CS1

The UK’s Transport for London (TfL) will begin the construction of the new Cycle Superhighway 1 (CS1) next month, providing a quieter alternative route parallel to the A10.

Major junctions will be improved and new sections of segregated lane will be laid as part of the project that has obtained the approval from the residents during a recent public consultation.

Running from Tottenham to the City, the CS1 will enable quicker, safer and more pleasant journeys than the main road, TfL said.

The journey time will be around 30min, ten minutes lesser than that on the busier route. The new route has only eight sets of traffic lights, compared with 54 on the main road.

"It will be a pleasure to cycle on and I expect it to introduce thousands more people to the joys of cycling."

London mayor Boris Johnson said: "This new route will be the A10 bypass, wafting you in tranquility to within a few feet of the urban centres.

"It will be a pleasure to cycle on and I expect it to introduce thousands more people to the joys of cycling."

The authorities are planning to close several residential streets to through traffic to attract cyclists.

Hackney Council cabinet member for neighbourhoods Feryal Demirci said: "We will use this opportunity to create area-wide street and road closures and make the neighbourhoods through which the route passes genuinely cycle-friendly.

"This will be the first time in London that we will be creating a safe haven for cyclists and pedestrians over so wide an area."

Work on CS1 will include major enhancements to the busy Apex Junction for cyclists to cross it safely; new segregated tracks on short stretches where the route touches busy road; safer crossings for pedestrians; and improved public spaces along the route.

TfL is also testing a cyclist-friendly, traffic-signal technology on CS3.

Claimed to be the world’s first trial, the technology will help give cyclists more time on green lights.

The trial detects the number of cyclists travelling along a route and adjusts the timings of the signals accordingly to give them more time at key junctions during peak times.

The new cycle trials are testing two types of new technology, one radar-based and another thermal-based. Thermal-based trials assess the number of cyclists by the heat generated by the riders.

Image: The Cycle Superhighways will provide quieter alternative routes for cyclists in London. Photo: courtesy of Transport for London.