Holborn Gateway Safety Improvements

Major improvements in pedestrian safety for our busiest junction

A high number of pedestrians use this junction daily on their travels between the Holborn Underground Station and the surrounding area. The phasing of the traffic lights required pedestrians, crossing the south side of High Holborn over Kingsway, to wait on triangular islands. Pedestrians crossing over High Holborn, outside Holborn Underground Station, also had to wait on the triangular islands.
These islands were often overcrowded with the high number of pedestrians waiting to cross in all directions. The Council is currently working at this junction to improve facilities for pedestrians and to reduce the number of accidents by providing the following measures;

• The removal of the two triangular traffic islands both located on the south side of the junction and relocating this crossing further south into Kingsway. This will allow pedestrians to cross this arm of the junction without having to wait in the islands in the middle of the road.
• Widen the pavement outside Holborn Underground Station and outside Sainsbury’s, both located on the south side of the junction. This would increase the footway area to accommodate the high pedestrian flows to and from Holborn Underground Station.
• Red and green man traffic signal facilities on all four arms of the junction. This will allows pedestrians to cross all arms of the junction safely. New cyclists’ stop area on all approaches to the junction.

The triangular pedestrian islands have now been removed with pedestrian crossings being further away from the junction, temporarily, to ensure they are kept safe, away from the works. The footway at the corner outside Holborn underground station is currently being widened. The traffic light phasing has been changed to allow a red light to all traffic at the same time to allow pedestrians to cross all arms at once, without stopping on traffic islands.

inholborn is responsible for a rolling programme of public realm improvements in the interests of safety and amenity