How super are the Barclays Cycle Superhighway?

A question which has been floating around in my head for some time. No doubt the paint add’s something, not safety in my opinion and all the added features and road layout are an improvement over what was already available. Is it super or a highway for cyclists?

My videos of the superhighway’s have gotten over 30,000 views on youtube, most of these show issues with it ranging from layout to abuse from car drivers and cyclists alike. Aside from the added cycle lanes, a few more advanced stop lines, trixi mirrors, improved off-road cycle lanes, signs and better road surface, there are no other improvements for cyclists. So every time you come to a junction controlled by traffic lights, there is the chance that some numpty comes along and jumps them and the perceived image that all cyclists are red light jumpers is up held.

As has always been planned, the super highways are aimed at commuters, and thus if you use the route on the weekend you will notice that there is a lot more parked vehicles along the route, and all of these are done so legally. But during commuting hours, you will still find that drivers are parked illegally on route and force cyclists to manoeuver around them and into moving traffic. This is not hard for the experience cyclist, but these routes are meant to bring in new riders and this is hardly something that they will find easy to do.

Drivers also still break general traffic rules by driving / stopping / blocking bicycle lanes and stopping after ASL’s. So far I have seen no motorists punished for such offensives and I’ve yet to hear of such from other cyclists. All that has been witnessed is the odd cyclist being fined / spoken to about jumping red lights (which i am not against).

If the Motorways were built like this, there would be an uproar from motorists about the poor quality and forward thinking. But yet we hear nothing from the cyclists? Is this just down to the fact that we are so used to bad cycling facilities, that when we are promised a cycling revolution and we are let down, it’s just another part of being a cyclist in England?


Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.