Cycling "Superhighways"

Recently I had to make the journey in London from Waterloo railway station to Chrystal Palace, I decided to cycle the way instead of taking my bike on public transport. According to TFL's (Transport For London) journey planner, the trip should have taken less time than if I'd used the train.

So, I did. It took a lot longer. But that isn't the point of this post. See, I had the dubious experience of using one of the "Cycling Superhighways" in the capital...

Not totally sure of what I was expecting, think it was a segregated stretch of shared footpath, about 3-4 metres wide, the same as in my hometown, only a lot longer, several miles, instead of several hundred yards at most. I find these really convenient to use and feel safe using them. I'd like to see more of them, and to it's credit, the local government is building more and more. All to the good. One thing that my town can boast of is its council, which seems to do what it's supposed to do efficiently and effectively.

Like this where I live (not too much to expect as there's lots of green parks and trees bits of London, it's not all concrete):

What I saw of the "superhighway" was simply a part of road which couldn't have been more than 1-1.25m wide, next to all the other traffic, painted blue, sometimes with a number painted on it (the number of the "superhighway" lane). And that was it. Sometimes it would merge with the bus lane. Not the best mix - one of the largest vehicles side by side with one of the smallest I would have thought...

See that blue box on the right? That means the far right metre wide part of the road is a cycling superhighway just for bikes well, except for the parts which merge with the bus lane...No, that's not me riding...
Photo courtesy of Felix O/Wikimedia Commons.

Hardly a cycling "superhighway" is it? And to officially label it such is to invite ridicule and criticism...

Having asked others, the "superhighways" in other parts of the capital are all pretty much the same.

Now, being the level headed, look-at-both-sides-of-the-argument-before-jumping-to-conclusions-chap that I am, for all I know (haven't bothered to research admittedly, may get round to it), the cycling "superhighway" that I saw may be temporary and subject to continuous improvement, and London may, in the not too distant future get the type of cycling friendly infrastructure similar to the first picture, that a modern city should have. These things take time. London is over a thousand years old with many narrow streets that were adequate for the time at which they were built. So quite a task as I'm sure you'll understand. I've worked in a couple of places that gave me an idea of the planning and consultation needed for civil engineering projects, so as long as what I saw wasn't the finalised version, I'll hold fire...

Time will tell...