Mitcham's Corner proposals

From Newsletter 42 (June/July 2002)

The County Council has proposed a major scheme to reduce casualties and improve conditions for cyclists at Mitcham's Corner, the busy junction where five roads meet at the north end of Victoria Avenue. Traffic signals will be introduced at each approach to the junction, and a network of pavement cycleways and toucan crossings will enable many cycle movements to be performed without the need to make long diversions around the gyratory.

The result will be to transform this area for cyclists. Many cyclists already ride across the existing zebra crossings and pavements when travelling between Victoria Avenue and Milton Road. This is to be made legal, with the pavements designated as cycleways and the zebras converted to signalled toucan crossings. In addition, new pavement cycleways will be introduced eastbound along Chesterton Road and westbound along Victoria Road, allowing cyclists to travel against the flow of one-way traffic. New toucans will link these new cycleways to the road network at each end.

This link road in front of the Lloyds bank needs closing.

Based on an initial viewing of the plans, we will be saying to the County Council:

The whole junction needs a fundamental rethink. But provided they are an interim measure before more major redesign, these plans will offer real improvements for many cyclists.
A short north-south link road in front of the Lloyds bank branch in the middle of the junction breaks the two new stretches of pavement cycleways. Cyclists crossing this road will have difficulties seeing cars approaching from behind Staples. Closing this short piece of road, to make the two cycle routes continuous, would solve this problem.
Any computer-modelling of the timings for the new traffic signals must include cycle journeys, in order to avoid the sorts of severe delays for cyclists that have been observed after recent changes on the Trumpington Road corridor. (The modelling done so far does not include cyclists at all!)

Clare Macrae