London to Paris by traffic-free route gets closer

A fully signposted, largely traffic-free cycle route between the centres of London and Paris is slowly taking shape and could be ready, in part, for the 2012 Olympic Games.

To many, however, it will come as no surprise to learn that the French side of the so-called Avenue Verte is many years closer to completion than its English counterpart.

An excellent article by Stephen Mulvey detailing the background to the project and its prospects for completion are accompanied by video footage of the trip on the BBC website under the oddly negative title “The London-Paris cycle route that keeps getting you lost” (that doesn’t seem to have been author’s main thrust, although he does admit to losing his way.)

As well as explaining its origins and the current status of the project, Mulvey compares and contrasts the scenery and physical infrastructure of the French and English sections of the Avenue Verte. He notes that the quality of the tracks on the French side is far superior – 3m wide and tarmaced as opposed to their narrow, often unsurfaced English equivalents – and ponders why a project that was kick-started by East Sussex County Council is being taken far more seriously, in terms of investment at least, by the French.

The author concludes his piece by wryly noting that while on this side of the Channel some fairly basic signage and routing issues are yet to be resolved, the French are already plotting charging points for electric bikes in anticipation of how the route will be used in 2030.