Commercial Road vs the Highway

pmorgan1

Is there a good reason to choose one over the other?

In the absence of traffic the Highway is a dream, 24-25mph is not unheard of. With traffic however filtering is difficult as it is narrow in places. Thoughts, anyone? Thanks.

bails87

I'm not sure what you mean by commercial road. And a choice between two routes (if that's what you're asking) is going to have to be a judgement call based on your skill, time of each route, traffic conditions etc.

seataltea

pmorgan1 wrote:

Is there a good reason to choose one over the other?

In the absence of traffic the Highway is a dream, 24-25mph is not unheard of. With traffic however filtering is difficult as it is narrow in places. Thoughts, anyone? Thanks.

Are you Adam Ant ?

kurako

I always preferred Commercial Road. The Highway westbound is chock-a-block with big dumper trucks which don't really mix well with cyclists. Eastbound is not so bad as the traffic is generally pretty snarled up so filtering is a dawdle as long you don't have too many mopeds bunging up the place.

chopperHarris

commercial road every time, the highway has very little room for any filtering and no bus lanes. Commerical road has bus lanes pretty much lanes the entire length

Pufftmw

Commercial Road

Though is the OP talking about Cable Street as opposed to The Highway?

kurako

Pufftmw wrote:

Commercial Road

Though is the OP talking about Cable Street as opposed to The Highway?

24-25 mph on Cable St? On the road fine. On the cycle path no chance.

Headhuunter

bails87 wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by commercial road. And a choice between two routes (if that's what you're asking) is going to have to be a judgement call based on your skill, time of each route, traffic conditions etc.

It's another London centric post, I take it you're not from these parts?

pmorgan1

Kurako wrote:

Pufftmw wrote:

Commercial Road

Though is the OP talking about Cable Street as opposed to The Highway?

24-25 mph on Cable St? On the road fine. On the cycle path no chance.

The Highway, it flows easier eastbound. Am sufficiently sane not to race in Cable st.

mtb-idle

I used ot use the Highway but too many near misses for me and so i now use Cable Street/Narrow Street CS3.

It's slower but it's safer.

bails87

Headhuunter wrote:

bails87 wrote:

I'm not sure what you mean by commercial road. And a choice between two routes (if that's what you're asking) is going to have to be a judgement call based on your skill, time of each route, traffic conditions etc.

It's another London centric post, I take it you're not from these parts?

Ah right, no. I thought he was asking about using the highway or a commercial road. Like a dual carriageway vs the 'service road' alongside it.

keyser__soze

MTB-Idle wrote:

I used ot use the Highway but too many near misses for me and so i now use Cable Street/Narrow Street CS3.

It's slower but it's safer.

Same here. Highway moves fast but the lanes are quite narrow and the several times I've done it there have been lots of cars/lorries stopping, turning on/off or changing lanes without indicating. I pootle along Cable St/Narrow St about 20mph and treat it as a wind-down/warm-up respectively

b_c

Its always the Highway for me . Has become habit now. Know the lights and the choke points. Cant imagine using an alternate route.

Mr_Cellophane

Highway - moves at a reasonable speed as the traffic lights keep the speed down. I never had any problems with close passes along there.

Cable Street - too long waits at the many lights and inconsiderate cyclists who either barge past to RLJ or ride on the wrong side of the cycle lane.

Commercial Road - unless it has improved, too many pot holes and generally bad road surface.

walkingbootweather

My old boss used to reckon it was a simple choice, "It's either my way or the highway", he'd gleefully say. As it turned out, his way appeared not to be the right way because he was sacked soon after, so for him at least, it was the Highway. Perhaps he should have considered Commercial Road as 'the third way?'

Sorry this doesn't help much does it......

Conjoy

When iwas last doing this route about a yea ago, Commercial Rd had just been resurfaced and was a dream bit of tarmac. For my first 6 months cycling city->Canary Wharf I did the Highway, but once I tried Commercial Rd it was SO much better, and felt safer because the bus lane was minimally utilised, and theres good visibility on the side-streets.

brucebanner

I sometimes use Commercial Road. There's a good stretch of flat unspoilt tarmac that goes down-hill, unless i'm imagining something, so it's pointless using the highway plus that's suicide.

armymankin

i too option for CS3. i know the CS3 is abit narrow and often pedestrians or dogs walking on it. but at least i do not need to negotiate with buses, lorries, reckless motorcycles... which do me no good if contact.