Cycle Superhighways - taking cycling in London to the next level?
I've always considered the cycle infrastructure more than inferior to on the Continent. If you have ever been to Amsterdam, most German cities and most of Switzerland, you could have helped but notice cycle lanes everywhere. They really put a lot of thought into how to get people on bicycles safely.
Boris Johnson has finally unveiled Transport for London's concept for London. This consists of 12 new Cycle Highways that will serve to transport people from up to 15km from the centre in quickly and safely. Given that there is little or no infrastructure in place at present and a May 2010 deadline for the first 2 Cycle Highways (Wimbledon to Bank and Barking to Tower), I will wait with baited breath to see how they do it.
Sadly, I imagine it will be a token effort more than anything and given the fact that motorcycles already feel that they can use cycle paths since they were allowed to use bus lanes (introduced early 2009 and "no" they are not allowed to also use cycle lanes), it will be interesting to see what they do.
If you'd like to find out more about what could by a London Cycle Revolution, here's a link to the press release and the conceptual cycle map...