access path needs repair
The access path from Monk's close, incorrectly shown on the above map as Monk's Gate to the recently resurfaced Alban way on route 61 could also do with an upgrade
This section lists issues - problems on the street network and related matters.
Issues always relate to some geographical location, whether very local or perhaps city-wide.
You can create a new issue using the button on the right.
Listed issues, most recent first, limited to the area of Cyclenation:
Created by Willem Hofland // 0 threads
The access path from Monk's close, incorrectly shown on the above map as Monk's Gate to the recently resurfaced Alban way on route 61 could also do with an upgrade
Created by Shaun McDonald // 0 threads
Further to http://www.cyclescape.org/issues/928-paper-mill-lane-alterations-planning-application I think it would be useful to campaign for a cycle and walking link from the site through to the retail park with major supermarket and other amenities, and also other links to that western part of Ipswich.
In my quick skim through the planning application I've not seen any consideration to this route.
Created by Shaun McDonald // 1 thread
The roundabout at the south end of Claydon under the A14 is pretty horrible for pedestrians and cyclists. It would be extremely useful if this could be upgraded to a Dutch style roundabout with:
* tighter entrances and exits will slow down vehicles to a safer speed while cyclists and pedestrians are around. The current dimensions are only ok when there are no cyclists or pedestrians around and it's safe for motors to go fast.
* single lane entrances and exit will make is easier to cross each arm. There would be no zig zag in the island.
* cycle track with separate pavement for pedestrians outside the roundabout, thus preventing conflict between the 3 modes of transport.
* cycle track crossing at 90 degrees to the road to aid visibility between different modes of transport.
Created by Shaun McDonald // 1 thread
Planning application: http://planningpages.midsuffolk.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=_MSUFF_DCAPR_92778
There are concerns about no or too little improvements for walking and cycling along Paper Mill Lane with the increase in traffic caused by the development.
Created by David Earl // 4 threads
The erection of new student housing (257 study bedrooms) and associated communal facilities, cycle parking, and external landscaping following demolition of the existing buildings. Wests Garage Ltd 217 Newmarket Road Cambridge CB5 8HD
(see in particular Ground Floor Plan under Documents)
Created by Tim Burford // 0 threads
I couldn’t tell from the Cyclescape map interface whether there is already a thread on the crossing at the northern junction to Sawston - but I see that it is now being rebuilt, and there seems to be a quite a sizeable central island. Did the inadequate plans get changed? (and why has there been no mention of this if so?)
Created by TMiles // 0 threads
A short section of cycle path allows cyclists to skirt around the traffic lights when turning left from Westgate into Oxford Place.
However the section ends abruptly in front of on-street car parking and the cyclist is forced to give way to other traffic in order to join Oxford Place.
It should instead lead smoothly into a cycle lane that runs the whole length of this street.
Created by Jon_B // 1 thread
This junction has recently been "upgraded", but it still has a single lane at the lights, with a left filter arrow which turns green before the main light to proceed straight ahead.
If you are waiting to proceed straight ahead this effectively means you are marooned in the middle of the junction with traffic behind you waiting to turn left.
Not much fun in a car either, but it is considerably more unpleasant and dangerous on a bike.
I'm not sure if there is an answer other than removing the left filter cycle.
There is a general difficulty with decent routes from this area north up to Woodbridge Road in the rush hour, and this would seem like the best route if it were not for this issue.
Created by Jack Thurston // 1 thread
Cycle Route 46 from crosses the old stone bridge across the River Usk between Abergavenny and Llanfoist. There are good, safe and direct cycle paths on either side of the bridge, but the bridge itself is very hostile for cycling, and walking. It is on the A4143 and there is heavy often fast traffic most times of the day. The footway is very narrow and only on one side of the bridge. Although short, this is a difficult section to negotiate, especially for inexperienced or young cyclists.
Created by Jack Thurston // 0 threads
Cycle route 42 along Castle Street requires cyclists to make an absurd off-road detour around the castle grounds and through an industrial estate to rejoin the routes east of the town centre at Holywell Road.
