Car journey times across London will increase by up to 16 minutes as motorists make way for the Mayor’s £48 million cycle super-highway, according to official data published today.
Boris Johnson published data showing average delays on the roads caused by the projects, the east-west superhighway from Barking to Acton and the north-south super-highway from Elephant & Castle to Farringdon.
East London will take the brunt of the delays, fuelling concerns from Canary Wharf-based firms about thousands of staff getting to work.
In the worst case, westbound car journeys from the Greater London boundary to Hyde Park Corner in the morning peak will increase by 16 minutes to 90 minutes. In the opposite direction, the journey from Hyde Park Corner to the Limehouse Link will be up to seven minutes and 38 seconds longer.
Delays will be caused as motorists are held on the outskirts by traffic lights phased to red.
Motorists travelling from Knightsbridge to Westminster Bridge face up to nine extra minutes on their journey, although the Mayor has promised unspecified improvements to reduce this particular delay.
Mr Johnson said: “We must make cycling safer for all types of cyclists – and segregated lanes must be part of the solution. In a congested city like London it is simply not possible to do this without taking some road space.”
But Sean McKee, of the London Chamber of Industry and Commerce, said: “It took business to generate pressure to get City Hall to be transparent. Questions remain about the cost of these delays, plus estimated journey times which vary to those quoted by taxi associations.”
