Mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled proposals to build two new segregated cycleways as part of his £913m plan to boost the number of Londoners who cycle.
A 3 mile, north-south route will link Elephant & Castle to King’s Cross while an east-west route will run from Barking to Acton.
The routes will include new protected cycle routes at dangerous junctions, including Tower Hill, Blackfriars, Parliament Square and Lancaster Gate. Connections.
Londoners are being invited to visit a series of exhibitions explaining how the cycleways will work and any local road changes needed to accommodate them.
They’re also being asked to take part in an online consultation which will help inform any changes to the scheme.
Link: East-west consultation
Link: North-south consultation
Subject to the consultation, construction work will start early next year with the routes due to open in March 2016.
Mayor Johnson said: “Bikes already make up 24 per cent of all rush-hour traffic in central London – hundreds of thousands of journeys every day that would otherwise be made by car or public transport.
“Getting more people on to 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.”
The Mayor’s proposals have been welcomed by London Assembly member Darren Johnson who called on Londoners to take part in the consultation and support the project.
However the Green party AM said the schemes had to be seen in the context of “years of Mayoral backtracking” on promises to make roads safer for cyclists.
He said: “Londoners should remember that the Mayor cancelled the ambitious plans to create a pedestrian and cyclist friendly plaza in Trafalgar Square when Boris Johnson was elected in 2008.
“He is also the Mayor who failed to back a high quality scheme at Blackfriars Bridge when it was re-engineered just a few years ago.
“Much of this new cycling superhighway plan is about correcting the mistakes the Mayor made in his first term, when he was encouraging people to cycle without making the roads safer. Pedestrian and cyclist safety should be the big priority for the Mayor’s plans for London’s roads.”
