Thursday 3 February 2011

To illustrate the utter idiocy of Newham's position on the CSH through the A11, I took some photos on my route this afternoon.

IMG00102-20101018-1736.jpg (1524×904)

This is the Greenway. The Olympic park and Stadium are directly to the left of the picture.The route has recently been renovated and is a great cycle route.

However, when one leaves the Greenway the A11 is encountered. This is the road has to be negotiated to get to Stratford town centre


This is looking right over the Bow flyover which many commuter cyclists negotiate to avoid the even worse option of the gyratory underneath. Note the narrow cycle lane which terminates halfway down the slip road. Useful. It says "End" on it, presumably because the miserly width couldn't accommodate the phrase "All cyclists abandon hope beyond here".


Then notice the route into Stratford. This has recently been "renovated".  Presumably the parked cars are going to become a "feature" of this route, and considered more essential than, say, using the now defunct inside lane for a bus lane which would help buses proceed past the ever present queues and give a measure of protection to cyclists.

Note also the complete lack of crossing for the Greenway. I had heard this was going to be installed as part of the regeneration, but presumably got dropped as the roadworks appear finished now. So cyclists and pedestrians have to go down to the traffic lights just about visible in the background to cross. Superb.

Then we get into Stratford. What can I say? Apart from a picture is worth a thousand words. So here we are :



Now, how much cycling to the Olympics is likely to happen on these roads? How many people will be inspired by the Olympics to get on a cycle with these conditions? 

A cycle super highway may not be the whole answer. It may not even be half the answer. But supporting it would show some intent that Newham want to make cycling a bit less marginalised in their borough. Instead, by blocking this scheme, Newham have shown their contempt for cycling.

5 comments:

  1. I saw this and thought of you: http://gehlarchitects.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/gehl-architects-in-london/

    haven't had time to read the document myself yet...

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  2. There was a link on another cycling blog to this chap talking about successful cities and he was fantastic.

    It will be interesting to see what happening when he meets the immovable object that Newham council.

    I hope he wins and gets to implement what he wants.

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  3. I agree the Greeway is superb - but as you rightly point out, the difficulty of crossing this main road, with its major detour to the traffic lights, is a real shame.

    Having seen some of the new not-so-superhighway that is being built, it appears that TfL has learnt nothing from the two pilots. :(

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  4. There seems to be some new construction at the end of that greenway now - a bridge perhaps?

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  5. That's an Olympic footbridge, which will allow Olympic spectators access to the Olympic Park (from the Greenway) during the Olympics. It will not be open before the Olympics. It is not designed for cyclists.

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