Go-ahead for Europe’s longest urban cycle trail

It was postponed over and over but now, Europe’s longest urban cycle trail is about to get build. Right through London’s inner city.

There are actually two trails. The north-south-route is going to run five kilometres from the traffic hub Elephant & Castle to King’s Cross. The east-west-route will pack a punch: Almost 30 kilometres from Barking to Acton and through London’s inner city. The new cycle paths are broadly planned. They will be segregated and two-way so commuters can go fast from one place to the other. If feasible the lanes are going through traffic-calmed areas in London. For example: The east-west-route will go through the famous Hyde Park, through Green Park and St. James Park. The segment in London’s inner city is planned to be finished in April 2016.

Symbol for cycling is uncertain

Originally, one lane of the Westway highway should have been turned into a cycle lane for the east-west-route. London’s Mayor Boris Johnson was speaking of a symbol of cycling. But it is uncertain if this is still going to come. The new statemant just says that it will be consulted on this later this year.

London rather not cycle friendly

The bicycle-highway is part of a comprehensive campaign for a more cycle friendly capital of Great Britain. More then one billion Euros will be spend for bicycle infrastructure over the next ten years to raise the number of cyclists in the city. London is in a sore need of this. Cyclist make up just about two percent of the whole modal split. For comparison: bicycle modal pupil Amsterdam has a share of 22 percent.

Modal Split in Europe

The bicycle highway is a flagship project for urban cycling. The trend of modern cities is to turn away from cars, which are in need of a lot of space and stress the environment, to bicycles, which need less space and further help to improve citizen’s health. The online tool TEMS shows, how the modal split is distributed in Europe’s regions. Links: General Info about the bicycle superhighway Detailed plan about the east-west-route