Segregated cycle lane planned for £600m east London bridge

Rich71 wrote:

Cycling in London is an utter nightmare,its a fantastic way to explore parts of the city you would never see but the state of the roads,the traffic and lack of dedicated cycling infrastructure make it a death trap for the novice cyclists
Id advise anyone planning to cycle not to unless you are very very experienced,strong fit with excellent bike handling skills
Despite all the bullshit emanating out of Bozo Bullingdon mayors putrid backside cycling safety and investment in London has been an illusion,a fake PR propaganda exercise apart from abit of paint splashed here and there with no segregation from road traffic whatsoever
This country is just a regressive cynical self serving selfish pit of shit run by public school scum who bank on the plebs to vote them in every 5 years and promptly give us all a good buggering for our efforts
nothing will change here,not now,not ever,NEVER
Britain is just an uncivilised backward shitheap and i expect to die on my bike by the likes of Mr Penishead,its inevitable

LOL, can't wait to hear your views on the bridge!

Rich71 wrote:

Cycling in London is an utter nightmare,its a fantastic way to explore parts of the city you would never see but the state of the roads,the traffic and lack of dedicated cycling infrastructure make it a death trap for the novice cyclists
Id advise anyone planning to cycle not to unless you are very very experienced,strong fit with excellent bike handling skills
Despite all the bullshit emanating out of Bozo Bullingdon mayors putrid backside cycling safety and investment in London has been an illusion,a fake PR propaganda exercise apart from abit of paint splashed here and there with no segregation from road traffic whatsoever
This country is just a regressive cynical self serving selfish pit of shit run by public school scum who bank on the plebs to vote them in every 5 years and promptly give us all a good buggering for our efforts
nothing will change here,not now,not ever,NEVER
Britain is just an uncivilised backward shitheap and i expect to die on my bike by the likes of Mr Penishead,its inevitable

Calm down mate. You're going to burst a blood vessel at this rate

Rich71 wrote:

Cycling in London is an utter nightmare,its a fantastic way to explore parts of the city you would never see but the state of the roads,the traffic and lack of dedicated cycling infrastructure make it a death trap for the novice cyclists
Id advise anyone planning to cycle not to unless you are very very experienced,strong fit with excellent bike handling skills
Despite all the bullshit emanating out of Bozo Bullingdon mayors putrid backside cycling safety and investment in London has been an illusion,a fake PR propaganda exercise apart from abit of paint splashed here and there with no segregation from road traffic whatsoever
This country is just a regressive cynical self serving selfish pit of shit run by public school scum who bank on the plebs to vote them in every 5 years and promptly give us all a good buggering for our efforts
nothing will change here,not now,not ever,NEVER
Britain is just an uncivilised backward shitheap and i expect to die on my bike by the likes of Mr Penishead,its inevitable

Calm down mate. You're going to burst a blood vessel at this rate

jacknorell wrote:

"Local people have been rejecting this bridge for over thirty years and the latest set of pretty artist drawings won’t disguise the fact that this new road will bring pollution and traffic jams to their area. East London has been growing fast and has benefited from several new public transport links in the last few years."

What, like all drivers needing to go into Central London and back out doesn't add congestion and pollution?

Politician in "soundbite before sense" complete non-shocker...

You clearly haven't heard of "induced demand", although it is a well-researched phenomenon with a long history now.

For every vehicle which would be saved the round trip into the centre and back out again, as you claim, there would be several additional crossing trips which have simply not existed before and would not exist without this bridge. Like Everest, it would attract vehicles "because it is there". the effect on local communities would be severe, and the earlier enquiries have made that point, hence the cancellatiopn of previous plans.

We shouldn't be daft enough to fall for the bone we are being tossed this time, of a cycle lane on the bridge. It is simply an attempt to weasel it back onto the agenda. It would be a bridge to nowhere, from nowhere from a cycling perspective, as the cycle tracks woudl terminate abruptly on each bank.

Paul M wrote:

You clearly haven't heard of "induced demand", although it is a well-researched phenomenon with a long history now.

For every vehicle which would be saved the round trip into the centre and back out again, as you claim, there would be several additional crossing trips which have simply not existed before and would not exist without this bridge. Like Everest, it would attract vehicles "because it is there". the effect on local communities would be severe, and the earlier enquiries have made that point, hence the cancellatiopn of previous plans.

We shouldn't be daft enough to fall for the bone we are being tossed this time, of a cycle lane on the bridge. It is simply an attempt to weasel it back onto the agenda. It would be a bridge to nowhere, from nowhere from a cycling perspective, as the cycle tracks woudl terminate abruptly on each bank.

Utter nonsense. This harps back to the 'Green' policy of "We shouldn't build more roads because if we do then people will drive on them".

If every bridge or road simply "induces demand" then maybe we should get rid of them all, no? Or is it only *new* infrastructure that induces demand?

I used to work at the FT's printing plant (closed in 1996) next to the northern exit of the Blackwall Tunnel and commuted in from Kent. It was a nightmare. It is crazy that there is no other river crossing between the Blackwall Tunnel and the M25. Not only is the current infrastructure massively over-capacity, and has been for decades, when something bad happens to one crossing then it is complete gridlock on all the other main routes for hours afterwards.

More people than ever in history live and work in London and we need to expand the infrastructure to reflect this. The revenue generated from the Square Mile *alone* is about 10% of GDP. Effectively it pays for the NHS in its entirety. £600M for a new shiny bridge in the east of London would be money well spent.

Induced demand is *not* utter nonsense. A perfect example of induced demand is the M25 - running at capacity shortly after opening, and again after widening schemes to increase capacity.

Here's a primer from the excellent 853 blog on the likely effects of the bridge on the roads of South East London (and some suggestions of more sensible alternatives):

"if you come up with a pretty picture of something and call it “bike-friendly”, you can flog any old crap in London"

http://853blog.com/2014/07/01/bridge-east-london-come-labour-bombs-and-f...