The works scheduled by Transport for London for Pancras Road, York Way and Caledonian Road have started.

Letters were recently circulated to nearby households announcing work would begin between 28 and 30 December. This is the set of ‘improvements’ announced in April 2011 and which were originally scheduled to start in September of the same year. View them again here at ‘Download Kings Cross junction improvement scheme’.

In summary the works are: to create a straight-across crossing at the junction of Pancras Road and Euston Road, an advanced stop line (ASL) for cyclists, widening of pedestrian crossing on the Caledonian/Pentonville Road junction and the removal of the pedestrian island in York Way.

The York Way part involves moving the ASLs on eastbound Euston Road and losing precious pavement outside McDonalds in York Way, to widen Pentonville Road for cars, while adding a considerable amount of pavement outside the current location of the Harry Potter ‘shrine’ and narrowing the entrance to York Way. The plans have been widely criticised as merely cosmetic on this site and in other blogs.

The picture above shows the work for Pancras Road has started in earnest, no sign yet on the other work. It is worth noting that the Pancras Road plan has changed considerably, see below. The original plan was to remove the island, narrow the road and have pedestrians cross in one motion with a much-shortened crossing. When did this change?

Pancras Road plans, before and after

(The whole Pancras Road drawing, as circulated by TfL in the letter to local residents on 24 December 2011)

Clare Hill