Thread by @psimonk

Yeah, this underlines a serious point. The progress @MayorofLondon @willnorman & others achieved during crisis has been remarkable & is hugely appreciated. But it isn't just TfL finances at issue here or at Holborn. There is something running deeper than that... (long thread)

https://twitter.com/hackney_cycling/status/1435906493560365058

Most of these projects were theoretically shovel ready well before the crisis hit & TfL finances collapsed. All could & should have been.
- At Holborn gyratory, temporary materials and quick measures if they'd been put in after 2018 could have saved a life, of a kids' doctor...

Instead they are being rushed in now after. It's always after. It's always one arm of the junction, one turning movement fixed. Not all the major risks.
- Lea Bridge - Dalston was first broken in two. Western half just needed a lot of LTN filters in Hackney, famous for filters...

And some crossings. This stuff could have been done rapidly and cheaply. That section still MIA. Eastern half involves an OK not great reworking or roundabout. Heavy engineering, costly. But did it need year+ delay to construction from approval? And why can't long term vision...

Which removes roundabout entirely, be moved forward? The suspicion is TfL Buses who use middle. But really, in a climate crisis means real bold progress delayed and roundabout reworked twice with lots of construction emissions, big vehicle risk...

- Ilford - Barking Riverside - entire route bar around Barking Station utterly easy to do. So do it. And why is last bit into Riverside so utterly weak? Shared space along a road with thundering lorries that utterly severs Riverside from rest of world. Come on, do better...

- Hackney - Isle of Dogs has IMO suffered from political weak will. Hackney wasn't great but OK. So just do it now. Cheap, easy. Tower Hamlets bit needed two major roads - one v narrow. Tough, but doable with some willpower. TH leadership appears to have dithered too long...

Of course, the entire scheme fell apart at Isle of Dogs. Canary Wharf Group clearly utterly *loathe* cycling. Hate it with a vengeance. They have clearly blocked not just this route but the mooted bridge it would have connected to. No property developer should have this power...

IMO without clear responsibilities and accountability. Grrr. But again, where is Mayor or TfL in calling them out?!
- Rotherhithe Peckham did have some complexities and with Surrey Quays still in chaos, and bridge missing, this is the one I am upset but not surprised about...

Camden to Tottenham Hale - every time I hear about this route it gets weaker and weaker. Modelled bus delays appears to be issue. But like Holborn, this route features some lethal & nasty bits. If we really are making calculation a minute delay to buses across a journey....

Is worth more than people's lives, IMO Mayor should have guts to say that. Explain it. Stand by it. Otherwise not just "Vision Zero" but just about any Mayoral commitment to move away from private car use is just idle chatter.
- Wembley to Willesden - this has got to be the...

Lack of political will evident in that area, but hey, maybe it's buses again or something else. Either way, no sign there has been any progression on a supposedly key route.
- Now we are seeing pauses & rollbacks & panics by even progressive boroughs & took DfT getting tough...

To get TfL to get tough with boroughs pulling stuff out. It is clear that London is a complex mess of stakeholders. It's also clear that climate, pollution, inactivity, road danger mean little to most of them. We need to be far bolder. We stand at a decision point post crisis...

Paris & other cities *feel* far bolder than London. Unless we now start reallocating roadspace fast now, slashing car use, then a greener, cleaner, healthier, zero emissions London is decades away, if not further, yet our Mayor says 2030 net zero. Time for action, not words.