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Quietways Lead To Cycling City

18 September 2018
 

Two new sections of Quietway walking and cycle routes have opened in London.

"London has seen a boom in the numbers of people choosing to walk and cycle," said Ben Plowden, TfL's Director of Strategy and Network Development, as the two new Quietway sections of walking and Cycling routes opened.

Plowden continued: "New routes such as these are essential to encouraging more people out of their cars and onto their bikes."

The sections, dubbed 'Quietway 2 (or Q2)', run from Bloomsbury to Walthamstow and from Notting Hill to East Acton.

Quietways, it is claimed, have made cycling safer at 86 junctions across London and new routes have driven increases in cycling of more than 50%.

The Bloomsbury to Walthamstow Q2 section was officially opened by the Walking and Cycling Commissioner Dr Will Norman and borough leaders. The new 12km route will enable people to cycle from east London into the city centre and beyond, connecting Bloomsbury and Walthamstow via Angel, Haggerston, London Fields and Clapton.

Will Norman said: "We're striving to get as many people as possible walking and cycling in the capital. Creating these Quietway routes to build a genuinely London-wide network is vital to give more Londoners the confidence to take to two wheels. An amazing 730,000 trips are made by bike in the capital every day and I look forward to building on that further through the Quietway routes, which have already helped to boost the numbers cycling in our city."

 

Cycle city

Expanding London's Quietway network is a key part of the Mayor's plans to get more Londoners cycling. Being able to ride safely through London's backstreets away from busy main roads is one of the ways of enabling more people of different ages and backgrounds to cycle as part of their everyday routine. Quietways are continuous, direct and clearly signed cycle routes on less-busy streets across London. They complement fully segregated cycle routes that TfL is also building on main roads across the city.

 

Cycle Superhighway

Q2 is a significant addition to London's emerging cycle network. It connects with other routes including Cycle Superhighway 1 in De Beauvoir Town and Cycle Superhighway 6 in Bloomsbury, as well as forthcoming routes such as Quietway 13 at London Fields and Quietway 10 near Angel. The route forms part of a continuous cycling network as far south as Merton, as far north as Tottenham and as far west as West Acton.

 

Cycling boom

The new route has been delivered in partnership with the London Boroughs of Islington, Hackney and Waltham Forest. Since 2014, cycling has increased by up to 94% in areas along the route and Q2 will help support this.

TfL are working closely with boroughs across London to create over 250km of new cycling routes on streets with less traffic.

 

Quietway 2 West

Quietway 2 West has also opened, which connects Notting Hill and East Acton via Wormwood Scrubs. New parallel zebra crossings have been built at Scrubs Lane and Mitre Way and at North Pole Road, giving cyclists priority when crossing main roads. A new traffic-free path through Wormwood Scrubs is also part of this new safer cycling route.

Once a section through Westminster is completed, the full Q2 route will form a 23km continuous cycle route.

 

A further three routes have also been opened to the public recently, including:

Q5 - connecting Oval and Clapham Common.

Q15 - connecting Belgravia and Earl's Court.

Q3 - connecting Gladstone Park and Kilburn Station with improved crossing on Walm Lane and Mapesbury Road and a new cycling and walking path on Gladstone Road.

Another route through central London, Cycle Superhighway 6, will be completed later in the autumn, connecting Elephant & Castle and Bloomsbury, where it links in with Quietway 2.

Kelly Clark, Head of Infrastructure Delivery at Sustrans (which created the routes) said: "It is wonderful to see Quietway 2 officially open. Working in partnership with TfL as well as the London Boroughs of Islington, Hackney, Waltham Forest, Camden and the Lea Valley Regional Park Authority, we have created a route which invites people to cycle rather than drive. It would be fantastic to see people who have previously been nervous about riding in London, dust off their bike and try out the route too."

 

TfL research shows that walking or cycling to school could take 254,000 cars off London’s roads each day

As children across London have returned to school, the Mayor and Transport for London have release research from TfL's Walking Action Plan, which aims to make London the world's most walkable city, showing that a quarter of weekday morning peak car trips are for school drop-offs, a total of 254,000 trips a day. Those cars would form a traffic jam more than 1,000km long if they were queuing single file. This increased traffic has an impact on congestion, air quality, safety and the efficiency of London's roads.

Walking to school benefits children's health, as eight in 10 children in London do not achieve their minimum recommended physical activity level of one hour per day. Four in 10 children in London are considered to be overweight or obese - the highest levels of childhood obesity in England. As well as the health benefits, 57kg of carbon could be saved every year if every young person walked one mile to school and back, rather than being driven.

 

Picture: Cycling to work has received a major boost.

Article written by Brian Shillibeer | Published 18 September 2018

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