Crofton Park refresh

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Proposals will:

• Narrow the available road width widening footways allowing for inset parking, disabled parking and electrical vehicle charging bays to be constructed
• Raise the carriageway level (raised junctions) locally in three areas to reduce vehicle speeds along Brockley Road
• Introduce a raised section in the side roads (raised table) at the junctions, to improve safety by reducing the speed of approaching vehicles, and to provide better facilities for pedestrians and those with impaired mobility to cross
• Formalise all on-street parking within inset bays and improve vehicle visibility at junctions
• Plant new trees along Brockley Road within the widened footways where possible

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Take part in the consultation here.

Is it safe to have a pedestrian crossing in the middle of a pavement cycle path?
Or to put it another way, is it sensible to have a two-way pavement cycle path that ended rather abruptly at a pedestrian crossing?

Can anybody explain how this will help cyclists?

I think in general, having a segregated cycle lane on a footpath is generally a bad idea anyway.

The one in Pekham along the bus only part of Rye Lane is a nightmare - pedestrians who pay attention at running across a bus filled road often see the pavement as a safe haven and forget to look for cyclists using the pathway. So many near misses…

There’s also the question of how useful a little strip of cycle lane like that is anyway? If I was cycling down there, I’m not convinced I’d come off the road onto a cycle lane for 50m or so.

If pavements aren’t ‘safe havens’ for pedestrians then we have got something very wrong.

Agreed - I can’t help feel that the cycle lane has been included in the design for ‘green credentials’ rather than for the benefit of any of those intended to use it - cyclists, pedestrians and drivers alike

No it isn’t.

I don’t understand the logic in moving the crossing from where it is currently by Bartram Road. This is very useful if cycling locally as it links up cycle routes on Bartram and Sevenoaks Roads (and there is a short section of shared cycle pavement for that). If that crossing didn’t move then the 2-way cycle/pedestrian path as proposed could be continuous up to where it meets Sevenoaks Road.

I can only assume that the intention of both the short two-way cycle lane and the relocation of the crossing is to provide better facilities for the cycle route from Catford to Peckham. This is currently mapped to go via Bartram Road as you’ve described, which is a detour. The proposals would see it linked straight into Eddystone Road and over the railway lines.

The fact that the cycle lane is two-way is so that riders from Sevenoaks Road van avoid the right-hand turn into Brockley Rise and use the toucan crossing instead. It’s not intended for and won’t be used by cyclists riding down Brockley Rise.

At first glance it looked a bit daft to me too but once you’ve looked at the cycling network it kind of makes sense. The one issue I see is the housing development on the corner which is going up at the moment. Will it still fit?

As for mixing with pedestrians on the footway, agree that this can cause issues, but this is quite a short stretch so speeds shouldn’t be high and it also isn’t exactly a busy cycling route.

Overall this is a great proposal and I can’t wait to see this happen. A few bits to iron out but I would literally bite the council’s arm off to have this now.
The changes at Ladywell and Sydenham have made a massive difference to the general feel of the area even if some shops have yet to raise their game. This could be a major boost to make Crofton Park a more attractive destination for the locals. Let’s hope it gets strong support and funding.

Thanks for that explanation, it at least makes some sense of that cycle path on the wrong side of the road. I’ve also checked how the council handle other pedestrian crossings at the end of cycle paths:

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The use of a special surface may reduce the likelihood of cyclists continuing on the pavement, or at least encourage them to pay attention to possible pedestrians crossing the road. Hopefully something similar would be done here (with advanced waiting for cyclists at the traffic lights, but that might go against the philosophy of no road markings in the scheme).

I’m still not completely convinced by this layout, but at least I understand the objective.

Ok, can see that thinking but the current detour if coming from Peckham is roughly 30m. If coming from the Honor Oak direction, then the detour this would create would appear more than 200m using a thumbnail calculation. This is a very handy route to Catford, Waterlink Way and Proud Sow!

Furthermore, this extends the already long stretch, south along Brockley Rise, where there is no crossing at all. Next one is at crossroads with Honor Oak Park.