Boris Johnson gives go-ahead to London's 'Crossrail' segregated cycle routes

Al__S wrote:

8 people that responded to the N-S consultation have a "Preference for integrating rather than separating road traffic". Out of 11998 responses (including the LCC template responses). Now, it's not as if the "vehicular cycling" tendency were unaware of this consultation for the biggest example of what they oppose. So is 8 out of 11998 representative? I mean, if they're that opposed surely they were rousing their rabble to get responses in? Can we finally stop ever listening to this tiny minority of idiots?

(the e-w consultation response doesn't give such a detailed breakdown. it's striking how different the two documents are)

Little chance of that, they're morphing into the shared space movement.

Bikebikebike wrote:

Too long in the tooth to get too excited before actually seeing what appears.

This.

I'll wait until the kerbs have been laid, the junctions upgraded, and people are cycling along it, pleased with the finished article before I crack open the bubbly. Too many times it's all disappeared, got watered down, or ended up as something worse than the current mess.

"Boris for PM."

No! Boris for carrying on being Boris. Chris Boardman for PM!

Si Mo wrote:

Such a good move. The long-term benefits for London and Londoners are compelling. An immediate benefit will be to not have to sidle past cars in the regular jams along the Embankment, making road travel less hazardous for everyone, and being able to skip the Blackfriars tunnel.

It should make getting about in that area a whole lot more civilised and pleasant, and - I think - possibly even a fair bit faster.

While I'm massively in favour of high-quality, well thought out, segregated urban cycle-networks, I understand there are also people who prefer being part of the existing road network, and not slowed down by other, less speedy cyclists.

However, from my experience on this road, most of it tends to be stuck in motor traffic, and motor traffic (compared to cycle or pedestrian traffic) is really, REALLY long. Especially on that strip which is full of coaches, both used and empty. If 20 vehicles are travelling down the Embankment (say, 5 of which are coaches), then something as trivial as a red-light instantly creates a tail-back stretching back hundreds of metres. The applying the same red light to a bunch of cyclists would create a much smaller disturbance, due to their size and the fact that bicycles tessellate a lot better.

So while I feel I can GO fast on stretches of road in central London, I don't really feel that I can get anywhere quickly (unless I'm really aggressive with filtering, which I don't enjoy).

I'll happily give up any impressive looking inner-city top-speeds just to arrive at places earlier, calmer, less sweaty, and generally less full of whatever chemicals I end up pumped with after a pedal in the capital.

I'll take the countryside to discover the pure freedom and exhilaration the bicycle can bring. In the city I just want to get from A to B in a civilised and efficient manner.

georgee - Royal Parks are shown on page 22 at https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/board-20150204-part-1-it... . Looks like they still don't know what they will do in St James's Park, they will convert the horse track to a cycle track in Green park, and use the existing roads in Hyde Park with a "detailed design in progress".

Hopefully the Royal Parks will feel that with so many cyclists trying to get from one corner of St James's to the other they will be have to make some sort of provision.

Its good, but this is a tiny step.

And hopefully it didn't get watered down too much, 3m is a bit narrow for a 2 way with this level of traffic projected!

belgravedave wrote:

Think of how many dangerous junctions could be fixed with some of that money and the rest spent on policing the infrastructure we have. This should be about reducing cyclists dying in London not vanity projects.

I agree they make a lot more area safer if they fixed the junctions. Bring in the all directions green junctions etc.

But in fairness to the scheme it is going in on the routes with very high bike traffic. They have weighted the model towards a positive outcome. They really need this to be successful (in terms of traffic carried) to make the case for the next one.

I wouldn't be surprised if motor vehicle journeys actually got quicker on these routes in the fullness of time...

Two cycle paths, that's cute!