page_title: South Circular Road, London
section_title: Traffic
hierarchical_section_title: South Circular Road, London / Traffic
caption_attribution_description: English: Catford Road, Catford. This is the A205, South Circular Road, approaching the junction of the A21.
context_page_description: The South Circular Road in south London, England, is a major road that runs from the Woolwich Ferry in the east to the Chiswick Flyover in the west via Catford, Dulwich, Clapham Common, Wandsworth and Kew Bridge. Together with the North Circular Road and Woolwich Ferry, it makes a complete ring-road around Central London. The South Circular is largely a sequence of urban streets joined together, requiring several at-grade turns, unlike the mostly purpose-made carriageways of the North Circular. As a result, it is frequently congested.
  Originally planned as a new-build route across South London, construction of the first section of the South Circular near Eltham began in 1921 to a high-quality specification. The remainder of the road was supposed to be of a similar standard but it was repeatedly delayed, and the current route was allocated in the late 1930s to existing urban streets instead. Despite several proposals to either upgrade the road or replace it with a parallel motorway, there has been little change in the century since the route was first planned and most of the road is still urban streets.
context_section_description: The South Circular Road has long been the target of criticism over its poor capacity and lack of improvement schemes. MPs have dismissed the road as "a collection of signposts" and "not so much a coherent through route". In 1969, the chairman of the Greater London Council planning and transportation committee called the South Circular "a joke". Two years later, Jessel reported it could take over an hour to travel the route end to end, a little over 20 miles.
  The whole of the South Circular is a red route, allocated to roads that together make up over 30% of traffic in London. This prohibits any stopping or loading. Some sections of the road through the borough of Lewisham have extensive bus lanes. Their appearance is controversial; a 2006 resident survey produced mixed results, with people believing there were either too many or not enough.
  In 1988, a single road closure (resulting from a gas leak on a side road in Wandsworth) caused severe congestion along the entire South Circular. A representative from Scotland Yard's Central Communications complex said the inadequate design of the road was indicative of several single points of failure in the London road network.
  The South Circular has been criticised for its poor air quality and pollution. This affects drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, all of which regularly travel along the road. A 2007 report in the Daily Telegraph said it was the eighth worst road in Britain.
caption: The South Circular Road near Catford suffers from regular traffic congestion, despite being a red route.
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