Pic: Geraint Rowland
A “Crossrail for the bike” will open in London in 2016, announced the Mayor of London this morning.
Tower Hill and Mile End are part of the plans, in what would be Europe’s longest substantially-segregated urban cycleway, according to City Hall.
Two continuous routes are planned to run almost completely separated from traffic, across central London from east to west and north to south. Protected cycle routes will also be created through dangerous junctions, including Tower Hill.
The East-West route would start at Tower Hill, where it would connect to the existing Cycle Superhighway Route 3, which runs east to Canary Wharf and Barking. From Tower Hill, the new route would run along Lower and Upper Thames Street, Victoria Embankment, across Parliament Square, to Hyde Park Corner and through Hyde Park, across Lancaster Gate and up Westbourne Terrace.
There would also be connections to an upgraded Cycle Superhighway 2 for Mile End and Stratford.
These plans follow mounting pressure on Boris Johnson to increase cycling safety in the city, after a shocking number of cyclists were killed on London’s roads last year, including five deaths in just nine days last November.
A number of protests, demonstrations and awareness campaigns have been staged in recent years, as a response to growing concern over the issue.
Last year EastLondonLines revealed that Bow and Old Street roundabouts were particularly dangerous, in an analysis of cyclists’ deaths in the city, and concluded that separating bikes from traffic would be one of the best solutions to improve the situation.
Subject to detailed public consultation – which begins today – work on the “Crossrail for the bike” will start early next year, with routes planned to open in March, 2016.
Transport for London is also currently consulting on plans for a continuous two-way and separated east-west cycle track, which would be part of a route from Belgrave Square to New Cross, in Lewisham. To have your say visit: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/cycling/cs5-inner