This could be avoided if cycling were allowed in a south-west to north-east direction on Lower Castle Street. Ideally this narrow street should be a walking/cycling only street, or a cycling contraflow could be introduced, though the narrowness of the street makes this a second-best solution.
Created by Jack Thurston // 0 threads
The four-way junction at Cross Street / Monk Street is dangerous for cyclists, with large vehicles making the turn, crossing onto the other side of the road. It is even more dangerous for pedestrians. There are no pedestrian crossings provided at this crossing requiring pedestrians to walk a very long way around to get from one side of Cross Street to the other, or to take a chance by crossing through the motor traffic.
Created by Matthew Phillips // 0 threads
The picture shows the view as a cyclist, waiting at the lights on Church Street. Considering the numbers cycling to the university it is extraordinary that the recent remodelling of the junction (2010, with further work on completion of the Palatine Centre) made no provision for cyclists.
It is not obvious how cyclists are meant to access the shared-use paths on campus from this junction, or how to rejoin the road from the campus.
Basic features like advanced stop lines would help, but even better would be a general "green phase", not permitted as yet in UK but under consideration by the DfT. This concept involves green lights for pedestrians and cyclists simultaneously for all directions and is very successful in the Netherlands. It's also what tends to happen, in reality, to some extent at this junction already. Couple it with cycle lanes approaching the junction from each direction instead of the wasteful dual car lanes, and this would be a big improvement.
Created by Matthew Phillips // 0 threads
The photo shows the entrance to Durham Johnston school. Sweeping curves allow fast access to/from the main road, and the cycle path basically gives out. OK, this is probably not a busy side-road, but why on earth can we not have a level, moderately straight route for the cycle path, with priority over the vehicles turning in or out of the school? A raised table to make it clear that motor vehicles should give way. There are plenty more examples along the A167 route of side roads that could do with similar treatment.
Created by Matthew Phillips // 0 threads
A generation ago, cars, lorries and buses drove up and down Silver Street and Elvet Bridge. Now it is pedestrianised (with lorry access for deliveries from 6pm till 10am or 11am). Unfortunately no-one considered cycling provision.
Although Silver Street is busy at lunch times and early evening, Elvet Bridge is never so busy as to make allowing cycling unduly risky for pedestrians. Cyclists are already allowed throughout the day on Saddler Street (as are cars) and that street is much busier. So I think cycling should be allowed on Elvet Bridge all the time, in both directions.
On Silver Street, cycling ought to be allowed, again in both directions, whenever deliveries are allowed. In the mornings this would be up to 10am. While there are pedestrians using the street, there are not vast numbers at that time, but opening it to cyclists would be very useful for people travelling to work.
Obviously, other factors would need to be addressed, such as some of the one-way streets approaching Framwellgate Bridge on the west side, and turning out of Elvet Bridge at the east end.
Relaxing these restrictions would open up a lot more options for cyclists.
Created by Matthew Phillips // 0 threads
New Elvet slopes up steeply as you travel south, so cycling is slow. There are two issues which make cyclists feel particularly vulnerable.
A. On the left there are diagonal parking bays by the shops, with vehicles sticking out into the road, particularly a large van which is often there. Cyclists have to give these a wide berth but then they feel vulnerable to cars wanting to overtake.
B. The second issue is the left filter on the lights to Hallgarth Street. As the road splits into two lanes, it is particularly tricky if you want to turn right into Church Street: if you stay too far left, cars overtake you and then turn across you to the left. If you manage to move over to the right the lanes are narrow and you're conscious of holding up all the cars.
Possible improvements:
A1) Remove the parking by the shops: it's not actually used much by shoppers as most vehicles have resident permits.
A2) Make the parking by the shops parallel to the road.
B1) Reduce the approach to the lights to a single lane, and abolish the left filter into Hallgarth Street. This would also make it easier for pedestrians crossing the mouth of Hallgarth Street where there is no pedestrian phase and no way to see any of the traffic lights to tell if you're safe to proceed.
