Does a bold blue line make a cycle route a cycle superhighway?

Some initial impressions on London’s first two pilot cycle superhighways by Charles Martin

In the week before London’s first two Cycle Superhighways were officially launched on the 19
July 2010, I took my first ride along the route of what was about to become ‘Cycle
Superhighway 7’. Cycling north through Merton, suddenly - one could say almost out of the
blue - the grey tarmac of the A24 took on a bright new appearance. From a point close to
Colliers Wood station, a lane of sky blue shimmered from the road surface and trailed ahead
like a welcoming carpet. This would continue, almost continuously, for nearly 14 km (or, as the
route branding prefers to note, 45 minutes cycling time), along the A24 and then the A3, largely
running in parallel with the Northern Line, to a point just beyond Southwark Bridge and within
400 metres of Bank station. Why stand on the overcrowded tube when you can take the bicycle
to reach your destination almost as quickly and exercise at the same time?

Of all the emotions that I experienced during that first 45 minute ride to the city along the
emerging Cycle Superhighway, the overriding sensation, admittedly as a proficient cyclist, was
that I felt far less marginalised than I normally would do on any other similarly busy paint-free
road. The road space here definitely belonged to me, as a cyclist, as much as it did to all the
other road users. And there was one incident that somehow defined the event. Between
Stockwell and Oval I had to overtake a parked delivery lorry. Nothing unusual about this as
vehicles occupied the kerb space all along the route because my journey was taking place during
the off-peak and deliveries were permitted at these times. However, as I left the clear blue lane
to join slow moving traffic to pass this particular vehicle, the guy unloading goods from the
lorry looked across to me, shrugged, and said sorry! He was actually apologising for causing me
inconvenience! So I waved back and said no problem. That incident spoke volumes. It told me
that other users of the road now recognised that cyclists were to be expected. We had
acknowledged each others presence, we had shown respect. I very much doubt whether
something like that would ever have happened before the arrival of the blue paint!

1
The following day I tried the other route that was very near completion. ‘Cycle Superhighway 3’
links Barking and Tower Gateway, but unlike highway 7, uses largely off-road segregated paths
which run alongside the A13 and Cable Street. The city end was a joy to ride, but the long A13
section east of Canning Town provided quite a contrast because, despite the segregation from
the road, the sheer level of noise created by the adjacent fast moving traffic frankly made this
an unpleasant place to be. Way out near Beckton it took nearly three minutes to cross one road
(Woolwich Manor Way) via four toucan crossings, so no cycling priority there. And the delay
made the advertised distance-based journey times quite a challenge, although I suspect there are
few places in London where it is possible to travel so far by bicycle so quickly. It would be
particularly satisfying to use, of course, on those occasions when traffic on the A13 is at a
standstill. Overall the experience was a good one, and afterwards the streets without paint
seemed simply naked.

Within a week the routes were officially launched and there was, inevitably, some criticism that
focused on the blue paint used to demarcate the routes. Were the Superhighways simply
defined by a painted blue line? Kulveer Ranger the Mayor’s transport advisor was quick to
point out that this was not an ordinary blue line, but a bold blue line. Having subsequently
revisited both routes I tend to agree, although clearly the highways are not perfect. And they
are not perfect due to the same old story that has beleaguered attempts to provide
infrastructure for cyclists over the years. The complexities associated with how best to ease
conflict at major junctions, the difficult bits, do not always get fully addressed. Some have
pointed, as way of examples, to the southern approach to the start of the gyratory at Stockwell
and to the large junction at Kennington both on highway 7. Meanwhile on highway 3, I am left
pondering where exactly is the Cycle Superhighway in the vicinity of Canning Town station?
On the other hand, all that is needed to make the Elephant and Castle bypass for cyclists very
good indeed is the simple addition of some additional signage on Newington Butts at a point
fifty metres or so before the sharp left into Churchyard Row (a turn that can currently be
hidden from view by buses serving the adjacent bus stop).

The first two Cycle Superhighways appear in many ways to have delivered far more in one year
than the 900km (and unfinished) London Cycle Network has (at a cost of around £147m) in
the last ten. The purpose of the LCN was to provide high-demand routes that were fast, safe,
comfortable, coherent, continuous, of high quality, easy to use, and also give cyclists greater
priority over other traffic. What has been delivered is a series of patchy, non-continuous,
unfinished, poorly signed cycle routes that vary greatly in quality from borough to borough.
This outcome clearly reflects the piecemeal, cash-starved fashion of implementation.

Now we have Cycle Superhighways that are intended to provide safer, faster and more direct
journeys. There is no doubt that the launch of these first two routes, as pilots for a further ten
radial routes to be delivered by 2015, along with the start of the Cycle Hire scheme in central
London at the end of the July this year, has put the stamp on the Year of Cycling and set the
scene for what the Mayor and TfL have described as a cycling revolution in the capital.

Nevertheless, Boris can give us Superhighways until he is blue in the face, but, as the London
Cycling Campaign has pointed out, unless he ensures that other roads receive cycle friendly
improvements too, the full advantages may not be realised. The organisation is calling for a
network of cycle-friendly streets to help Superhighway users continue their journeys into and
across central London. Some enhancements just require more efficient allocation of road space,
and this could be achieved relatively easily and inexpensively at no disbenefit to other road

2
users (and that would be music to Boris’s ears). Meanwhile, there are no signs of the promised
cycle hubs in outer London. We need to learn from the mistakes of the LCN, put further
implementation in the hands of one competent body and not the individual boroughs to ensure
the best consistent approach, and hope that TfL’s current research into new ways of navigation
bear fruit.

In the meantime, if the arrival of the bold blue line onto some of London’s roads helps
engender greater respect between all road users a little further, well, that has to be a good thing.

Charles Martin
23 September 2010

This essay was originally submitted to the London group of the Campaign for Better Transport for inclusion in
their September 2010 newsletter. An abridged version was subsequently published, and that shortened version
was available from their website http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/london_local_group in September 2010.