Borough transport plans to go ahead
An Oxford Circus-style diagonal crossing will transform one of Wimbledon town centre's busiest junctions as part of a series of transport improvement schemes in the borough.
The junction of Alexandra Road and St George's Road, at the bottom of Wimbledon Hill, will be turned into a diagonal pedestrian crossing, at a cost of £330,000, by the spring of 2012.
It was one measure in a series of improvements which will be made in the borough with funding allocated from Transport for London (TfL) to support the Mayor's transport strategy.
The funding package also includes £50,000 to provide charging points in the borough for electric vehicles and £28,000 for the promotion of road safety and school travel planning to encourage more childen to walk and cycle to school safely.
Merton will actually be getting £3.5m from TfL for transport improvements in 2011/12. The funding allocated to London boroughs will fall over three years to reflect the reduced grant TfL receives from central government.
But TfL says it still means the "vast majority" of Merton's proposed schemes for 2011/12 will be delivered.
Funding to benefit all Londoners, is also being made available for modernising traffic signals and partnership initiatives such as completion of the London Strategic Walking Network.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: "This funding will allow the boroughs to make real improvements to town centres, provide better cycling facilities and make roads safer across the capital.
"I'm especially pleased we have been able to cut the red tape that used to surround these schemes and give the boroughs more freedom to choose how they want to spend money to improve their local communities."
Meanwhile, discussions on the "Wimbledon Way", a walkway from the town centre to the All England Tennis Club, being proposed by business and town centre leaders involved in the local Going for Gold campaign are still on-going.
December 23, 2010