London gets cycling highway

Great Britain's capital city will soon obtain a "cyclying superhighway" which should increase mobility in the city, relieve traffic congestion and reduce pollution.

This 30-kilometer route, safely segregated from other traffic, will be connecting suburbs in east and west London.

- Thirty kilometers of bike lanes between the east and west end of the city will be passing by the London Tower, Westminster Abbey and Hyde Park - said London Mayor Boris Johnson when announcing that works should commence in few weeks.

Construction of the "cycling superhighway", with an estimated value of EUR 217 million, should be finished 2016.

With a population of eight million, half of which commute to downtown every day, London was to urgently find a solution to relieve traffic congestions and reduce pollution.

Four meters wide, the future routes of the highway for cyclers will allow them to ride their bikes in both directions as well as to pass each other. Johnson also announced a north-south route that will be about five kilometers in length.

- It will be a real change for the city center - said the investors.

The estimates are that the construction of announced cycling superhighways will increase the number of cyclers to 1.5 million by 2026. Also, London officials are considering turning certain tube tunnels that are not in use anymore into underground bike lanes.