4 December 2012

Fifth cycle superhighway plans unveiled for London

TFL has launched it's consultation process for the fifth of twelve proposed cycle superhighways in London.

Transport for London have unveiled plans for a new cycle superhighway running from New Cross Gate to Victoria. The proposed route is 5.8 miles long and runs through Peckham, Camberwell, Kennington and Vauxhall.

Major changes to road layout are proposed to improve safety for cyclists and include:

• More space for cyclists through reallocation of road space
• Mandatory cycle lanes at least 1.5m wide
• Improvements for cyclists at 52 junctions including Advanced Stop Lines, cycle feeder lanes and speed reduction measures
• Early-start facility at Vauxhall Bridge/Millbank to help cyclists get ahead of traffic
• Banning some (mostly left) turns for cars and lorries to reduce conflict with cycles

Consultations are running until 11th Jan 2013 with construction work planned to start late spring 2013.

This is the fifth Barclays Cycle Superhighway to be implemented providing cycling routes between outer and central London. The current plan is for twelve superhighways, four to be launched in 2013 with a further four future routes and an extension to CS2 to subject to consultation.

This is good news for cyclists and can't come too soon after the poor casualty statistics revealed for 2011 showing a 16% increase in the number of cyclists seriously injured on British roads in 2011 to 3,085. The figures did show a 2.2% increase in cycle traffic between 2010 and 2011.

Bill Plowden of TfL said that since the routes were introduced in July 2010, the number of cyclists on the four existing superhighways in peak periods had increased by an average of 77% by September 2012.

The new cycle superhighway should encourage even more Londoners out of their cars and onto bikes. Another benefit of the cycle superhighways is an increase in the number of cycle parking spaces provided.

Though not mandatory, it is worth considering cycle insurance. Not just for the risk of theft but also third party insurance can be very worthwhile especially in built up areas.