Cyclists spurn Boris’s £50million bike lanes
BORIS Johnson was last night accused of wasting £50million on a ‘cycle superhighway’ in London as it appears the routes are being ignored by cyclists.
Pictures have emerged showing many bike riders avoiding the wide cycle lanes installed around the capital and just using the normal roads instead.
In some cases this is because they refuse to stop at the separate traffic lights
‘Drivers are left infuriated’
installed on the cycle lanes. But in other cases cyclists appear to simply prefer using the main roads.
The former London Mayor pledged to create the world’s greatest cycling routes, allowing people to cross the capital on bikes without sharing the road with cars and lorries.
Now Foreign Secretary, one of Mr Johnson’s most ambitious projects was a cycle route between East and West London, running through the centre of the capital.
The 12-mile route will not be completed until later this year, though it has been opened from Parliament Square to Tower Gateway in East London, near the Tower of London.
It includes a segregated two lane cycle route along the Embankment to Westminster. Car drivers along the route have faced appalling queues as new cycle lanes installed have reduced traffic to one lane.
The introduction of the lanes followed mounting concerns about the number of deaths and injuries on London’s roads.
But the roadworks required to put the lanes in place have caused long tailbacks across major routes. Ian Crowder of the AA said: ‘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.’
Howard Cox, founder of motorist campaign group FairFuelUK said: ‘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?’