- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
news
Cycle Superhighway 5, London (pic credit: Britishcycling.org.uk)Not 'Super' anymore – Cycleways confirmed as new name for London's Cycle Superhighways and Quietways
The Cycle Superhighway and Quietway names have been dropped for cycling infrastructure in London, with routes instead being unified under a single brand, Cycleways, it has been confirmed to road.cc.
The renaming is partly aimed at removing negative connotations of the word “Superhighway,” which opponents of planned infrastructure have often seized upon to conjure visions of speeding cyclists mowing down pedestrians.
In March last year, the London Assembly Transport Committee recommended to Mayor Sadiq Khan in a report on cycling infrastructure that he “change the name of Cycle Superhighways to something more inclusive.”
In the report, the committee said: “We have heard that the term ‘Superhighway’ creates the wrong impression for what this infrastructure is supposed to deliver.
“It appears to emphasise cycling long distances at high speed, which may not be the best way to attract a wider range of inexperienced people to cycle.”
News of plans to unify the network under a single brand emerged before Christmas as the mayor published his Cycle Action Plan, which aims to double the number of trips made by bike in the city.
> Sadiq Khan launches action plan to double levels of cycling in London
At the time, Transport for London (TfL) said that the decision to rebrand resulted from “clear feedback from Londoners on the current brands, which can be misleading – especially for those new to cycling – and is in line with best practice from the world’s top cities for cycling. The identity for the new network will be revealed in early 2019.”
While the cycling page on the TfL website still makes reference to Cycle Superhighways and Quietways, buried deep in yesterday’s press release from the Mayor’s office announcing funding for 11 new Liveable Neighbourhood schemes were references not to the planned Cycle Superhighway 4, for example, but instead to Cycleway 4.
This morning, the Mayor’s office confirmed to road.cc that the name had been chosen as the new branding for Cycle Superhighways and Quietways.
When the Cycling Action Plan was launched in December, London’s cycling & walking commissioner Will Norman told the Evening Standard’s Ross Lydall that the likelihood was that all new routes would in future be known as “cycleways.”
He also said that physical segregation of cycle lanes would take place where the danger to cyclists was deemed to be highest, based on factors including the space available, the speed and amount of motor traffic, and the presence of side roads and lorries at the location in question.
“Not all Quietways are quiet and not all Superhighways are super,” he explained. “This will result in more segregation across the network.”
We are checking with the Mayor’s office whether existing Cycle Superhighways and Quietways will have their names changed to Cycleways, or whether the rebranding just applies to future infrastructure.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Adam Sutton 10 min 42 sec ago
Actually all I did at the start was point out that the cycle lane was usable. I have expressed an opinion that it would be preferable in that given...
- hawkinspeter 12 min 37 sec ago
The problem with trying to allow for a word's meaning to drift is that the "anti-woke" people aren't able to define what they mean by "woke" and so...
- Zjtm231 18 min 28 sec ago
3k you must be joking?! 105 disc groupset is not about £550, hunt wheels £300...so will they want over 2k for frame saddle and bars. Hilarious pricing
- himmelsturmer 34 min 21 sec ago
With consumer demand falling , cycle retailers closing and manufacturers going by out of business it doesn't look as if the great cycling...
- Steve K 34 min 23 sec ago
I can't quite work out what the proposal is - is it purely signposting? I ride on that "too dangerous to cycle on" road on a fairly frequent basis.
- Jimmy Ray Will 44 min 53 sec ago
The industry is in for a brutlaly rough ride, and we are only really at the start of it. ...
- the little onion 1 hour 12 min ago
The other caveat that might be missing from your analysis is that you are assuming that the recording standards are consistent year to year. Not...
- BournemouthStorm 2 hours 6 min ago
I had high hopes that Keyhole Bridge would be closed again after reading the CUK release. Disappointed after reading the councils response this...
- richliv 11 hours 30 min ago
Exactly. I have a Ti gravel bike with a road (2×) setup and decent winter wheels with 28mm slicks, but also, gravel tyres for a change. It's...
