"Unsafe and Unpleasant". My dossier on the disastrous new Elephant and Castle junction.
I began campaigning against the proposed changes to the Elephant and Castle Roundabout in 2011, a junction I have lived next to since 2004. The plans for change were driven by Transport for London and Southwark Council who together sought to prioritise the creation of a new public 'square' over transport needs in their pursuit of an alluring perception-changing trigger for inward investment from developers (one developers of the shopping centre told me during a meeting in their Mayfair offices, was actually unnecessary and of some concern). TfL relegated safe, pleasant passage across and along London's inner ring road as less important than 'place making'. By forcing everyone to share ground level instead of benefitting from subways that had been present since Edwardian times, and by replacing an efficient five-pronged roundabout with a complex traffic-light-controlled 'bend' they replaced a dangerous roundabout with an even wider road that since opening in December 2015 has killed two and increased congestion and air pollution for everyone. Today I publish a second edition report on how this project came to be, identified the designed in dangers and described the consequences. It is a shameful tale from which hopefully lessons can be learned. Visit ElephantandCastleRoundabout.org