Another, more radical, option would be to remodel the road layout by carving an uphill cycle lane of reasonable width through the pavement by the shops, to the left of the parking (probably realigning the parking to be parallel) and giving the cycle lane its own phase on the lights at Hallgarth Street so that cycles can get wherever they need to without conflicting with other traffic. Options for making Church Street one-way, or for private vehicle access only from the New Inn end, could also be considered.
Making Elvet Crescent two-way for bikes might reduce the need to cycle up New Elvet, but it's still the most direct route for various purposes so it's not an adequate solution on its own.
Created by Paul L // 0 threads
At the end of Adelaide Rd is a large GP Practice and a dentist. There is no space immediately here but there is space on the opposite side of Park Rd. accessed by a zebra.
Created by Jack Thurston // 0 threads
Frogmore Street is one-way (SE to NW). It needs a cycle contraflow to allow cyclists access from the north/west end of the town to this main commerce street.
A cycle contraflow would achieve this objective. It would also be necessary to reconfigure the junction at the north end of Frogmore Street.
Created by Jack Thurston // 1 thread
There are currently around 6 or 8 cages for cycle parking. One bike per cage. While this is great for anyone lucky manages to find an unused cage, often they're all used. Some additional Sheffield type stands required.
Created by TMiles // 0 threads
Cyclists benefit from an almost continuous cycle or bus lane along the A660 from the city centre. This route is much used by students cycling between central university campuses and accommodation in north-west Leeds.
After the central traffic lights in Headingley, the cycle lane ends and the road narrows. Although the road later widens out to two lanes, there is a stretch (marked on the map) where cyclists have insufficient space on what is a busy radial road.
There are two possible solutions here. The first would be to widen the north-west bound lane to allow a standard width cycle lane to be marked out. The second option would be to add a phase into the traffic light sequence that grants cyclists a ~10 second head start to clear this narrow stretch. This solution could involve detectors in the cycle lane upstream of the lights to avoid its unnecessary activation. It would also allow cyclists to position themselves better for the next junction, where traffic is split into two lanes.
Created by TMiles // 0 threads
West bound traffic on Burley Road approaching the crossroads is segregated into one lane of buses and cycles and one lane of all other traffic. A set of traffic lights 100m from the crossroads gives alternating priority to these two streams: one sequence holds back cars to allow buses to pass through, the other sequence retains the bus lane.
Under the current layout, cyclists that wish to turn left into Willow Road can find themselves detained for some time. They are held back by red lights and lack the room to trickle forward to the later set of traffic lights without coming into conflict with other road users.
However, left-turning cyclists would be able to trickle forward if works were carried out to:
• Reprofile the pavement to allow the installation of a cycle lane following the line on the map.
• Create a bypass to the left of the bus lane lights so that cyclists can legally make headway.
It should be noted that the above measures are only intended for cyclists turning south. Under such measures the stream of traffic is always to the right of the cyclist.
Those going straight ahead (into Burley Rd.) or turning right (into Cardigan Rd.) should remain subject to the bus lane signals because their path crosses that of the other stream.
The current situation constitutes a bottle-neck on routes from the universities and parts of the city centre to Kirkstall and South Leeds. This crossover allows cyclists to access the higher-quality facilities on Kirkstall Road, and avoid the narrower Burley Road (where there is no cycle lane).
Created by MJR // 0 threads
There's a plan to redesign this street which has quite a bit of covered cycle parking at the moment, but no cycle parking is shown on the proposed layout.
An analysis appears at http://blog.jofftastic.co.uk/2013/12/peterborough-city-council-anti-cycling/
Comments on/to http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/community_information/consultation_and_engagement/current_consultations/long_causeway_scheme.aspx by 20 December
Martin Lucas-Smith // 1 thread
Corn Exchange Street contraflow is to close temporarily.
Advanced notice of temporary cycle lane closure (aka Woodburn Way) has been published in the Cambridge News. Cars apparently able to proceed, which I find puzzling.
I know this has been proposed before, but I wanted to add an issue to Cyclescapes in the hope that it might come up again. We can collect reports and evidence here.
Reopening the Belmont Viaduct to cyclists and pedestrians could greatly shorten and improve a lot of journeys into and across Durham.
