The Mayor has said that the seven cycling ‘Quietways’ to be completed by 2016 will be the start of a £120 million network covering 31 boroughs. As Andrew Gilligan said at Transport Committee this morning:
“A little bit like the London Cycle Network [LCN] but better quality.” He added that a problem with the LCN was that it “used to give up at the difficult places.”
The Mayor dropped funding for the borough led LCN+, which was about to deliver changes to deal with difficult junctions and dangerous links. The Mayor said in 2010:
“My view is that as the final parts of the network increasingly require expensive and unpopular traffic schemes.”
Darren Johnson AM commented:
"Quietways have to be more than a network of new signs and publicity. The minimum Londoner’s need from Quietways is a 20mph speed limit on all routes and funding to deal with all the dangerous junctions. I welcome the fact that the Mayor is now willing to fund the difficult schemes which he previously labelled as expensive and unpopular. If we are going to create safe routes that Londoners feel safe to cycle along whether they are eight or eighty, then it require the London Mayor and local politicians to make courageous decisions.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
London Cycle Network Plus
Question by Jenny Jones
How will you deliver your election promise to the London Cycling Campaign to complete the London Cycle Network Plus (LCN+) to a high standard in all London boroughs?
Answer by Boris Johnson (1st Term)
“I made no such pledge and the timetable for completing the LCN+ was set by my predecessor. My view is that as the final parts of the network increasingly require expensive and unpopular traffic schemes…”