The Anonymous Widower

Fun At The Elephant And Castle

When I was driving, I used to find the Elephant and Castle roundabout confusing, especially as being a North Londoner, you don’t cross the Great Sewer unless you’re accompanied by a posse. (Make sure, they’re not Ipswich supporters, as they get lost at Liverpool Street!)

The Underground Station

In some ways Elephant and Castle tube station can be confusing and is almost two separate stations connected by long, dark tunnels under the roundabout.

• The Northern entrance is directly over the Bakerloo Line platforms
• The Southern entrance seems to give better access to the Northern Line platforms.

There are no escalators, but the Southern entrance is likely to be rebuilt. Wikipedia says this.

A major upgrade is being planned by Transport for London to bring improvements to the station; these include a new Northern line ticket hall, three new escalators and additional lifts to provide step-free access to the Northern line platforms. This will be done in conjunction with the major transformation in the Elephant & Castle area to create thousands of new homes and potential for new retail development to provide growth potential in the area.

That would be a great improvement.

The New Road Layout

Things look like they’re going to get a lot more fun for drivers at the Elephant and Castle judging by this traffic scheme that will start on Sunday.

This Tfl web page shows the scheme and this TfL map shows the final layout.

It’s even got its own web-site.

For comparison, this is a Google Map of the area before any roadworks.

Note.

• The drawing of the new scheme has North to the left.
• The Bakerloo Line entrance is on the North Side of the old roundabout, with the Northern Line entrance at the South
• A quick look could say that the road space will be wider, but shorter after reconstruction.

It could well be a lot easier for pedestrians like me!

December 3rd, 2015

These are pictures taken on Thursday the third.

The traffic seemed pretty dense even at ten in the morning.

December 5th, 2015

These pictures were taken about the same time on Sunday the 5th.

Note that I walked a similar route on the third.

The Pedestrian Routes Are Emerging

The main difference between the two sets of pictures, is that on the North, West and East sides of the roundabout, traffic is now two-bay with a traffic island between the two carriageways.

The South side is no longer used for traffic and will be pedestrianised early in 2016.

It is now possible to see how when the scheme is complete, that the centre of the old roundabout will be joined to the South Side. This will mean that to walk from the Northern Line station to the Bakerloo line station, will require only one road crossing at the North Side of the old roundabout.

I have some questions.

• Will the middle be landscaped? Obviously!
• Will there be a cafe in the middle? Hopefully?
• Will the preferred route to the Bakerloo Line trains from the surface, always be to enter the Bakerloo Line entrance and then descend in the lifts there, which take you directly to the platforms? It might be a shorter and more pleasant walk, than a long one in a tunnel!

After my visit today, I think I can see a purpose to the new design.

December 7th, 2015

This was the first working day at the same time as the previous sets of pictures.

I did see a picture, which showed a cafe and I think that if they can do the same at Old Street, which seems to be the next roundabout removal I’ll be pleased.

Although there is this article on the BBC, which is entitled Elephant and Castle: Two-way traffic redesign causes chaos. This is said.

The removal of the Elephant and Castle roundabout has been causing chaos for commuters, with motorists complaining of queues of more than an hour.

But then good news doesn’t draw viewers to the web site.

I’ll come back and watch this one in the future.

 

 

December 2, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Driving, Elephant And Castle, London Underground, Walking