London's North-South Cycle Superhighway up for top engineering award - and it's open to public vote

London’s North-South Cycle Superhighway has been nominated for a top civil engineering award – and as one that is open to public vote, you can help make it the winner and push the case for similar infrastructure in the capital and beyond.

The London Civil Engineering Awards 2017, organised by the Institute of Civil Engineers, aim to “showcase the hidden benefits of civil engineering to society” and “celebrate the most innovative, creative and sustainable contributions to the physical and social environment in the capital.”

The North-South Cycle Superhighway, now open from Elephant & Castle to Stonecutter Street in Clerkenwell, is nominated in the Londonist People's Choice Award category, the only one open to public vote.

> Video: First look at London’s North-South Cycle Superhighway

It’s up against several other major projects – Battersea Power Station Phase 2, the Bermondsey Dive-Under, the tunnel and platform construction at Liverpool Street Crossrail, Custom House Station, Guy’s Cancer Centre, the Hampstead Heath Ponds Project, and the London Bridge Station redevelopment.

The citation for the North-South Cycle Superhighway’s nomination says:

TfL opened the first phase of the North-South Cycle Superhighway in Spring 2016. The North-South Cycle Superhighway is a high quality, substantially segregated cycle route between Elephant and Castle and Stonecutter Street (3km), near Holborn Viaduct.

The route has been transformative for London cycling, and could only have been achieved through excellent project management and teamwork. It provides cyclists with safer, faster, more direct and comfortable provisions in central London.

The route uses several innovative design features to improve safety. For instance, cyclists are physically separated from traffic through segregation kerbs, and junctions have been radically redesigned to give cyclists priority through early-release traffic lights. Vehicles turning left are also held back to allow cyclists safe passage.

Since opening, surveys show more than a 50 per cent increase in the number of cyclists using the route compared with pre-construction, and in the morning and evening peaks, cycling numbers have reached 8,400.

> 1,200 cyclists PER HOUR using new cycle superhighway

Four minutes of London's North-South cycle track* on Blackfriars Rd at rush hour in 59s.

*and pavement and several lanes for other vehicles pic.twitter.com/oGdi1ZWAlD

— Alex Ingram (@nuttyxander) March 14, 2017

Voting remains open until 1700 hours on Monday 1 May 2017, and there are five pairs of tickets to the ICE London Civil Engineering Awards reception on Thursday 25 May in Westminster and five pairs of tickets for ICE Engineer Late in November up for grabs for people casting a vote.

Head here to vote.

Other categories decided upon by judges include the Greatest Contribution to London, the highest award, “given to the project that most beneficially impacts Londoners,” the Infrastructure Award, and Special Awards granted at the judging panel’s discretion “for projects that they feel demonstrate a significant contribution to society.”