A busy cycling route in South London is set to be permanently redesigned after 79 people were injured in collisions in five years.
Wandsworth Council is pressing ahead with the “flagship” first phase of a scheme to improve the safety of Queenstown Road.
A new council report warned the street has a “poor safety record, with high numbers of injury collisions compared to other roads in London”.
The road is one of the busiest commuter cycle routes in the borough and is also key bus route.
A total of 79 people were injured in 71 collisions on Queenstown Road between Queen's Circus and its northern borough boundary from 2018 to February 2023, according to data published in the report.
This included 33 cyclists and 10 pedestrians, with motorcyclists accounting for most of the remaining casualties, the Local Democracy Reporting Service found.
Out of the 71 collisions, one person died and 19 people were seriously injured.
A woman riding an electric scooter was killed after being hit by a lorry at Queen’s Circus roundabout in 2019. It is believed to be the first time someone riding an e-scooter was killed on the capital's roads.
The council started putting together plans to redesign the road in phases to improve its safety in 2019 and some improvements for cyclists were put in place under a temporary order in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This included segregating the southbound cycle lane between Queen's Circus and Chelsea Bridge and extending the northbound bus lane to 24 hours.
The council will spend around £2.9million permanently redesigning Queenstown Road between Queen's Circus and Chelsea Bridge.
The authority is also working on designs for the rest of the road.
The plans for the first phase involve replacing the “substandard” cycle lanes on this section of the road with stepped tracks, planting more trees and further improving safety for cyclists at junctions.
This includes adding new signal controls to help cyclists turning into and out of Battersea Park at Carriage Drive North, new “Keep Clear” markings at the entrance to the Shell garage and continuous pavements across side roads to reduce vehicle speeds.
The council is also proposing to install improved pedestrian crossings at Carriage Drive North, Sopwith Way and the Pestana Chelsea Bridge Hotel junction.
The existing layout for cars will be kept.
The report said the works aim to “address key collision points and encourage greater uptake of cycling, serving as a flagship scheme for cycling in the borough”.
It is expected to slash the risk of collisions and increase the number of cyclists using the route.
The council's transport committee will vote on proposals to approve the scheme moving to detailed design and construction on February 19.
The executive will make a final decision on March 4. The scheme also needs final sign-off from Transport for London to go ahead.
Construction works are expected to begin in late 2024 or early 2025 and take around six months to complete.
Lane closures are expected to allow the works to be carried out, but two-way traffic would be maintained throughout.
