The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today launched the first fully-segregated section of Barclays Cycle Superhighway and unveiled plans for similar improvements elsewhere on the road network.
The Mayor also committed to a major upgrade of existing Cycle Superhighway routes – including the section where a cyclist died in July - and an entirely new north-south segregated cycle route through Central London.
Transport for London (TfL) also today announced that over 100 additional designers, engineers and traffic modellers will be sought to help deliver the massively-expanded cycling programme, which will see new routes and improvements across London, as part of a wider initiative for improving the capital’s roads.
The new section of Barclays Cycle Superhighway 2 (CS2), between Bow and Stratford, has just under 2 miles of new cycle track, almost entirely physically separated from traffic, along with “bus stop bypasses” to protect cyclists. Similar bus stop bypasses already exist in other parts of London, such as on Pinner Road in North Harrow, and in Brighton.
The Mayor, Boris Johnson, said: “This Barclays Cycle Superhighway is the first physical fruit of my promise to improve the experience of cycling in London. A stone’s throw from the Olympic velodrome where Britain’s cycling team topped the world, we humbler London cyclists now have a world-standard cycle route of our own. I am very grateful to my counterpart in Newham, Sir Robin Wales, for all his help in letting us create this fantastic cyclobahn on his road.”
“I am also today announcing that we will build a second substantially-segregated cycle superhighway through the heart of central London – adding a north-south segregated route to our already-announced east-west route. I share people’s impatience for change. We have taken the time to ensure that it is done properly - but that physical change is now underway.”
Sir Peter Hendy CBE, Transport Commissioner for London, said: “During the 2012 elections, the Mayor made a firm commitment to make cycling safer. The completion of this flagship, fully-segregated extension, and the planned upgrades to existing superhighways to raise them to an even better standard, show that the Mayor and TfL are determined to ensure that the capital’s roads are as safe as can be for cyclists.”
Sir Robin Wales, Mayor of Newham, said: “We have always demanded a high quality cycling infrastructure to improve the safety of cyclists, pedestrians and other road users. This cycle route with its fully segregated cycle lanes will help encourage more people to cycle in Newham. We’re committed to making Newham a cycling borough and have recently submitted an outline bid to deliver a cycle transformation programme which will open up new cycle routes across our borough and East London.”
The Mayor announced today that the inner section of Barclays Cycle Superhighway 2, between Aldgate and Bow, will be the first existing Superhighway to be substantially upgraded. Work to design the upgrade has been underway since the publication of the Mayor’s Vision for Cycling in March. Full segregation and pioneering cycle-separated junctions will be installed on Whitechapel High Street, including the section where the collision which claimed the life of Philippine de Gerin-Ricard occurred in July. Full or semi segregation and cycle-separated junctions will be installed on the rest of the route, subject to further investigation by TfL.
Just to the west of the CS2 route, the intimidating Aldgate High Street/ St Botolph Street gyratory which encircles Aldgate tube station will be completely removed by the City of London, part funded by TfL. Traffic will run two-way on both streets. Following feedback from cyclists, the City of London, the highway authority, will change its original proposal. It will now install innovative trial layouts on Aldgate High Street to deliver the safe and separated space that the cycling community desire.
The cycle-separated junctions, to be used at all the busy junctions on CS2, are the first of their kind in Britain. They will include fully-segregated approaches to the junction and special cycle-specific traffic lights with a cyclist phase to guard against conflict with moving and turning motor traffic.
Most serious bike injuries and fatalities occur at junctions. The junctions form part of TfL’s cycle safety research being undertaken at the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) in Berkshire; trials there will be completed before installation takes place on street. The traffic lights, also the first in Britain with a full cyclist red-amber-green phase, have been approved for on street trials by the Department for Transport following the trials at TRL. Similar junctions will also be installed at other locations on the network.
As the Mayor’s Vision explained, not all existing Cycle Superhighways are capable of full segregation, but all will be improved using a combination of better junctions, segregation, semi-segregation and other measures to reduce exposure to traffic. Some sections of Cycle Superhighways will be moved on to new routes where it is easier to provide such measures. The new substantially-segregated north-south route will run from Elephant and Castle to King’s Cross via Blackfriars Road and Blackfriars Bridge. It is planned to use a combination of full segregation and lower-traffic streets. It will connect at Blackfriars, where the junction will be remodelled, with the new substantially-segregated east-west superhighway from Barking to West London. As with the east-west route, detailed designs will be published for public consultation in 2014.