Off the back of the news that the cycle superhighways will be going ahead in London, the capital has seen another interesting project for cyclists arise, The London Underline.

The project’s concept, which won Best Conceptual Project at the London Planing Awards, is to create a network of underground paths for cyclists and pedestrians out of old and abandoned tube tunnels. It might not be connected to ground level, so using oyster cards and Borris bikes to enter via tube stations may be the key to this all.

With aims to reduce congestion and improve the city’s environment, there’s also talk about them using kinetic paving. This would enable the friction created from people’s footsteps and bikes to be turned into electricity. Pretty neat. What we think is a bit weird, is the fact that the paths would also be lined with restaurants and click-and-collect points for online shopping, defeating the whole point of creating more space in the city.

Forgotten sections of the Piccadilly line, between Holborn and Aldwych Station could be part of this, as well as the unused Jubilee tunnel from Green Park to Charing Cross.

It would no doubt give cyclists safer routes and improve road space throughout the city but we can’t quite see how pleasant it would be riding underground when that’s what we’ve been trying to avoid the whole time…

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