Previously Durham Council (before the County Council?) were awarded lottery funding for this. I think the issue was with landowners, and so the funding got diverted to projects outside of the city.
Created by Gregory // 0 threads
New road layout has been finished here, unfortunately I didn't get a chance to look at any plans before they started work. Despite cycling past on a weekly basis, I saw no notices.
It's not too bad, and extra lanes mean more space. However, I think it would be good to paint an ASL (cycle box) on at the Belmont Industrial Estate Junction. This will make cyclists feel a lot safer and give them a chance to cross the junction then get into a left-hand lane so motorists/lorries can over take after the junction (not dangerously overtake while turning).
On the industrial estate is a local church, two sports centres, the Royal Mail sorting office, and a number of small businesses. As a result, there is a lot more cycling here than there was 5 years ago. Yet there are lorries and now buses(the bus depot has moved here) causing possible space-tensions between road users.
Created by Shaun McDonald // 1 thread
https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/streets/a1-holloway-road
A1 Holloway Road - Nag's Head
Overview
Transport for London (TfL) has developed proposals to improve road safety for pedestrians and cyclists on the A1 Holloway Road in the Nag’s Head area.
The main objective of the scheme is to put in place a pedestrian crossing on the A1 Holloway Road, enabling people to cross the road easily and safely and to improve access to businesses on the south-western side of the road.
In summary, the proposed measures include the following:
New signalised pedestrian crossing outside the Nag’s Head Shopping Centre
New cycle lanes in both directions
Advanced stop lines added to the junctions of Holloway Road and Tollington Road/Camden Road and Seven Sisters/Parkhurst Road
Resurfacing of the footway and carriageway
In order to make space for these improvements some other changes are required. These include
Relocation of the northbound bus stop (Stop L) approximately 50m north of its existing location
Changes to parking and loading provision, with and overall slight reduction in parking and loading availability
Loss of one small tree on the median island where the crossing will be located. There may also be the potential loss of one other small tree and two relatively mature trees due to kerb cutbacks required in order to relocate the bus stop.
Relocation of several items of street furniture including the removal of a redundant telephone box
The proposals are shown on the attached map. In addition to these proposals, an informal pedestrian crossing with a central refuge island is planned for the A1 Holloway Road adjacent to Jackson Road.
All of the measures that we propose are subject to change as a result of this consultation. Given no unforeseen issues, it is anticipated that the scheme will be implemented in Spring 2014.
Please gives us your views by completing our online consultation form below by Monday 6 January 2014.
This map shows all issues, whether points, routes, or areas:
The most popular issues, based on the number of votes:
Created by DavidT // 2 threads
The current layout of the pedestrian crossing at the junction of Winchester road and Vermont close forces cyclists out of the cycle lane and into the flow of traffic. This is a risky maneuver and relies on the patience of the car driver behind the cyclist. A possible solution would be to be extend the cycle lane through the chicane, with give way markings so that pedestrians have right of way.
Southampton Cycling Campaign has received many reports of local cyclists having accidents on the cycle path outside the Dominos Pizza outlet at the southern end of The Avenue.
A recent incident was reported in the Southampton Echo, http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/10475081.Cyclist_hurt_in_road_crash/
Created by Shaun McDonald // 1 thread
There is a loading bay in the cycle contraflow cycle lane, which means that the cycle lane is blocked for cyclists as soon as a vehicle is parked there. This means that cyclists have to pull out into the path of oncoming buses, thus making the NCN route unsuitable to young children or inexperienced cyclists.
We have a tandem which fits in all the spaces on trains in Scotland (as far as I know), but we are prohibited from taking it on any except the East Coast line trains. I've been writing to various officials - elected and otherwise - and contributed to the recent review of the Scotrail franchise, but am not getting much joy. No one seems to think it is a big deal. But, for my family, with 2 kids aged 5 and 1, and no car, if we don't go by tandem and train, we can't go anywhere much. The tandem is not a luxury but a practical transport solution. Does anyone else want to join in and make this more than a one-woman issue?
(another related issue: even once the kids can ride their own bikes, we won't be able to use trains much since most only allow 2 reservations).
