Islington Council is extending a cycleway between Finsbury Park and Highbury Fields all the way down to Pentonville Road as part of its “people friendly streets” plan.
After a consultation last summer, work began in February on Cycleway 38, which runs from Blackstock Road to Fieldway Crescent.
Construction of the route - which is funded by TfL and includes protected cycle tracks, new pedestrian crossings. wider footways, safer junctions and more greenery - was stopped because of the coronavirus pandemic, but will now restart on Monday.
The council has now decided to extend the route south without holding a consultation.
Work will begin this month on the southern route, from Madras Place, down Liverpool Road, Tolpuddle Street to Penton Street, and the whole cycleway should be complete by autumn.
The southern branch which will be trialled for 18-months under an experimental traffic order, and a decision will be taken at a later date whether it should remain in place permanently.
The same legislation has been used to implement the council’s “people-friendly streets” neighbourhoods in Canonbury East and St Peter’s, which have proved controversial with some members of the community, who have taken to the streets in protest.
The new cycleway forms part of the same scheme, which has been conceived to make it easier for people to walk, cycle and use buggies and wheelchairs, and create more space for social distancing. Islington’s transport and eco chief, Cllr Rowena Champion, said: “With more people avoiding public transport in light of the coronavirus pandemic, we must act now in order to make it safer and easier for people to walk and cycle, to avoid a rise in motor vehicle use as we come out of lockdown. This is why work on the cycleway has restarted at the earliest available opportunity.
“Making it safer to walk and cycle enables Islington’s residents and visitors to enjoy the beauty of our borough in a way that reduces unnecessary car journeys and therefore cuts down on air pollution and congestion, contributing towards our goal of achieving a net zero carbon Islington by 2030.”
The southern section of the cycleway will include “with-flow” cycle lanes – where bikes and traffic move in the same direction.
The road layout in Liverpool Road, Tolpuddle Street and Penton Street will be changed, with parking bays and traffic islands removed. The northern section will see Islington’s first ever “continental-style” roundabout, which are smaller than conventional roundabouts and have segregated cycle lanes to protect cyclists from turning vehicles, and reduced crossing distances for pedestrians.
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