Mayor unveils cycling future

The Mayor has announced major changes to his flagship cycle lanes - the superhighways.

At the opening of a new extension to one of them he revealed special segregated lanes will now be built in other parts of the city.

Today's announcement follows recent criticism of the highways by a coroner, and comes as the cyclist killed last night in East London was named. Our Political Correspondent Simon Harris reports.

Cycle-separated junctions will be installed on Whitechapel High Street, including the section where a collision claimed the life of Philippine de Gerin-Ricard in July. Full or semi segregation and cycle-separated junctions will be installed on the rest of the route.

The cycle-separated junctions will be used at all the busy junctions on CS2. They will include fully-segregated approaches to the junction and special cycle-specific traffic lights to protect against moving and turning traffic.

The new section of Cycle Superhighway 2, between Bow and Stratford, has just under 2 miles of new cycle track, almost entirely physically separated from traffic.

It also has “bus stop bypasses” to protect cyclists. Similar bus stop bypasses already exist in other parts of London, such as on Pinner Road in North Harrow, and in Brighton.

Unveiling the new Superhighway, Boris Johnson, said:

“This Barclays Cycle Superhighway is the first physical fruit of my promise to improve the experience of cycling in London. A stone’s throw from the Olympic velodrome where Britain’s cycling team topped the world, we humbler London cyclists now have a world-standard cycle route of our own.

"I am also today announcing that we will build a second substantially-segregated cycle superhighway through the heart of central London - adding a north-south segregated route to our already-announced east-west route.

I share people’s impatience for change. We have taken the time to ensure that it is done properly - but that physical change is now underway.”

Boris Johnson has launched the first fully-segregated section of the Cycle Superhighway. The Mayor has also unveiled plans for similar improvements elsewhere on the road network:

• There will be a major upgrade of existing Cycle Superhighway routes
• An entirely new north-south segregated cycle route through Central London
• Over 100 additional designers, engineers and traffic modellers will help deliver the expanded cycling programme

• The programme will see new routes and improvements across London, as part of a wider initiative for improving the capital’s roads