cooker

According to the published figures the elevated bikeway into London is much more expensive to build than a two lane country road - about £34 million /km. But that doesn't include the cost of the right of way. As Roody points out, they can't afford, either politically or economically, to bulldoze new routes into the city, and the only other way to add ground level bike lanes would be to reduce car or bus lanes or close train lines. Instead, the elevated bikeway is adding capacity to an existing right of way and thus you're getting your space for free. So the seemingly expensive elevated conduit turns out to be a cost effective way to stimulate the economy of the city, by giving more people ready access to it.