and said the five lanes of traffic make the area “unattractive” and cause shops like Marks and Spencer to leave. To reinvigorate the area, he called for a reduction in traffic and a better thought out cycle lane system. He welcomed the consultation, on the grounds that TfL will listen to users.

A TfL spokesperson said there had been 210 people injured at the Nag’s Head gyratory between 2017 and 2020, including 31 cyclists and 54 pedestrians.

They added: “​The new cycle lane will provide a safe, segregated space for cyclists and give more room to pedestrians. Cycleway 50 will also connect to an existing cycle lane running from York Way to Royal College Street in Camden.

“There are currently no cycling facilities at Nag’s Head or links into any existing cycle routes, making it difficult for people to make longer trips by bike. By creating segregated spaces to cycle and connecting it to other cycle routes, we hope to encourage more people to give cycling a try.

“We also must improve road safety.”