Westminster Bridge to get segregated tracks

Way too narrow, would be fine if drivers doesn't get aggressive toward those who choose not to ride in the lane.

Anyone know how wide the cycle lane on Southwark Bridge is? It's my usual river crossing and it would be a useful mental yardstick. It's right on the borderline of passable IMO. A couple of foot wider and it would be comfortable to pass at low speed.

I choose not to use the segregated cycle lane on St Georges Rd coming off of E&C because I go straight ahead/veer left instead of going right at the end of the road and I haven't had a problem yet.

There was only one time when a moped pulled up to me at the lights and said "you should be in there, (pointing at the lane) you'd be much safer in there".

After I told him I would have just cut him up back there to get onto the entrance of the lane and that I need to veer left at the end of the road meaning I have to exit and cut up two lanes of moving traffic he just said "ohhh ok then".

So far so good then.

Not sure, but it'd be much easier to pass on Southwark if the kerb weren't so huge. Something with a taper or low step like on Harleyford Road.

The old Tavistock track was 1.8m and two way...

And a very high kerb on either side.

1.8 metres is way too narrow, engineer thought this is idea because they think bike need less room than cars, while they actually need the same amount of room as cars.

Yeah, but 1.8 one direction is not way under, not for a short stint like a bridge. And angled kerbstones are in use now, cf blackfriars bridge.

On that note, while I'm sat here on my high horse eating digestives... what about this:

Currently, many roads are wide enough for motor vehicles and cycles, and studies elsewhere show shared use is safer once cycle numbers increase (ie, 10 cyclists are harder to kill than a single one or something).

Cycle lanes are narrow, and logic is thrown out of the window regarding above shared use etc. Apparently if cycle lanes popularise cycling, then there are more cyclists.

Now, say we all try to avoid the road rage, and we all make use of the cycle lanes at an adequate/safe speed (pootle).

The cycle lanes are narrower than a road lane, and sometimes two-way, or shared use with pedestrian, and so on. The now-popularised cycling activity means these cycle lanes may/will reach beyond their capacity.

What happens then? Because unlike a road where the pootlers can be overtaken, you have pootlers, wobblers, mamils, skidders all crammed into a space much smaller than a road lane...

Even when you take out the mamils, skidders and speedy folk, you will have a mass of wobbly cyclists in a very narrow space. Is it totally unrealistic to expect that actually the low-speed cyclist accidents/collisions will increase? Because that's exactly how it seems every time I go through Hyde Park and nearly get totalled by a tourist on a Boris.

^ Then we (the vast hordes of cyclists) campaign to get them widened. Either that or rise up in rebellion and usurp the motorised overlords.

The cycle lanes are narrower than a road lane, and sometimes two-way, or shared use with pedestrian, and so on. The now-popularised cycling activity means these cycle lanes may/will reach beyond their capacity.

Perfect example is the tiny cycle path that go between the bus stop and the Metropolitan Tabernacle in Elephant and Castle (on Newington Butts, not open yet)

It's not just tiny, but the pavements for pedestrian is also equally tiny, so there's going to be bottlenecks with thousands of cyclists who choose to venture onto the single lane cycle path just to get ahead.

Wait till the summer get here and a lots of those new cycle lanes will suddenly be too small.

Agreed @edscoble

If I wasn't a confident cyclist, I would be totally freaked out by the thought of those aggro-clusterfuck bike lanes.

That's the thing, not exactly a path you can comfortably poodle at 7mph knowing the person behind you is waiting for you to get a move on/trying to pass you.

The new segregated lanes are fine if you go really slow, are in no hurry, and happy not to overtake any other cyclists and to give way to pedestrians who wont treat it as a proper road, by not looking before crossing etc. Pain in the ass for everyone else.

One last problem - they get filled with crap = puncture o'time!

Looks like Westminster cycle lane is getting used well

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Heard through my twitter feed from the LCC. Work starts tomorrow from the south end.
Hopefully a memorial can be incorporated too.