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What Is Happening in London? Cyclists Seem to Ignore Boris’s “Superhighway”

By Monica Buck

Were the £50 million spent on cycling superhighway wasted? Riders in London have recently been avoiding the wide lanes built specifically for them and they seem to be using the normal roads instead.

It’s partially due to the fact that they don’t want to stop at the separate traffic lights. But it seems to be mainly because of the fact that cyclists just prefer the main roads. That, of course, isn’t something the drivers want to see.

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“Drivers are infuriated while stuck in jams, made worse seeing huge parts of their way forward hampered by new and mostly desolate cycle lanes. What is the cost of these politically correct follies to the economy?” said Howard Cox, founder of the motorist campaign group FairFuelUK, in an interview for Daily Mail. It’s true that drivers have been facing big traffic jams since the wide lanes were introduced.

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Ian Crowder of the AA insists the Boris Johnson’s “superhighway” is being constructed for the benefit of the cyclists, though: “Huge investment has been made in the cycle highway network, which has been designed to make travel safer for cyclists in response to the shocking number of collisions where cyclists come off worse. The fact that many cyclists seem to be ignoring the infrastructure designed for them will be seen by many to be counterproductive. But of course, they have the right to use the Queen’s highway just like any other road users.”

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Do you think the £50 million were wasted? Would you use such a “superhighway” were it constructed in your city? Let us know in the comments.