Created by Alex Oldman // 1 thread
Disused railway tracks on St Peters Dock provide short section of road surface that is dangerous to traverse from East to West by bike.
If you are avoiding crossing the tracks then you are forced into oncoming traffic.
If you cross the tracks, you are then potentially trapped between parked cars and the railway tracks, which can be dangerous.
The tracks are very slippery when wet or icy, and sections are often hidden underwater because there is poor drainage after heavy rain.
Ideally the tracks are totally removed, or the surface covered with concrete or tarmac.
Created by PeterMac // 1 thread
Redesign of Grey Street to remove the danger of cars reversing (blind) out parking bays into middle of the road.
Martin Lucas-Smith // 29 threads
Proposed route along the rail corridor through Cambridge, part of which is in the Cambridge Local Plan.
Created by Gregory Williams // 1 thread
The A2 is a hostile environment for cycling. Cyclists should be directed away from using the A2 towards existing safe alternatives (e.g. RCR16) and the current A2 cycle signs should be removed.
Created by Andrea Casalotti // 1 thread
Here is an ambitious plan for a Bicycle Boulevard from Shoreditch to Fitzrovia, along Old Street, Clerkenwell Road and Theobalds Road, open only to bicycles, buses and motor traffic for local access only.
a. It is now the most cycled route in London, showing that it is the desired EW route.
b. It is of variable width, therefore trying to accommodate bikes, buses, and through traffic in a consistent and safe way is impossible. In other words, a compromise will be a botch job.
c. There will not be mixing of buses and bicycles: bicycles will have a dedicated two way cycle lane on the South side of the street.
d. The Boulevard stops being a mega- EW-rat-run. Motor traffic will have to use Pentonville/City Road.
More details here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yw9mkHhGZaVBKYJs6FxyhC1Z4nNYVl-IFH-aR1ScK9U/pub?start=false#slide=id.p
Created by DavidTheScientist // 1 thread
While some painted "cycle lane" does exist northbound, there is woefully little provision for cyclists considering the huge number that use this section of road each day, a large number of whom are those who work at the General Hospital and other nearby health centres. Southbound cyclists have no real provision of space at all, save a graduated stopline, where cars turning right often try to pass right-turning cycles on the inside. Dale road itself is extremely narrow by winchester road, with almost no pavement space for pedestrians.
Cyclists heading northbound on Winchester road must beat traffic off the line at Dale road to get to the painted centre of Winchester road. North of the traffic light at The Range, the cycle lane is almost non-existent, placing cyclists between 2 lanes of heavy traffic, and cyclists have to stop and wait in this dangerous area in order to turn right onto Wilton road. Furthermore, the road surface, especially at this part of Winchester road, is currently deplorable.
Created by Andy Allan // 1 thread
Garratt Lane at Earlsfield station sucks massively for cyclists, and is a jarring interruption to the Wandle Trail (Sustrans route 20). It would be great to extend the riverside path underneath the railway to avoid this dangerous stretch of road.
Surface, drainage and width issues.
Planned for upgrade as part of CEC 'family network'
No details/dates.
Was an issue 5 years ago (and before)
Created by Rohan Wilson // 1 thread
I've visited Riverside to Waterbeach with William Rayner of county cycling team. He's revising signage here and providing it along the St Ives corridor, with the old NCN 51 being renamed Regional Route 24 (blue patch). We've decided finally to continue to sign NCN 11 from Riverside Bridge to Waterbeach Station, and he's looking at suitable (hopefully temporary) wording to advise to follow NCN 51 to Bottisham for destinations beyond Waterbeach, which will hopefully eliminate misrouting those from outside the area.
Our inspection of existing signs showed that only one new signboard was provided on completion 5 years ago of Riverside Bridge. Signboards still send people via Green Dragon. Sustrans considers signage is an important part of any route project.
The intention is to sign Milton Country Park as a destination, not as part of the route, removing route signs within the park, and probably retaining Coles Road as the signed route through the village, though it would be much preferable to have improvements past the shops and the village green, pubs etc.
Retaining the route to Waterbeach as NCN will help keep the gap in people's awareness.
