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Almost £5m is to be spent on a dozen small schemes to make England’s trunk roads safer for cyclists. The first one, in Hull, will be unveiled today.
The Highways Agency is aiming to “cycle-proof” the roads it controls, which are generally the busiest and fastest in England. (Most roads are run by local councils, with the Highways Agency responsible for motorways and a small number of trunk A roads.)
The Hull scheme was completed last week. It comprises a shared-use path at Poolbank, “increasing safety by removing cyclists from the busy A63 carriageway”; new pedestrian railings and signs between Southcotes and Salt End roundabouts; and a new footway and cycle track at Marfleet Roundabout.
In the last five years, there had been two serious injuries and nine slight injuries to cyclists here. Two Times readers suggested the location when the newspaper invited nominations for cycling blackspots.
According to the Highways Agency’s director for cycling, Matt Sweeting:
“We have been working hard to cycle proof our road network and make even greater provision for cycling. These schemes aim to correct historic problems, retrofit the latest solutions and make sure that it is easy and safe for cyclists to use junctions. We are committed to improving cycling facilities on our road network.
“We hope this work will attract more cyclists to use the A63 corridor, and work is on-going to identify further opportunities to improve provision for cyclists across the country.”
British Cycling welcomed the work. Martin Key commented:
“This new cycle scheme on the A63 is a big step for the Highways Agency and a sign that it takes cycling seriously. The organisation is showing real leadership by appointing a senior figure to push through change and by committing significant funds to build more bike lanes and safer junctions. The Highways Agency needs to provide the gold standard in provision for cycling and we hope this is the first sign that it will get there.”
cycle.travel has obtained more information about the other schemes that the Highways Agency is currently working on. They are mostly clustered in the Midlands and North-West, with several around Manchester, Nottingham and Derby. They are:
The total spend comes to £4.8m, with a further £15m to be spent on an “ongoing rolling programme of cycling improvements” in 2015-16. On the same day, the Highways Agency has begun consulting on a £1.5bn scheme to widen the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon.
The Agency says that it is adopting a new approach where “cycling improvements are assessed separately from schemes for motorised vehicles… separating out the cycling schemes guarantees that the highest priority locations will be considered for the construction of schemes to improve provision for cyclists”.
Certainly the improvements at motorway junctions will be welcomed by those who have tried to cycle across them. However, in Hull, the improvements could be viewed as a curious priority given that a traffic-free cycleway runs parallel, just 500m to the north; similarly, the Alcester scheme appears to cater for a small number of racing cyclists who want to train on a dual carriageway, rather than the majority who would rather cycle elsewhere. The Highways Agency has previously demonstrated that it is able to fund improvements to paths away from its roads, rather than on a busy trunk road where comparatively few people wish to cycle.
Cyclist-detecting radar equipment is to be trialled on London’s buses – and if it proves successful, it could be fitted to all 8,700 in the fleet.
Optical and radar-based detection software will be installed on a small number of buses this summer. Initial trials in August 2013 suggested that the technology, which directly alerts bus drivers to pedestrians and cyclists close to the vehicle, could have significant potential but that more research was needed.
Transport for London has pledged to reduce by 40% the number of people killed or seriously injured on London's roads by 2020. Pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists are top of the priority list. Today’s announcement was made as part of a new Pedestrian Safety Action Plan, published over three years after the Cycle Safety Action Plan was launched in 2010.
Another measure in the new pedestrian plan could benefit cyclists: TfL is calling for a comprehensive database of speed limits to be added to satnavs – which could help cut speed in 20mph areas.
Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said: “Although things are moving in the right direction, there is still much to be done. We are working hard to deliver innovative measures – such as these groundbreaking bus technology trials – to ensure that we make our roads as safe as possible for everyone.”
The Two Tunnels path, burrowing under the hillside south of Bath, has become one of the National Cycle Network’s greatest successes since opening last year.
Now the people of West Yorkshire are looking to emulate the project by reopening the disused Queensbury Tunnel, between Halifax and Bradford, for cycle and pedestrian use.
The tunnel is buried 100m under the village of Queensbury, just west of Bradford. The old railway to the north has already been converted into a cycleway, the Great Northern Railway Trail, but the tunnel has long been viewed as an engineering step too far.
However, the Highways Agency – which inherited disused railway structures from the remnants of British Rail last year – is now planning to spend up to £5m infilling the tunnel, so that it doesn’t suddenly collapse and bring the village down with it. Local residents, Sustrans and councils think that this is an ideal opportunity for the tunnel to be provided with cycle access.