Add new comment
16 comments
Cycle SuperHighway was always a "Jeebus Im going to puke in my own mouth if I have to say it" shitty piece of branding.
Khan and Will 'Runny shit in a bucket has done more for cycling' Norman are just a pair of wet blankets Centrist Dads that think by trying their hardest not to upset anyone will create some kind of legacy, can fuck right off after Khans term is up.
Unfortunately Labour wont front anyone else that would be worth voting for and the only cunts bigger than the Tories are the ones that vote for them, especially if they vote for the complete fucktard thats being pushed to the front (Says immigrants dont integrate: is child of immigrants. Says single mothers are bad: was raised by a single mother).
Cycling infra in London has stalled but it only got started after the fat blonde philanderer absoltuely shit his pants that his legacy would be dead cyclists (a cluster of 6 in a two week window spurred him into action) so I have no expectation whatsoever of anything changing apart from what the half-arsed, barely started pile of crap is called by the shitshow that constantly pat themselves on the back while giving each other reacharounds.
In the circles in which that venomous, worthless, porcine c* hair moves, that would probably merit nomination for canonisation.
Not to mention that Polytechnics could offer degree courses even before they were allowed to call themselves universities ... they just had to be accredited by an "actual" university.
They've only removed the word 'super' from them because they've realised most of them are utter shit....even the newer ones are shocking in places.
And I'm still gonna speed on them at a lot less than the speed limit that doesn't apply to me cos I'm evil innit.
I do find it odd that they seem to think that all opposition to cycling infrastructure and the Alliston Effect will magically disappear so long as they just rename them "Fluffy Bunny Slow-Ways" or something like that...
I'm not really sure they give a flying fuck either way. Perception is everything, and if they can give the appearance of 'doing something' then in our celeb-and-selfie-obsessed society, that's enough.
At the end of the day, Sadiq Khan and the TFL kingpins are probably all red tories anyway, so what does it matter if a few cyclists end up under the wheels of an HGV?
Rebranded so Khan can make up that he's actually done something for cycling in London.....when he's actually binned planned infrastructure.
Now all he has to do I paint a white bicycle on the floor and call it a cycleway and claim he's installed miles and miles of cycleways!
This is the death of separate, safe cycling infrastructure in London. Khan's killed it.
If you support cycling in London you rely really need to vote for anyone but Khan next time.
Before you do that, take a very good look at what the other candidates say about cycling. Yes, Khan is bad on cycling - everything I've heard from conservative prospective candidates is much, much worse.
That's the problem isn't it? Khan is Captain Timid, The Mayor of Stasistown (slogan"No We Khan't"). But 99% of Tories are just as bad or worse.
In between race-baiting Zac blathered about ripping up cycle lanes and even bus lanes.
Maybe that Lib Dem from Cambridge (the only Lib Dem I've ever had any time for*) might move to London?
* edit, oh, though Charles Kennedy seemed likable enough, notwithstanding his problems with booze. Apparently opposing the Iraq war was almost entirely down to him, as well.
To be fair, the tories have form in this respect. Allow polys to award degrees and call themselves 'universities', and at a stroke, you get to claim that you 'increased access to universities' (and you get to have fuckers like me who enjoyed winding up a girl in a bar one night in the West End, who claimed to have a degree from 'the University of Greenwich', and almost poured her drink over me when I said, 'Ah. You went to Thames Poly').
And Khan is a red tory, so no change there.
It's really not as simple as that, there are very strict rules. I worked at a private college that was awarded TDAP, I believe it was only the second in the country to do so. The rules and regs are as strict as they are for Universities.
Degree values vary between Institutions though, as ever.
R
R
R
R
What utter bullshit. It shows you exactly where Khan and Norman's priorities lie: brand.
Nobody cares what they are called, but they do care that you've stopped building them. I'm afraid Gilligan has nailed this mayor.