London mulls plans for a £600m floating bike path

In an inspired burst of think-outside-the-street strategy, a London consortium is floating an audacious plan to turn part of the River Thames into a nearly eight-mile-long, bikes-only pathway.

Aimed at reducing the ever-present risk of bike-meets-lorry encounters on the city’s traffic-choked streets, the so-called Thames Deckway would hug the south bank of the river between Battersea and Canary Wharf, with the midpoint at Millennium Bridge. The sleek, futuristic-looking bikeway – thinkBlade Runner meets Waterworld – was trial-ballooned by the River Cycleway Consortium Ltd. The group’s leaders are British architect David Nixon and entrepreneur/artist Anna Hill, working in conjunction with design/engineering firm Arup (of Sydney Opera House fame) and Hugh Broughton Architects.

The team has yet to reveal design details about just how the bikeway would float and what materials would be used, but the project, which reportedly will be privately financed, is expected to cost an estimated £600 million (about $965 million). Proponents say a flat-rate toll of £1.50 (around $2.40) per biker per journey will help fund maintenance expenses.

The Deckway would feature access ramps and refreshment kiosks, as well as on-board sensors that, via satellite, would relay data to bikers about things such as traffic density and flow, as well as river and weather conditions. The bikeway would rise and fall with the Thames’ tides, and solar, tidal and wind energy would supply power for lighting and other needs.

If approved, the bikeway – which would accommodate 12,000 bikers per hour and clip the time it takes to cross the city by 30 minutes – could be completed in as little as two years.

The proposal is the latest in a series of ambitious plans designed to make London – where population is expected to grow by 12 percent in the next decade – safer and easier to navigate by bike. Late last year, for example, British architect and ardent cycling proponent Sir Norman Foster (the founder of world-recognized Foster + Partners and the designer of theGherkin tower), along with landscape architects Exterior Architecture Ltd. and urban planners Space Syntax Ltd., unveiled a proposal for SkyCycle, an elevated bike path.

This 220-km-long (136-mile), three-story-high network of car-free bike paths, punctuated by 200 access points, would follow existing urban rail lines. While a total cost wasn’t announced, a short four-mile-long first leg reportedly carries a price tag of £220 million (about $353 million). But supporters say that’s cheaper than building more roads.

In addition, avid cyclist and London Mayor Boris Johnson, who’s pushing for a “cycling revolution” in London, is championing development of the “Crossrail for bike” project: 21 miles of bike paths that would be almost completely segregated from motor traffic.