Transport for London opens new Cycle Superhighways consultation tomorrow

Earlier this year Transport for London promised "fast and substantially segregated cycle superhighways providing north-south and east-west routes through central London". Plans for those routes are now ready and will be opened for public consultation tomorrow.

Among the many criticisms of London's cycle superhighways, even the more successful routes such as CS3 dump you on the outskirts of central London with no guidance or protection if you want to get deeper into the city or across the other side.

In response to that criticism, London mayor Boris Johnson last year announced that new superhighways would be built that crossed London from east to west and north to south.

The new substantially-segregated north-south route will run from Elephant and Castle to King’s Cross via Blackfriars Road and Blackfriars Bridge. It is planned to use a combination of full segregation and lower-traffic streets. It will connect at Blackfriars, where the junction will be remodelled, with the new substantially-segregated east-west superhighway from Barking to West London.

The proposed superhighway at Blackfriars

Details of the latter route will be announced tomorrow, but it seems likely it will use some of the existing segregated cycle superhighway 3 from east London to Tower Gateway. That route simply stops at the end of Royal Mint Street with no indication as to how cyclists are supposed to negotiate the tangle of junctions around Tower Hill.

Transport for London has produced artist's impressions of a cycle superhighway along Victoria Embankment. Cycle campaigners will be watching closely to see how well — or badly — Transport for London rises to the challenge of connecting up a useful, safe cycling network.

When the new superhighways were originally announced, Mark Treasure, chair of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, said: “It is essential that designs really are up to scratch, and don’t just give up when the going gets tough, particularly at major junctions. That means that motor traffic capacity can and should be sacrificed, where necessary.

“Most importantly, we need to start seeing action on the ground, not just with the proposed upgrading of the entire Superhighway 2 route and the newly-announced north-south segregated Superhighway, but with a joined-up network across the city - not just single isolated routes that don’t connect with anything else.”

Public consultation opens tomorrow on the new routes via Transport for London's public consultation hub.