TFL Cycle Superhighways

Anyone seen the ones on Narrow St (CS3)? Absurd.

Once complete, the whole road will be entirely blue with the exception of a 1.5 foot strip of bitumen down the middle.

Things I don't like but will pass on my comments to TfL:

• some of them are full of debris and don't get cleaned
  
• nasty drains in the middle of some bits
  
• and why paint lanes in parking spaces??
  

I think someones heard you regarding the debris, I've seen two street sweepers going along them in the last couple of days...

Not sure what they could do about the drains?

And the parking spaces begger belief, I thought it was supposed to be uninterupted?!

Me too, it like letting car parked on a motorway, they make it diffxuilt for inexperience cyclists to join the traffic flow.

Awesome!

Is that a sarcastic awesome of there being roadworks in the lane or do you think they are moving the drains?!

There were three or four bits of small road works along the superhighway (I particularly remember the one in balham, and stockwell) maybe they are moving the drain covers?!

Remember it's not supposed to be active till the end of July is it?! So there may still be some changes in store for us?! :)

You would imagine that, in an integrated plan, the drain covers would be moved before the smurf-druff was laid down? I suspect the work in the photo is nothing to do with the CSHs.

you would imagine...one thing I've noticed is that the blue sometimes makes sinks in the road harder to see if you don't have your wits about you? anyway, boris has this to say:

I was slightly disappointed to read just a few hours ago that, according to some blogger, my brand new bright blue Cycle Superhighway is already being dug up by roadworks even before it has opened

It was a sarcastic awesome for ripping up a newly painted lane. In the end it'll just look like patchwork, and it'll suck more than it already does. that's my prediction anyway.

I saw Bojo riding through London Bridge on Friday.

His helmet has an Oyster sticker on the back. Funny bastard.

Saw him going across it at 10 am this morning, bit of a lie in?

I went on one of these blue line things for the first time on Wednesday night and I have to say , personally I didn't like it, though I can see the benefits of it

Saw him going across it at 10 am this morning, bit of a lie in?
for you? ;)

I now cycle to Barking. This is a Hipster free zone

I can't see why any cyclisst would want to ride down the A13.

What's needed in East London are safe river crossings for the Roding and the Lea.

Hipter free zone, lol!

I also cycled on the CS3 from Tower Gateway to Barking, quite a good route actually. Wouldnt have done it without the blue highway. It is definitely the old bicycle route painted blue and thats basically it. I must say that the blue helped me not get lost though.

You would imagine that, in an integrated plan, the drain covers would be moved before the smurf-druff was laid down? I suspect the work in the photo is nothing to do with the CSHs.

Integrated smintegrated.

The road works at stockwell have cleard to reveal one small grate where there were three big ones (althought they've not gone near the one on the corner that's really dangerous) and in clapham when rode past (at ten, officially to drop the kid off at school veevee :p, unofficially hell yeah the lie in is awesome :) the grate they'd sectioned off had a square of Tarmac around it removed...

I'm liking the blue lanes more and more, drivers are paying attention to them (generally) and I like how wide they are... Not sure their benifit are worth the cost, but better than nothing! :)

There are section that I like, nice and wide, acceptably wide for cyclists (car-width wide).

but there are some confusing one that's pretty narrow, like the route from Balham Station to Tooting Bec Station, some are right on the kerbs away from the super wide road, and some are right on one of the lane of the 2 lane road, confusing for those who hasn't use it.

The one going south from Stockwell to Brixton would be fine, had they not just introduced a new left hand lane traffic light filter.
....

Yes I think you're describing the tricky section of CS7 which causes me problems on the Clapham Rd heading North at the traffic lights just past Stockwell Tube. The road forks to become South Lambeth Road on the left and continues as Clapham Road ahead/right. The blue lane should ideally continue right up to the second set of traffic lights on this right fork, but instead the blue line dies leaving cyclists with no clue which fork they should be take, exactly at the point where they must commit to one option.

Google Street View is going to look increasingly quite quaint with its snapshots of Smurf-druff free London.

Anyone else been on these in the rain over the last few days? The drainage on them is fucking terrible, water just seems to pool on top of them. Going north from Clapham North there's a very noticeable difference between the blue surface and the freshly laid red of the bus lane. You'd think someone might have considered this somewhere in the design process.

Other quirks I've noticed heading north towards Oval (CS7):

I'm not sure what they were thinking on the roundabout just north of Stockwell - they've put a divider down the middle of the road for traffic going round (the smurf strip is going round), but the smurf strip is to the left of the divide, so you end up on the outside the traffic leaving the roundabout with this shitty little gap at the end to rejoin your lane. That probably makes no sense at all so here's a crude diagram:

Also they've totally jumped the shark outside Oval tube station, over a third of the fairly wide three lane junction is painted blue, I felt like I was going to drown.

at oval this morning there was smurf all over the road - the blue gravel was everywhere, i think they stuck it down with waterbased glue?

Jon and TRNK, I'll try and photo that bit of madness on my way home tonight.

The upside of the north bound is that you do get a little bit of lane all to yourself in a section where you're frequently in danger of being pushed by cars.

In other news;

Vince Cable parks in Super Highway:

http://kenningtonpob.blogspot.com/2010/07/vip-flouts-parking-regulations.html

Boris will be officially opening these at 08.30 on Monday by Clapham Common opposite Narbonne Avenue. Just in case you, you know, wanted a word.

they are rubbish. it is like bunty goes for a bike ride and has a bright idea. pathetic. a complete lack of vision from a bunch of cowards / bullies.

what we want is 20 mph in zone 1 and 2 full stop.

what we want is 20 mph in zone 1 and 2 full stop.

That, strict liability for cyclists, and stricter HGV law, pretty much it.

I went on the tube today and noticed a poster for the smurfways. Not only are the hire bikes sponsored by Barclays but the highways are too. So the blue is actually Barclays corporate blue!

They didn't try to hide that, it was sponsored by Barclays.

Oh well, I didn't twig until today.