Sorry, that was a leading question. It shouldn't even be a question, it's just a scrap of speculation with a question mark on the end. What it's made you do is think "ooh, maybe cycle superhighways are red now" which isn't something you'd have been thinking if I hadn't brought the question up. Worse, some of you are now thinking "diamond geezer says cycle superhighways are red" when there's absolutely no evidence of policy shift, just a photo. I've merely insinuated that the answer to my question might be 'Yes' whereas in fact it's more likely to be 'No' because I have absolutely no inside information whatsoever. Leading questions are basically fake news if taken at face value.
All I did was walk past a red cycle lane and take a photo and make a connection. I know that Cycle Superhighways have normally been blue, indeed I walked this one ten years ago and CS3 was definitely blue back then. This is the first bright red cycle lane I've seen in London, which I know proves nothing whatsoever. But might bright red actually be a better colour than light blue? Sorry, that was another leading question.
I hadn't even pointed out where my photos were taken. This might be highly relevant, even crucial. 'CS3' was a big clue, placing us somewhere between the Tower of London and Barking. In fact we're amid the data centres off the East India Dock Road, along a peculiar section of CS3 which weaves through a private estate. It's so private that just around the corner on Saffron Avenue cyclists are still supposed to wait for a security barrier to be raised. This is hardly super.
This is definitely a very new cycle lane. The surface is an unsullied red, the paint an unusually bright white, and you can still see the chalk marks which helped someone write 'CS3' in a straight line. According to official maps this isn't even part of the official CS3 route. We're on Leamouth Road by the Aspen Way roundabout, whereas the longstanding route follows Oregano Drive and Sorrel Lane instead. Roadworks are underway here, and a Travelodge is destined to be built behind the hoardings, so this might well be a special case cycleway skirting the edge of private land.
A workman was twiddling with a cycleway sign on a lamppost as I walked by, so I think I managed to turn up at a moment of transition. Other lampposts already had Diversion signs linking from nigh-invisible un-coloured connections. Maybe the red is simply to make it really obvious to cyclists which new route to travel, or maybe the colour was chosen for an entirely different reason. Basically it's worth keeping an open mind and not jumping to any conclusions based on a single outlier which likely signifies nothing. I should never have asked the question in the first place.
Are Cycle Superhighways red now? No they're not. But this cycleway is.
