New urban cycle lane for London is approved

The campaign for an urban cycle lane through central London finally achieved its target in January when Boris Johnson approved plans for what will become Europe’s longest segregated urban cycle lane. Nicknamed the “Crossrail for bikes”, it will become a protected route through Parliament Square, along the Victoria Embankment and Upper Thames Street.

Support for the cycle lane was overwhelming, with 84 per cent of the 21,500 responses to the plans backing the suggested route which will link Barking and Acton, as well as a linked north-south route between King’s Cross and Elephant and Castle.

The project is due to get underway in April, once plans are ratified by Transport for London (TfL) in early February. The central part of the route, which will cost an estimated £41million to build, will create a link between Tower Hill and the A40 Westway flyover at Paddington, and should be completed by April 2016.

TfL board members are also all set to approve upgrades to the existing CS2 cycle superhighway between Whitechapel and Bow. Work begins in February 2015 on a brand new north-south superhighway, which will join Elephant and Castle and King’s Cross.

Objections to the work mainly centred on the delays that introducing new cycle lanes would cause to existing commuter traffic, but planners came up with a way around the problem. They anticipate being able to reduce any delays by around 60 per cent by narrowing the ‘both ways’ cycle lane from 4m to 3m for short sections, at Temple, Tower Hill and in the Blackfriars underpass.

Mr Johnson was keen to reallocate space on central London roads in response to their changing use - the amount of vehicle traffic has fallen by 25 per cent in the last decade while the number of cyclists has doubled. Cyclists now account for a quarter of all traffic in central London in the morning rush hour.

The latest Crossrail for bikes plan is part of the Mayor’s £913 million ‘cycle revolution for London’. He had said that he wanted to reallocate space on the roads around central London, as amount of vehicle traffic has fallen by 25 per cent in the last ten years, in contrast to the number of cyclists which has doubled.

Cyclists now account for a quarter of all traffic in central London in the morning rush hour. He said: “I look forward to the transformation that these routes will bring – not just for people who cycle now, but for the thousands of new cyclists they will attract.

“Getting more people on their bikes will reduce pressure on the road, bus and rail networks, cut pollution, and improve life for everyone, whether or not they cycle themselves.”