Pedestrian Priority Streets Programme King William Street

From Monday 8 July 2024, the City of London will begin work to transform King William Street as part of its Pedestrian Priority Programme. Changes will include:

• Widened pavements on both sides of the street
• Narrowed and renewed carriageway
• Side street entry treatments to prioritise people walking and wheeling
• Raised carriageway tables across King William Street at Lombard Street & St Swithin’s Lane and Nicholas Lane north
• Planting of 15+ Trees
• Improved drainage system
• Two purpose-built time-restricted inset loading bays
• Improved crossing on the approach to Monument
• Seating and general accessibility improvements

More details regarding the plans can be found in the Streets and Walkways Sub (Planning and Transportation) Committee report.

Construction Phasing

The current construction phasing plan can be seen as a PDF attachment at the bottom of this webpage. Construction is due to take approximately 18 months, starting at the southern end of King William Street at the junction with Monument, before progressing north. During construction, traffic will only be permitted to travel northbound on King William Street to enable a safe working area for the City’s contractors and maintain access to Lombard Street. Whilst every effort will be made to keep to the construction plan, it is subject to change. Should this happen, a revised version of the construction plan will be published here alongside the reasons why it has changed.

During construction, all southbound traffic including buses and cyclists, will be on diversion. Southbound cyclists will be diverted at Bank Junction eastbound along Cornhill, then southbound along Gracechurch Street to Monument. The traffic signal timings at the Cornhill/Gracechurch Street/ Leadenhall Street junction will be altered slightly to better facilitate the turning cyclists.

The southbound bus diversions for the main construction works are:

Routes 21, 43 & 141

• Diversion - South Place, Eldon Street, Blomfield Street, London Wall, Wormwood Street, Bishopsgate, Gracechurch Street, King William Street to London Bridge.
• Buses on these routes will not be serving Moorgate, Princes Street, Mansion House Street, Lombard St, King William Street

Route 133

• Diversion - Cheapside, New Change, Cannon Street, King William Street to London Bridge
• Buses on this route will not be serving Cheapside, Poultry, Mansion Street, Lombard Street, King William Street.

Route N21

• Diversion - St Paul's Church Yard, Cannon Street, King William Street to London Bridge
• Buses on this route will not be serving Queen Victoria Street, Queen Street, Cheapside, Poultry, Mansion House Street, Lombard Street, King William Street

During the construction works, please remember to check for other bus network disruptions before you travel which may change these diversions. 

There will be full road and side road closures for shorter durations when resurfacing the carriageway or working across junctions is required, which can be seen in the construction phasing plan below. City officers will be in touch via letter, and site visits to the affected buildings & businesses will take place nearer the date of the closures to remind stakeholders of the upcoming disruption. Access to properties will be maintained as best as possible throughout the construction programme, as well as an accessible route for people walking and wheeling along the street.

Contact

The project is being delivered by FM Conway. If you have any questions about the day-to-day management of the works, email the Pedestrian Priority Team.