Big Changes At Major London Junctions

More than 30 road junctions in London are going to be completely transformed to make them safer for cyclists as part of a £300 million plan.

Six cyclists died in accidents in London in a two-week period last autumn.

London mayor Boris Johnson and Transport for London say work will go on at 33 junctions, with the plan including the removal of the Elephant and Castle roundabout in south London - the location with the highest cycle casualty rate.

The work will also involve ripping out a number of gyratory systems, including those at Archway, Aldgate, Swiss Cottage and Wandsworth. They will be replaced with two-way roads, segregated cycle tracks and new traffic-free public space.

At other intimidating gyratories, such as Hammersmith and Vauxhall, safe and direct segregated cycle tracks will be installed, pending more radical transformations of these areas in the medium term.

Detailed designs for the first schemes will be published next month and work will begin in the second half of this year.

Mr Johnson said: "These road junctions are relics of the Sixties which blight and menace whole neighbourhoods. Like so much from that era, they're also atrociously-designed and wasteful of space.

"Because of that, we can turn these junctions into more civilised places for cyclists and pedestrians, while at the same time maintaining their traffic function."