Chaos as Vauxhall gets facelift

Thousands of motorists and bus passengers face at least a year of disruption at Vauxhall Cross - one of London's most important junctions.

The first cones were being laid out today as engineers moved onto the site to launch a £12million scheme that will transform the area.

By early next year most roads flowing on and off the junction will have been realigned. There will be an improved pedestrian flyover, extensive new signing, new traffic lights and pedestrian crossings.

Two main roads at the centre of Vauxhall Cross - Bondway and South Lambeth Place - will close permanently to traffic and in their place will be what Transport for London calls a "partial bus station".

The aim of the scheme is to reduce local traffic while making the area more accessible to public transport users and more pleasant for residents.

Motoring organisations, however, are aghast. They say the scheme will seriously reduce capacity on roads that form the boundary of the Mayor's congestion charging scheme, due to start in February 2003.

They claim it is "madness" to reduce capacity on roads that, they believe, will be in more demand than ever with the weight of vehicles trying to avoid the £5-a-day charge.

Paul Watters of the AA, said: "This is an extremely important junction where there is a vital river crossing and where numerous key routes through London meet. It is going to be extremely precarious, not to say chaotic, for drivers once this scheme begins."

He said that when congestion charging starts the area would become "seriously overloaded" with vehicles.

Kevin Delaney of the RAC Foundation, said: "Vauxhall Cross is one of the five most important junctions in London and we are very seriously concerned that TfL do not know - or have not seriously considered - the severe effects this will have.

"This will cause extensive congestion, not just at Vauxhall but over a much wider area when the scheme is finished." Wandsworth council leader Eddie Lister added: "We are very concerned that this scheme will further reduce capacity and that the whole area will seize up." TfL says on its website that journey times may even be shortened. Project manager Steve Read, however, said some drivers will find other means of getting to work while others would "discover their own routes and find they are better".

In early February the barriers will go up across South Lambeth Place followed by the closure of Bondway in mid-February. Traffic will be diverted onto Kennington Lane, South Lambeth Road and Wandsworth Road instead, while in the centre of Vauxhall Cross an enhanced one-way system will be created.

During the works, bus stops scattered across the junction will be removed to Wandsworth and South Lambeth roads. Afterwards they will be relocated to the new bus station.

A spokesman for TfL explained: "It will be a 'partial' bus station with waiting rooms and covered areas for passengers so that most of the bus stops are in one place. It will not be a large, new building."

TfL's street management director Derek Turner said: "For too many years the situation at Vauxhall Cross has been intolerable. We are working to deliver a coherent scheme which will include a new bus station close to the rail stations; better links between the railway station, Underground and buses; comprehensive and safe pedestrian crossings; cycle facilities and improved environment and lighting."