I am planning to contact again the landowner of the missing link between Bottisham Lock and Fen Road, Lode with a suggestion for a low-level route, southeast side of the Bottisham Lode floodbank which is the route of the public footpath, where signs forbid cycling. It might be considered more visually acceptable. All parish councils are for the route, including the one of which he is a member.
Created by londoncycler // 1 thread
Six inch high ridge near left side of north bound lane on the south side of the bridge forces cyclists too close to the kerb or into the path of motor vehicles. Issue reported via CTC pothole reporting site. Resurfacing required.
Created by David MacKay FRS // 1 thread
Our campaign for safer walking and cycling to/from NWCambridge now has a petition and a first video (of five) summarising our position.
See our new video summarising our petition:
https://youtu.be/hIlQAzsU0js?t=1s
I’d be delighted if you could promote this to your networks. Time is of the essence because a Senate House discussion is coming up [3 Nov 2015], and I will report the number of signatures on our petition there. (But signatures after the date will still be useful.)
More information:
http://tinyurl.com/EddingtonSafety
The petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/EddingtonSafety
Anyone is welcome to sign the petition; we ask people to use the Comment field to let us know if they are University Member / University employee / City resident / SouthCambs resident / etc.
For twitter purposes the recommended hashtag is #EddingtonSafety and there is an @EddingtonSafety account too.
Thanks very much
David
David J C MacKay FRS
djcm1@cam.ac.uk
Regius Professor of Engineering,
Cambridge University Engineering Department
Author of “Sustainable Energy - without the hot air” www.withouthotair.com
and “Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms” www.inference.eng.cam.ac.uk/mackay/
Girton resident and parent.
Cambridge Cycling Campaign Member
Created by Kevin Ablitt // 1 thread
Motorised vehicles currently use the rat run through Milner Street to avoid the fraffic lights at Grove Lane/ St Helens St.
This is part of NCN 41 , any extra traffic passing through here detracts from the cycling experience and is negative for residents.
Cyclist comments are needed now !
Created by Robin Heydon // 9 threads
The A14 is a very hostile, dangerous road for cycling.
Improvements to it, as well as broader changes to the national framework for cyclist crossings of major roads, are needed.
Created by ambrosen // 1 thread
Sustrans route 4 coming from the canal path on its main route into Bath city centre has a high level of traffic conflict and the need to filter between two tight lanes of traffic with a large proportion of LGVs coming down the A36 Beckford Road.
The right turn from Sydney Place southbound into Great Pulteney Street is signposted as no right turn as well as being route 4, and has no refuge to turn from.
It should be possible to route the path through Sydney Gardens as the Darlington Place/Sydney Place westbound/Great Pulteney Street junction has been improved to increase pedestrian flows.
Some non-cycling residents are also concerned about cyclists using the pavement in this area too.
Created by Matt Turner // 1 thread
Castle Street cycle lane is a contraflow cycle lane on a one way street in Sheffield. It has been here since March 1997 and allows cyclists enter the city centre from the network of cycle paths on the East, avoiding some big arterial routes with no cycling provision.
For the past 15 years this cycle lane has been plagued by Hackney Carriage drivers parking illegally on this cycle lane, blocking cyclists access and forcing them into oncoming traffic. This has been the case for over a decade.
There is a taxi rank on the pavement side of the cycle lane, taxis often fill up this rank and overflow, parking in the cycle lane, blocking the way for cyclists.
Created by Sarah Wood // 0 threads
There are several pedestrian refuges along the road particularly at the western end of the road. The refuges cause a pinch point for cyclists. The road marking confuse priorities between those using the on road cycle path and other traffic.
Created by Shaun McDonald // 1 thread
Is this really the best that Edinburgh can do for the flagship national cycle network route 1 to get it to cross Clerk Street? You have to go through a pile of bins, on to the pavement to get round a barrier and then try and judge it right to cross the road, or use the nearby pedestrian crossing.
