Cyclists and residents in one south London borough have questioned why a new cycle lane, which was funded by £673,000 of investment from Transport for London, has a utilities pole in the middle of it.

The cycle lane on Crofton Road in Orpington was approved in 2018, images from July 2023 [below] showing the pole to the side of the segregated infrastructure, however the council has since invested £77,000 to widen the road, reportedly in a bid to tackle congestion, and the utilities pole has been in the cycle lane ever since.

The pole has been reported for safety issues numerous times, coming on a downhill stretch of cycle lane, one local telling MyLondon (link is external) it is a "complete balls-up".

"It's madness, they spent God knows how much money building it," Michael O'Donnell said, while another resident suggested "it's probably not the safest idea".

Tim Webb said: "I've been at night and that [hazard tape] is not reflective.. So the concern people have is that someone goes charging into it. I've got nothing against cycle lanes. I think they're a good idea, but I think the money from TfL maybe could have been used more wisely."

The pole has also attracted ire on the council's reporting portal, one resident asking whether the council was behind it being relocated, another saying it is "an accident waiting to happen".

"Which genius at London Borough of Bromley thought it a good idea to have a post located in the middle of a cycle lane?" they asked. "This is an accident waiting to happen. It cannot comply with any health and safety regs and needs to be dealt with before there is serious accident.

"I think that the sensible thing to do would be to close the cycle lane until this has been rectified. Someone could be injured or worse whilst this problem persists."

Bromley Council confirmed that it would investigate, a subsequent update saying the pole is the "responsibility of British Telecom".

Yesterday the council said that BT "were scheduled to relocate this post whilst our contractor completed their works" and has "advised that the post is to relocated imminently".

A TfL statement added: "We work with all London boroughs to enable and encourage people to walk and cycle and are happy to work with them to improve existing schemes where appropriate."

https://road.cc/content/news/locals-baffled-accident-waiting-happen-bike-lane-304945