Traffic jam on Pall Mall: just fancy that!

I noticed this on Friday’s London traffic news:

A4 London - Traffic congestion on A4 Pall Mall westbound in Westminster between the A4 Trafalgar Square junction and the St James's Street junction, because of new road layout.

Or to put it another way:

An ignorant cynic might suggest that relieving congestion by putting the streets back to how they were before they were reconfigured to relieve congestion... might not actually relieve congestion.

That’s because

The streets of the whole of Westminster, virtually without exception, are laid out with motor traffic the absolute and sole priority.

This latest futile exercise in attempting to evade the consequences of making car dependency more attractive than walking, cycling or using public transport has cost an amazing £14 million.

That cynic might further suggest that £14M would build a lot of cycle paths, which might encourage a few people to cycle rather than take a car or a taxi, and thus relieve congestion rather more effectively.