Local campaigners say that time is short if the tunnel is to be saved:
“A path through it would become a honeypot attraction – as evidenced by the Two Tunnels scheme in Bath – bringing visitors to the area from far afield. But the door to this opportunity will not be open for long. By the autumn of 2014, HAHRE will have to decide on the design for its remedial works. There is a strongly held view locally that, in the current age of austerity, the taxpayer ought to derive some benefit from the multi-million pound works in the tunnel.”
One suggestion is that the tunnel could be reinforced with ‘concrete sleeves’, which would prevent it from collapsing but preserve access for cyclists and walkers. The Highways Agency is already planning to install a pump to remove the deep water from the famously wet tunnel, and to carry out a survey before this autumn.
But as campaigner Norah McWilliam points out, “We’re not asking the Highways Agency to build the cycle route - just to keep the option open.”
Meanwhile, Sustrans is talking to landowners at the southern end of the tunnel, to see if an access route could be negotiated if the tunnel reopened.
You can find out more about the tunnel campaign at their website, and sign an e-petition to the Department for Transport.
New 20mph limits in Camberwell and New Cross are a small step forward for London’s much delayed Cycle Superhighway 5.
Running from central London to New Cross Gate, CS5 was intended to be one of the first Cycle Superhighways to open. However, objections from the traditionally cycle-hostile City of Westminster forced a rethink; then, Transport for London decided to revise the plans in the light of the Mayor’s ‘Vision for Cycling in London’, which sets out higher standards than originally planned.
Between New Cross and Oval, TfL has created a halfway house for now. The route here has new cycle and bus lanes, road resurfacing, and revised junction layouts. New 20mph limits have been imposed in Camberwell town centre and New Cross, coming into operation this month, and Peckham could follow later this year.
The next step here will be ‘semi-segregation’ – lightweight plastic poles, cats’ eyes, and rumble strips to keep cars out of the cycle and bus lanes. Andrew Gilligan, the Mayor’s Cycling Commissioner, called this “an important test-bed for our concept of ‘semi-segregated’ cycle routes on Victorian streets which are too narrow and thronged with buses for full segregation to be possible”.
Plans are still being drawn up for the Oval junction and the central London sections, which will be “substantially upgraded” over the original proposals; these will be announced later this year. The current completion date for the route is 2015, two years later than originally planned.
The bike-friendly US state of Oregon, home of America’s cycling capital Portland, is to build a network of ‘bike pods’ along its most popular cycle routes.
But with a nod to Scottish hikers, we’d rather call them bike bothies. The wooden huts will be built on long-distance routes like the Oregon Coast Bike Route and the TransAmerica Trail. There’ll be two types: overnight ‘pods’ and daytime ‘hubs’. The State Parks Department explains it further:
“The deluxe overnight ‘Bike Pods’ will be constructed to serve the long distance touring cyclist, while the day use ‘Bike Hubs’ will be constructed to best serve the needs of the day use cyclist whether for recreation or cycling. All Pods and Hubs will feature bike parking, seating, maps and/or interpretive information, and shelter. All hubs will also be equipped with a bike-repair station that will include a bike stand, tools, and an air pump.”
Other facilities will include food storage, water taps, secure lockers, and electrical outlets for recharging phones, and secure lockers. The State Parks already have several dedicated ‘hiker-biker’ campsites, where spaces are reserved for people arriving on foot or by bike, not by car.
The scheme is firmly targeting the spending power of the travelling cyclist, with many of the hubs being built in urban locations.
“Specific ‘Bike Hubs’ are strategically located within communities to bolster the connections between bike routes and local businesses. By providing amenities in town cyclists are encourages to stay and explore the local communities. These hubs will allow local communities to welcome bicycle tourists to capitalise on the recreation lands that surround them and benefit economically from cycle tourism. Many of the targeted locations for Pods and Hubs are within economically depressed counties, hard hit by both recession and the long and difficult transition from resource extraction industries to other viable sources of employment.”
The promoters are now bidding for Lottery funding to cover most of the $435,000 cost. Rather endearingly, the bid includes a letter of support from a local microbrewery, who point out:
“Cyclists spend money at local businesses, especially breweries.”
Could the idea take off in Britain? We’d love to see these on the National Cycle Network’s challenge routes.
Via BikePortland.
Made in the Cotswolds. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd.
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