£29m Cycling super-highway started.

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phil_hg_uk

I am not a member, I am a free man !!!!!!
Sounds good, the only time I have cycled in leeds was for the skyride but I find the roads over there to busy so I tend to stick to riding around Ilkley, otley wetherby etc. I will check these out once they are built.
 

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
I wonder to what extent the canal tow path will be resurfaced, it would be nice to have surfaced all the way to Skipton, at the moment there are streches that are only suitable for a MTB (IMO)
 
OP
OP
MarkF

MarkF

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Sounds good, the only time I have cycled in leeds was for the skyride but I find the roads over there to busy so I tend to stick to riding around Ilkley, otley wetherby etc. I will check these out once they are built.

Me too, I go there or in and and around the Aire Valley, the towpath and the Canal Road route into Bradford (from the canal at Shipley) are sure fire winners, it's flat! Not sure at all about the £29m "super-highway", IMO most Bradford-to-Leeds commuters would live around the outskirts, it'd take a miles-long detour to get to the starting point, and, I can't see leisure weekenders using it, they'll be on the canal. Tbh if Bradford's current cycle paths are any indication, no bugger will be using it, it's a very, very hilly City.

I wonder to what extent the canal tow path will be resurfaced, it would be nice to have surfaced all the way to Skipton, at the moment there are streches that are only suitable for a MTB (IMO)

It's a Shipley to Leeds upgrade pal, the most popularly used stretch, Silsden to Skipton resurfaced would be great but hardly any commuters use that stretch. I use a hybrid (on 35mm's) but after rain, that stretch is horrible.
 

albion

Guru
Location
South Tyneside
"Diggers have moved in at the Thornbury gyratory, Church Bank and Dick Lane in Bradford to create the path, which will be segregated from the traffic to improve safety for cyclists."


So, better add 10 minutes onto your bike commute time? Still, sounds better and safer than a lick of blue paint going through the middle of a busy highway.
 

Leodis

Veteran
Location
Moortown, Leeds
I am very sad about this super highway. Leeds needs so much more investment in its cycle infrastructure and this money mixed with consultation with the right groups could go a long way. I used the new Regent St one up and along Meanwood road, the Meanwood road section is a joke, no lines, bus stops and bins littering it and then dumps you at a dangerous junction. The canal will now just end up more of a race track for those who could use the A65 instead.

I would have liked a cycle highway around the full ring road been linked up with cycle routes which need to be revised. I will never use this super highway or canal path as I live in North Leeds.
 
OP
OP
MarkF

MarkF

Guru
Location
Yorkshire
Yes, the canal will get busier, but only a 10/12 mile stretch, and it's 127 miles long............I am all for this being used for commuting between Bradford and Leeds, at the mo' some sections are very rough/muddy.

The highway? I cannot see it being a success, per head of population, the Leeds/Bradford conurbation must have one of the lowest cycle commuting ratios in the country. Bradford has lots of cycle lanes, usually entirely empty. Lisbon is beautiful and warm, pertect for cycling, but people don't commute on bicycles there for the same reason that they don't in Bradford, hills.
 

vernon

Harder than Ronnie Pickering
Location
Meanwood, Leeds
Yes, the canal will get busier, but only a 10/12 mile stretch, and it's 127 miles long............I am all for this being used for commuting between Bradford and Leeds, at the mo' some sections are very rough/muddy.

The highway? I cannot see it being a success, per head of population, the Leeds/Bradford conurbation must have one of the lowest cycle commuting ratios in the country. Bradford has lots of cycle lanes, usually entirely empty. Lisbon is beautiful and warm, pertect for cycling, but people don't commute on bicycles there for the same reason that they don't in Bradford, hills.

It will be the perfect incentive for me to commute from Leeds to Bradford by bike. The car commute has been adversely affected by the roadworks and currently takes up to half an hour longer than cycling in. If the constrictions permanently affect the car commute times by this amount then cycling in to work will take ten minutes longer than driving in.

I await with baited breath to see how it turns out. It's a pity that I anticipate getting only a year or so's use out of the superhighway before I retire.
 
Well - it's started at my end of town. Had a wee ride down what's there on Sunday.



Had a resigned chuckle at the residents getting new dropped kerbs, and the cyclists getting ....... full kerbs; aye, and the obligatory lamp post beautifully centred.

Had a really nice reply from the council. The raised kerbs are deliberate, as the cycle route will carry on across the mouth of the junction on a raised table ....... with cycle priority! I've not seen that anywhere else. And the lamp post is to be moved - it's just that its a different contractor for that job.

Early days - but it is looking good? Miles better than the Regent Street scheme.
 
Can't see your media here here at work as its blocked, but I've thought for a while now that roads are being built with wrong priorities re: your reference to 'tables'
Area I live in is typical urban residential, some through connecting roads (some used as 'rat runs') and quieter side streets.
I've thought that pedestrians could be given priority when crossing side streets by the simple method of continuing the pavement along at the same height, effectively making a speed hump at the entrance to every side street. Paint zebra crossing type markings on it and it would hopefully make drivers think about people crossing and hopefully slow down to cross the hump. Would make it easier for wheelchairs users and the more immobile senior citizens to cross without having to negotiate kerbs too.
A change in thinking, putting people before vehicles.
 
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