London cyclists to benefit from expanded plans for Cycle Superhighway 1

Transport for London (TfL) and Hackney Council have decided to expand on plans for Cycle Superhighway 1 (CS1) following a public consultation. In addition to what was originally proposed, there will now be area-wide closures of residential streets to through traffic as well as an alternative route at the northern end to avoid a stretch of St Ann’s Road.

Over a thousand people responded to a public consultation on the new route which will run from Tottenham to the City on quiet roads parallel to the A10. Of those, 77 per cent were in favour or partially in favour of the proposals.

Feryal Demirci, cabinet member for neighbourhoods at Hackney Council, said:

“I have been delighted by the outpouring of support for the route and the demands to go further to create traffic-free streets.

“We therefore intend to be more ambitious than we initially proposed. We will use this opportunity to create area-wide street and road closures and make the neighbourhoods through which the route passes genuinely cycle-friendly.

“This will be the first time in London that we will be creating a safe haven for cyclists and pedestrians over so wide an area.”

Hackney has proposed further area-wide closures in De Beauvoir Town, in the Wordsworth Road area and elsewhere on the route. These possible additions to the plans will now be subject to consultation.

It was also felt that the original plans for the Tottenham end of CS1 were not good enough, as there was a short section on St Ann’s Road that was too narrow for proper segregation. An alternative is now being proposed with the original configuration being delivered for the interim.

Earlier in the year, Jenny Jones, Green Party assembly member, criticised CS1 for being indirect, while Mark Treasure, Chair of the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain, made reference to ‘shoddy backstreet routes’ when assessing the proposals.

TfL say that the new route will have only eight sets of traffic lights compared to 54 on the main road and the Cycling Commissioner for London, Andrew Gilligan, said that it often made more sense to use side roads for Cycle Superhighways rather than trying to restructure major arteries.  

“As we made clear in the Mayor's Vision for Cycling, Superhighways need not be on main roads where better, more direct alternatives exist. Some of the most successful stretches of the current network, such as Cable Street and Narrow Street on CS3, are on side streets. 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.”

TfL estimates that a journey from the City to Tottenham will take around 30 minutes, compared to about 40 minutes on the main road.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said:

“This new route will be the A10 bypass, wafting you in tranquillity to within a few feet of the urban centres of Dalston, Stoke Newington, and Tottenham. It will be a pleasure to cycle on and I expect it to introduce thousands more people to the joys of cycling.”

More details on the proposals can be found on the TfL website.