Work to start on Portsmouth Road mini-hollands project

After several consultations and more than a year, work on the new cycle lanes for Portsmouth Road from Surbiton to Kingston is due to start this month.

Kingston Council was one of 3 London Boroughs to win millions of funding from London Mayor, Boris Johnson, for mini-Holland projects to dramatically improve cycling infrastructure in the borough. The Portsmouth Road is the first of these schemes, branded under the Council’s ‘Go Cycle’ campaign. It will include a segregated 2-way cycle lane along the river side of Portsmouth Road to provide a safe cycling environment on this busy road. It will also include improved pedestrian access to Queen’s Promenade, more crossing points and good quality public realm space.

I’m delighted that work on this scheme is finally starting. It was over 18 months ago, under the Liberal Democrat administration, that Kingston Council was awarded the money and it seems to have taken a long time to get to this point, but now we are here, I’m very pleased. These segregated cycle lanes will make it much safer for all cyclists, and should help with traffic flows as it removes the need for cars to overtake slower cyclists, especially on the narrowest parts of the road. It should be finished and open by spring 2016.

This is the first of the mini-hollands ‘Go Cycle’ routes and now we need to crack on with the rest of the projects across the borough. Alongside the infrastructure improvements there needs to be a change in attitudes so that residents think twice before choosing to use their car. Reducing the number of jopurneys is the only way to tackle congestion and air pollution.

says St Mark’s Ward Councillor and former Leader of the Council, Liz Green

For more information on this and other mini-hollands project visit Kingston Council’s website.