The completion of the new roundabout and station at Old Street in east London has caused quite a stir. In a TikTok post, an underwhelmed Moses Combe asks, “This is it? After how many years of this thing being in construction?” A Guardian reader called the before “a soulless hellhole,” and the after too. Ouch.

There’s no doubt this was a highly complex scheme, which needed to address serious safety concerns, and that the project was hit by a series of unfortunate delays and challenges, including Covid and soaring inflation. There are improvements in the new configuration, with new surface-level crossings and traffic lights for cyclists, although cyclists say it still feels confusing.

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