As part of the redevelopment of the Eagle and Child pub, on St Giles, the cycle lane has been blocked off - to create a replacement path for pedestrians - and people cycling have to merge with motor traffic.
At a rough estimate, maybe 3000 people a day cycle through St Giles, around half of them on this side. Given the works here are going to last a year and a half, that means over half a million trips will be affected by this blockage. Much of the time, this is unproblematic - in the middle of the day, when visibility is good and there's little traffic, this might mean a quick look over the shoulder and no real stress. At other times - when there's a lot of motor and/or cycle traffic, it's dark and looking backwards means looking straight at headlights, and/or it's raining and visibility is poor - this can be quite stressful, and possibly dangerous. I don't know of any injuries here, but given that only about 10% of cycling injuries are ever reported, either to police or medical services, there may well have been some. And the extra stress this is creating - for people driving in some cases as well - adds up to a significant public health impact.
Given how long the works are going to take, I can't help wondering if 1) the construction space couldn't have been constrained enough to keep the cycle lane open or 2) carriageway space couldn't have been reallocated to provide space for cycling.
