London's New Cycle Route 3: when does the "super" start?

The first two of  London's unfortunately named "Cycle Superhighways" opened officially the other week. This morning I rode Route 3 from the docklands east to the end in Barking. It goes all the way west to Tower Gateway, but I've already ridden down Cable street to Tower Hill a couple times prior to it being any kind of highway. So the new route 3 ride was... well, kind of crap. I do like the blue paint, and they've supposedly done their homework on the surface and durability of it. Much of the route is just an older bike path tarted up a bit. And that bike path was essentially just pavement segregated into pedestrian and bike halves, with a dangerous little concrete berm in between them. Some of it is on streets, in which case there's no blue bike path but there are large and helpful blue squares with the route designation on them at regular intervals. The bike paths mostly suck. Most sections are way too narrow. Even a modest traffic volume would be a nightmare. No passing, and somewhat nerve-racking in some bits having to ride a narrow chute with on-coming traffic just off the curve to your left, oncoming cyclists brushing your shoulder on the right. There was one section where the pathway widened out to reasonable proportions, with a pleasant grass strip in between the path and the A13, but for most of the length it was uncomfortably narrow. Also in the path: lampposts, road signs, and the occasional car. Fun. For the most part, the route marking was fine, but there were a couple sections where the blue disappears and there's no clear signage where you're supposed to go, including a couple non-obvious navigations of large roundabouts and a particularly bad one through the edge of the docklands. And the end in Barking is not clearly marked at all. Flow-wise, there are a high number of intersections on the route that use pedestrian crossings. On the balance, it wasn't that pleasant an experience. In Barking, I headed north and then west back into hackney. I was honestly relieved once I was on actual roadways, jostling with the buses and vans.

To be fair, yes, it is an improvement. Some sections I might appreciate if I were commuting on that corridor. No, I wouldn't want to take the kids on it (even though they are competent cyclists), nor would I recommend it for anyone nervous or inexperienced. In other words, if you're not already ok riding in London, this probably isn't for you. If you are, some bits of it might make your life slightly easier, but don't expect it to be entirely pleasant or to make a big change in your commuting time.

Calling them "superhighways" was about the worst thing they could have done. It's like making modest improvements to a driving route that was in bad shape (e.g. unpaved sections with no signs) such that you ended up with a single-lane (in each direction) paved roadway, with plenty of stop signs and traffic lights, and then telling everyone you've built an autobahn. Instead of a few people being happy with your improvements, you get everyone thinking you're an idiot. Especially because there are good examples of autobahns that just about everyone is familiar with. Likewise, there are good examples elsewhere in europe of fast, wide, segregated cycle routes. We're still waiting for ours.