Two major London cycling schemes win awards for excellence in transportation

Two major London cycling schemes have won the prestigious CIHT (Chartered Institute of Highways & Transportation) award for best practice and excellence.

Waltham Forest's "Mini Holland" scheme won in the Sustainable Transport category, where judges praised the environmental benefits for residents and businesses, the council's in-depth and innovative consultation with the community, and value for money.

Cycle Superhighway 2 won the Partnership award for a highly complex scheme, which involved more than 1700 businesses and residents, five tube stations and 40 bus stops, as well as schools, a hospital, a market, churches and mosques.

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The CIHT awards took place on Thursday 09 June at the Pavilion at the Tower of London.

Judges said of Waltham Forest’s Mini Holland: “This scheme shows how street networks laid out before the era of the car, can be transformed to create a calmer and safer environment for the benefit of residents and businesses, whilst prioritising walking and cycling over motor traffic.

“The judges were impressed with the in-depth online and face-to-face engagement process, including ‘live consultation’, whereby the traffic and environmental proposals were first created in temporary form to show people and politicians what was possible. The model has huge potential for replication, as demonstrated by further schemes in progress. The entry clearly addressed the competition criteria and was attractively presented.”

Ironically the award for the Waltham Forest mini Holland comes in the same week that some local residents have launched a petition calling on London's new Mayor, Sadiq Khan, to reverse the road closures implemented as part of the scheme. 

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Waltham Forest is one of three outer London “mini Hollands” given £30m by former mayor, Boris Johnson, to showcase people-friendly streets. Although controversial with a segment of the local community, the scheme has won several accolades, including at the London Cycling Awards. In 2015 it won in the Space for Cycling category, while this year Waltham Forest’s Cllr Clyde Loakes was Cycling Champion of the Year for the way he “fought tirelessly” for community support.   

Bournemouth’s Castle Lane West Cycling and Walking improvements – a 1km long, 2.5m wide cycle lane on both sides of the road, was highly commended by CIHT judges.

Cycle Superhighway 2, which runs from Aldgate to Bow roundabout on the A11, was recently upgraded from blue paint to high quality segregated, Dutch-style cycle tracks on both sides of the road.

The 4.5km route contains 1780 retail, office and residential addresses, 40 bus stops, five underground stations, churches, mosques, schools, a hospital, a university and a market, as well as 13,000 vehicles per hour. Judges say it was essential everyone worked together to complete the scheme with minimal disruption to the community, including adapting works around local and religious festivals and events.

“This was a complex project which used the partnership to enhance delivery and to deal with multi-faceted consultation, addressing the demands of all users of the network who would be impacted upon by the project,” said judges.

“The judging panel liked the way the quality of the partnership was measured and that this ensured that the project met both partners’ and community needs.”

Pioneering features, including floating bus stops and early release signals for cyclists were praised, as well as what judges describe as an open and honest working relationship between partners.