Exhibition Road

[GrumpyGregry]

Unfortunately, when the designs hit the real world, it's very hard to persist with absolutely-no-cues, whether that be following the car in front, or hints in the geometry. And when you're spending millions on a scheme, the design needs to be robust to the real world.

The (psuedo) shared space in the Carfax Horsham won several prizes when it was introduced. It was brilliant to be a pedestrian for a year or so with the cars crawling through at a crawl. Over time local drivers have got used to it and it now only slows down visitors.

I now realise I've used Exhibition Road as a pedestrian several times and as a borisbiker once since the scheme was built. So I didn't even notice it!

 

[Dan B]

I was there last night, but there wasn't sufficient volume of either pedestrians or vehicles to see if it was working in practice. It still looks like a nice wide straight road with good sightlines and has tactile paving to mark the edge of the carriageway, so ...

If it were my design I'd have moved the streetlights into the carriageway area and forced the cars to slalom around them. That would have slowed them down much more effectively.

 

[AlexB]

I love it, but the downside is the Museum, where I work, has closed the entrance from our car park (and cycle parking) to Exhibition Road, so I have to go through Imperial College, loop back down through Queensgate and in via our rear entrance.

 

[CopperBrompton]

I like it as a pedestrian, but avoid it as a cyclist.

 

[Watt-O]

Isn't it attempting to mimic parts of Amsterdam? I don't like these ambiguous open spaces where pedestrian, cyclist or indeed motor vehicle don't know who has priority. Consider the exit from Sloane Sq. Stn (okay, on a much smaller scale) where they have put in sort of pedestrian only area. Nine times out of ten, when I emerge onto the street from The Tube, I seem to fall foul of one type of vehicle or another.

 

[CopperBrompton]

No, Amsterdam is mostly either entirely segregated cycle paths:

or very clearly-marked (and generally very wide) paths on the road:

There is a little ambiguous shared space, but it's not the norm.

 

[dellzeqq]

Isn't it attempting to mimic parts of Amsterdam? I don't like these ambiguous open spaces where pedestrian, cyclist or indeed motor vehicle don't know who has priority. Consider the exit from Sloane Sq. Stn (okay, on a much smaller scale) where they have put in sort of pedestrian only area. Nine times out of ten, when I emerge onto the street from The Tube, I seem to fall foul of one type of vehicle or another.

I don't think it's an attempt to mimic anything. It's not even like anything. It's just what it is, where it is. The cutthrough at Sloane Square is a kind of pedestrian crossing without the stripes - which is, again, what it is, where it is.....

 

[Watt-O]

I don't think it's an attempt to mimic anything. It's not even like anything. It's just what it is, where it is. The cutthrough at Sloane Square is a kind of pedestrian crossing without the stripes - which is, again, what it is, where it is.....

Whatever it is, it's not a very smart design.

 

[dellzeqq]

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/smart-streets-bbc-radio-program.95296/#post-1717201 for an interview with the designer

 

[Richard Mann]

Getting it's first real test, what with half term.

The bit south of Prince Consort Road works well, though I'd have parallel parking between the lamp-posts and an even wider pavement from the Science Museum southwards. Particularly outside the back entrance to the Natural History Museum, where people were queuing on the pavement (and a little comedy of Israeli and Palestinian leafleters were adding to the melee).

North of Prince Consort Road, the switch to using the full road width is a complete mistake. The traffic should be two-way on the east side (and that should continue across the lights and into the park).

The Range Rover turning right into Prince Consort Road clearly had problems with giving way to pedestrians crossing a side road, fancy treatment or not (and was roundly abused for his pains - not by me). Good to see pedestrians asserting their priority, but there's clearly insufficient cues to drivers (yet).

In terms of doing something similar elsewhere, I'd have said that 90% of the effect is from reducing the width of the road by half (and banning a number of turning moves), and 10% from the level surface and fancy paving.

 

[dellzeqq]

North of Prince Consort Road, the switch to using the full road width is a complete mistake. The traffic should be two-way on the east side (and that should continue across the lights and into the park)..

absolutely. That seems to me to be the big failure.

I think you're right about the paving, but, again, these things have to be tried at least once, and where better than Exhibition Road? Let's content ourselves with knowing that the paving was a waste of time and money, as opposed to suspecting that the paving would be a waste of time and money.

Could the entire road be turned in to one gigantic zebra crossing? And, again, could the 'car zone' shift from side to side, using parking or small gardens?

You say that there's a lack of cues to drivers, but when I last went down it there were red signs every twenty yards or so. Had these been taken away, or do you mean something other than signs?

 

[Richard Mann]

You say that there's a lack of cues to drivers, but when I last went down it there were red signs every twenty yards or so. Had these been taken away, or do you mean something other than signs?

Red signs were all completely gone.

The only "temporary" sign was an additional keep left bollard just south of Prince Consort Road (where the traffic switches to being on the east side only).

 

[gaz]

one thing's for certain - the Exhibition Road scheme is very expensive. It's not happening on Streatham High Road any time soon

Could it ever happen to streatham high road?
It's a major route from london to the south.

 

[dawesome]

A man suffered head injuries when he became the first to be knocked down in Exhibition Road since it was turned into a "shared space" for pedestrians and drivers.
The victim, 25, was in collision with a Scania lorry less than two weeks after the new layout was officially opened by Mayor Boris Johnson and senior Kensington and Chelsea councillors.
The £29 million redesign of Exhibition Road - home to the Victoria & Albert Museum, Natural History Museum and Science Museum - allows drivers and pedestrians to mix on a high-grade Chinese granite surface.
The redesign levelled the road and pavement, with no yellow lines or road signs to mark the two surfaces, only textured paving to assist blind people.
Officials had hoped the new 20mph speed limit would cut accidents by 30 per cent.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/stand...t-crash-on-shared-space-of-exhibition-road.do

 

[Linford]

I drove down there last year and parked in the Imperial college car park as we went to the NH museum on bit of a flying visit and had a baby in a push chair so didn't want to park miles from there. Full of road works which looked like being done to block pave the entire road. Quite hard to negotiate as a pedestrian though, but then it was full of work men and traffic cones and half finished. I'm not the greatest fan of shared spaces. We have one in Gloucester by the docks, and it has caused a lot of confusion on all sides.