Hanbury Street
A couple of years ago Princelet Street in Spitalfields was made one way eastbound. This denied cyclists a very convenient access to the city. I received more calls about this from members of the group than any other single issue. It has taken some time but finally a suitable alternative will be put in place in Hanbury Street. This will be made two way for cycles, but will have an island at the Brick Lane end with a cycle gap (denying access to motor vehicles). From Hanbury Street (where this route links up with the existing Market Porters route) westbound cyclists will then cross Commercial Street, via an island. This improvement is part of a new east-west cycle route which runs from Vallance Road to the city. Matthew told me at least part of this route will be implemented within the next three months.

Cable Street
This route has been buried under a series of telecoms cable laying exercises but it should be finished by now. There are a number of improvements scheduled to happen here in the new year and begin as follows. Relocation and replacement of the illuminated traffic islands. I have asked that all the islands be resited or replaced so that they do not intrude into the cycle lane as many do at present. Some of the islands will be removed altogether. Motorists tend to park in the cycle lane near Devonport Street where it passes a long parade of shops. The promised enforcement of parking restrictions never happened here, so there will be a continuous traffic island running for some distance either side of and all alongside the parade. This will stop motorists parking in the cycle lane. At the junction with Cannon Street Road there is to be a set of traffic lights with a cyclist operated signal. The other signaliing problem was at the Leman Street junction, which although it had its own cycle lane seemed to fail to detect a cyclist presence on the road surface pressure plates. This problem should be cured by now. There is still no definate answer to the conundrum which faces westbound Cable Street users at Tower Hill, where the local authority becomes the City of London, but the borough are working on it.