Transport for London (TfL) does not have the money to complete the final section of a segregated cycle route from Tower Bridge to Greenwich.
Work on the Lower Road section of Cycleway 4 could start later this year, a spokesperson for the transport agency told the News – but that is dependent on TfL getting a stable funding deal from central government.
Those negotiations have been rumbling on since the pandemic, after TfL’s finances were decimated by loss of fare income.
The Cycleway 4 delay is another symptom of TfL funding issues, like the bus cuts currently under consultation, or the shelved Bakerloo Line extension.
Every other section of Cycleway 4 has been completed or is close to being finished:
- The Tooley Street and Jamaica Road sections, running from Tower Bridge to the Rotherhithe roundabout, with a lightly segregated extension to London Bridge, opened in September 2020
- The Evelyn Street section in Deptford is set to be completed this summer
- The Creek Road section opened in July
The work is being funded by TfL, the agency is working with Southwark Council, who ran a consultation on traffic changes for the Lower Road section.
Catherine Rose, the council’s cabinet member for transport, said: “TfL is funding the work on the Lower Road section of Cycleway 4. However, the stranglehold that central government has over TfL’s finances, means that this funding is at risk. Nevertheless, despite these issues TfL is still committed to delivering this with us.
“We are doing our best to keep these works moving, but unless the government does something we are going to run out of money soon.”
TfL’s most recent funding extension from the government came last Thursday (July 14), with the current deal rolled over for two weeks until July 28. The government said TfL had not shown it could cut £400 million from its outgoings, which is a condition of getting a long-term funding deal. TfL denied that.