Revealed: full extent of changes being made to London's road network

But others are a result of a growing economy and a city preparing for future growth, from the redevelopment of Bank station to the changes designed to improve safety at 100 notorious junctions such as Elephant and Castle and Stockwell Cross.

Major private developments are also in progress at Nine Elms in Battersea and at Lewisham Gateway, and borough works are taking place at Aldgate, Shepherd’s Bush and Harlesden.

TfL’s latest roads report states: “It is clear that the ongoing development and construction work is a primary driver of pressure on the network, with multiple approaches to central London regularly experiencing 10-20 minute delays.”

The Mayor’s successor will arrive at City Hall with a decision to make about a host of new projects, from changes to Hammersmith gyratory and Wandsworth town centre in the west to a radical redesign of Highbury Corner roundabout in the north.

Public consultation on many of the schemes was completed this week but TfL is awaiting approval from the new Mayor.

These include the highly controversial CS11 cycle superhighway through Swiss Cottage and Regent’s Park.

The Highbury Corner scheme would convert the roundabout into a two-way system by blocking its western side to create a new public space in front of Highbury & Islington Tube.

However, if work is carried out at the same time as similar changes at Archway roundabout, this threatens to cause even greater delays to the A1 on Holloway Road and Archway Road.

London’s population is predicted to grow from 8.6 million today to 10 million by 2030, meaning the number of daily trips by road will increase from 30 million to 35 million.

In a report seen by the Standard, Alan Bristow, TfL’s director of road space management, said: “London’s roads and bridges were not designed for the volume and diversity of today’s users and in order to keep London moving and the economy growing, our road network needs to be modernised.”

Other proposed schemes include cycle superhighways on either side of Westminster bridge and a redesign of Waterloo roundabout at the southern end of the bridge, removing the Vauxhall gyratory, revamping the roads at King’s Cross and changing Lower Clapton Road in Hackney.

In addition, work is planned to extend the north-south cycle superhighway to King’s Cross and on the western section of the east-west superhighway between Paddington and Acton, via the elevated Westway section of the A40.

Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s cycling commissioner, said the experience of Vauxhall Cross, where traffic has returned to normal following completion of a cycle superhighway across Vauxhall bridge, showed delays were temporary.

“There is no doubt that the construction work is disruptive, but once it’s over the disruption ends,” he told the Standard.

"A lot of people think traffic is like rainwater — that if you narrow the pipe, the pipe will flood. But traffic is not a force of nature. It’s a product of human choices.”