Created by Eric Booth // 2 threads
Prince St bridge is an anarchic pigs ear. I like pigs and fond of a bit of anarchy but it's getting beyond a joke. Of course it will all be sorted out properly in due course but we could live with this for years. Here's a quick fix:
SOUTH
1. Move south vehicle stop line back 10m behind tramlines
2. Remove all bollards unless one or two kept in line with centre of bridge with arrows right for cars
3. Widen cycle lane from bridge to Festival way turn so suitable for 2-way cycling.
4. Put in Give Way painted line at an angle running from enlarged cycle lane to centre line so southbound cyclists alerted to need to filter across traffic.
NORTH
1. Remove all bollards
2. Widen cycle lane for 2 way cycling all the way up to the traffic lights with The Grove.
3. Remove 5 bollards on each side of north bound traffic light along with the two set back
4. Paint cycle lane passing behind light and then back onto carriageway making it nice and clear that it's an option for cyclists when lights red or they can carry on (as most will, no worse than now but at least it will be clear that they can treat these as 'give way')
5. There will need to be 'give way' paint to make clear that pedestrians have right of way on the by-pass.
Yes it's muddled but less so than now and makes the desire lines easier. It's also a cheap paint based fix pending the proper job.
Created by Andrew Woodward // 1 thread
I have serious concerns about the safety of this portion of the bike path; arising from its recent re-design. Recently my 10 year old son was in a very close “near-miss” with a car turning off the A316 into Bicester Road; and I believe many more similar incidents are likely occurring. Eventually someone will be seriously hurt or killed on it.
However, the improvement in the track leads cyclists to feel more confident in using it – giving a false sense of security.
In particular:
• The segregated track makes it particularly appealing for inexperienced and more vulnerable cyclists (such as kids).
• This track design leads to an increase in the cyclists speed.
• The smooth/quick nature of the track leads inexperienced cyclists to believe that THEY HAVE RIGHT OF WAY across side roads.
• There are no markings on the roads to tell drivers coming in or out of side roads that cyclists could be on the track crossing their path.
• There is a particular challenge for EASTBOUND cyclists.
To avoid stopping at every side road, when on the track travelling Eastbound (as per red arrow on photo) approaching roads such as Bicester road, the cyclist has to simultaneously
(a) check to their FRONT/LEFT side to see if a car is exiting the side road
(b) check BEHIND them on their REAR/ RIGHT hand side to see if a car is about to swing off the A316 into the side road (usually at speed) - (as per orange arrow on photo).
This is a hard combination to perform – looking 180 degrees opposite directions at the same time. If you are an inexperienced cyclist, on an apparently safe track, it is very likely that you will not realise you have to be this vigilant and not check adequately for cars.
Hence, my boy rode across Bicester road from the east and was very nearly hit by a car turning off the A316.
(Note that travelling from the west is somewhat easier as both the vehicles turning in from the A316 and those turning out from the side roads are in your front field of vision).
My suggestions for improving this situation are:
(1) Clearly mark the bike track across the side roads so cars are aware there are cyclists approaching from the side.
(2) Ideally, give cyclists priority across the side roads; so making cars slow to a halt and making it more intuitive for cyclists.
(3) To facilitate this, would require some stopping space for traffic coming on/off the A316 to after the bike track crossing
At roads such as Bicester road the bike track could be curved to the south by about 2m before crossing the side road – this curve in the track would
(a) naturally slow cyclists down as they approach the side road
(b) would provide vehicles moving onto the A316 a decent gap so they can separate the concerns of first negotiating the bike track then focus on getting on the A316;
(c) for vehicles coming off the A316 the additional space would give them space to stop and give way to cyclists.
Created by Simon Nuttall // 19 threads
The Reach Fair ride takes place on the early Bank Holiday Monday (May Day) in May.
The web page for it is:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/events/rides/
The planning overview is summarised:
http://www.camcycle.org.uk/events/rides/timeline.html
I've created this issue to help plan this event.
Created by Andrew Woodward // 0 threads
Cyclist coming from the river come up Friars Lane exit and have to currently route right round Richmond Green because it is one way. Many do not and simply cycle across the green. The path across the green should be formally opened up to cyclists - as a share path with pedestrian priority - or a seperate track provided along the south side of Richmond Green.