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‘Shoddy’ and overly circuitous Cycle Superhighway in North East London criticised

But TfL argues there are fewer traffic lights and the route is far less polluted... have your say too!

A new Cycle Superhighway connecting North East London to the centre of the capital has been described as ‘shoddy’ and overly circuitous.

Transport for London (TfL) is currently consulting on the new 7 mile route known as CS1, which is to run between Tottenham and Liverpool Street, through Stoke Newington and Dalston.

Work is due to begin on the route later this year.

Jenny Jones, Green Party assembly member, has suggested that a superhighway should be a fast and direct route along major roads with segregation, and that CS1 should in fact be rebranded as a Quietway.

Mark Treasure, Chair of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, told the Hackney Citizen that  “shoddy backstreet routes” was “desperately poor.”

He said: “Of course there is the issue of whether this route even deserves to be called a ‘Superhighway’ at all.”

“Superhighway 1 is most definitely a Quietway, not a Superhighway. It runs of low-traffic side streets for almost its entire length… It is not ‘mostly on main roads.’”

Jenny Jones told East London Lines: “As a cyclist I’m not out for a day trip, I want to get places and back again in the quickest route possible. If it takes cyclists longer, even if it’s safer, it is only going to attract a certain percentage.”

“The Mayor needs to fix the main roads and junctions which he controls on the parallel route.

“It’s not good enough not making the main roads safe.”

TfL counters that the back street route only has eight sets of traffic lights, compared to 54 along the main road.

The Mayor of London’s Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, said: This route will be quicker to deliver, more pleasant to use and more convenient for cyclists than anything we could do on the main road – including full segregation.’

Last week we reported how the CS1 is billed as an “A10 bypass” for people on bikes, with claims that cyclists will save more than a quarter of the journey time for travelling along its entire length compared to riding on the main road.

Where it does run alongside the main road, the cycle path is off-carriageway and – something that has grabbed a lot of attention – has trees running down the middle of it, presumably to encourage a two-way flow of riders.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: “Our research shows that well over 100,000 journeys in this area could be made by bike instead.

“This Cycle Superhighway will provide cyclists with a direct, protected route along quiet streets, making it even easier for people to hop on a bike rather than getting in their cars.

“This is exactly what the cycling revolution is all about – making it simpler and safer for ordinary people to choose to get on the saddle and enjoy London by bike.”

The consultation says: “Our research shows cyclists could ride from Tottenham to the City in around 30 minutes, compared with over 40 minutes for a similar journey along the A10. Cyclists on CS1 would pass through just eight traffic signals, compared with 54 traffic signals for the equivalent journey along the A10. We are confident CS1 would allow faster and more reliable cycling journey times.”

To see the detailed plans and have your say click here.

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8 comments

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BIRMINGHAMisaDUMP | 9 years ago
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One has to consider that part of this goes through Haringey. And then remember that Haringey is incompetent, corrupt and lazy. (Sustainable Transport in Haringey has one agenda; ensure that rat run traffic goes as fast as it wishes and along as many residential roads as it wishes. F**K the residents) After all, the lazy council workers don't live in Haringey but are quite happy to publish the local Council mag with pictures of smiling children riding bikes. Children on Bikes! In Haringey? No chance - the roads are infested with speeding through traffic.

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bashthebox | 9 years ago
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The route of CS1 kinda looks like someone went over the existing cycle routes with a bigger pen. It's not a bad route really, and I guess the hope would be that being highway'd up would mean some of the sticky and tricky points of the route would be improved. Lots of quiet junctions to cross, but on balance that's better for most people than dodging buses and taxis on Kingsland Road.
I'm South London these days too - though unlike the lucky rider of CS7, those of us in SE15 have slightly shittier options to get into town. When I work in Shoreditch I have to brave Tower Bridge's north junction; when I work in Soho I have to deal with a longer section of the Old Kent Road than I'd like. Not much protection for cyclists, so you end up pushing the pedals as hard as you can to stay with the traffic.

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teaboy replied to bashthebox | 9 years ago
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Quote:

The Mayor of London’s Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, said: This route will be quicker to deliver, more pleasant to use and more convenient for cyclists than anything we could do on the main road – including full segregation.’

More convenient unless you happen to be going to anywhere on the A10, like schools, or shops, or train stations, cafes, libraries, doctor's surgeries....

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PonteD replied to teaboy | 9 years ago
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teaboy wrote:
Quote:

The Mayor of London’s Cycling Commissioner, Andrew Gilligan, said: This route will be quicker to deliver, more pleasant to use and more convenient for cyclists than anything we could do on the main road – including full segregation.’

More convenient unless you happen to be going to anywhere on the A10, like schools, or shops, or train stations, cafes, libraries, doctor's surgeries....

You see, the mistake you're making there is that you're thinking about cycling as if it's a means of transport and not just purely a leisure activity. Next you'll be suggesting we use our bikes to get to work and back  35 .

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OldRidgeback | 9 years ago
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My London commuting has generally been by back routes. I know from long experience that not only are they safer and more enjoyable, they're also quicker as they generally avoid most of the signalised junctions. It looks very much like that's what TfL's has tried to achieve and after over 20 years commuting in London, that's the sort of cycle route I'd much rather use. I live in South London but when I ride into town, the circuitous route is a lot quicker than the main roads.

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bikebot replied to OldRidgeback | 9 years ago
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There is a question of capacity though as well. I'm also in South London, and I can take a very direct route into the city via CS7. I still sometimes use the old LCN3 route, which runs sort of parallel to it on quiet roads.

I find CS7 quite a bit faster, as it doesn't have that many junctions and it's very direct. CS7 is also used by a hell of a lot of cyclists, it's something like one a second during peak hours. If you tried to put that many people through the LCN route, it would be a bit of a mess. There are quite a few points where you'd end up with a massive queue.

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jacknorell | 9 years ago
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I thought the plan was a bit pants, though an improvement.

Until I saw the number of light-controlled junctions and crossings on the main road vs this route.

The CS1 route will be quicker on a bike.

It's frankly astounding how much time lights and dense traffic eat up, as I've learnt from doing my commuting route at 2 am on a Tuesday  3

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velodinho | 9 years ago
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Link doesn't work

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