“Crossrail for Bikes” Approved by TfL

Yesterday morning, we were pleased to receive the news that the final plans for the new East-West and North-South Cycle Superhighways were approved by TfL.

TfL’s board members have given their final approval to plans for the ‘Crossrail for bikes‘ linking Barking to Acton with a segregated route through central London, as well as the north-south route from King’s Cross to Elephant and Castle.

The £41m central section of the route, between Tower Hill and the A40 Westway flyover at Paddington, is expected to be completed by April 2016 and work is due to begin on £17 million north-south superhighway next month.

This is a huge step towards creating safer space for cycling in London.

Chris Boardman, British Cycling’s policy advisor, said: “This is a fantastic day for Londoners, as well as the many million people who visit the capital every year.

“This vision for large-scale, properly segregated cycle ways will make cycling a more attractive transport option, creating a more pleasant, healthy and sustainable London for everyone. The move brings the capital one step closer to creating a true cycling culture to rival cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam. But most importantly of all, it will set a standard for the rest of the country.”

These will be London’s first properly-segregated, Dutch-style cycle lanes, running from Tower Hill to Acton and Elephant and Castle to King’s Cross – a critical step towards creating safer cycling in London.

The news couldn’t come soon enough, as this week another London cyclist was killed on our roads by a left-turning tipper; this desperately tragic news highlights how urgently redesign, regeneration and innovation is needed to protect our cyclists.

In the mean time we will be contributing to the safety mix by providing free tags for cyclists (for more info on how you can claim yours please write to [email protected], and continuing to promote Space4Cycling and Exchanging Places initiatives across the UK.

It is worth nothing that campaign group Stop Killing Cyclists are holding a vigil and “die-in protest” at the scene of the accident, by the junction with Wardle Street (by the fire-station) at 6pm on Monday February 9, if you would like to come along and join us there.