Barsteward council

[KnackeredBike]

Sent an email a few weeks ago to the council pointing out that they missed an opportunity not painting a cycle lane on the northbound side of a wide road The Slade in Oxford, to match the southbound cycle lane which has been there for years. They were painting double yellow lines but a bit of white paint surely couldn't be that expensive.

Cycling home yesterday I notice they have now burnt off the southbound cycle lane too, presumably in a "sod you, now we've evened things up" type effort.

Either that or they are going to create some sort of hateful segregated cycle lane which dumps you on the wrong side of the road with wheel-wrecking kerbing alongside.

 

[mjr]

https://www.facebook.com/Cycloxfanpage/posts/1152487661526580 links to the plans. It's a half-height cycle lane/track hybrid except it looks like Oxfordshire have farked up the side road junctions (radius too slack, so unnecessarily high left hook and T-bone risks and it looks like maybe no side road ends are closed off) and bus stops (no bypasses - you're directed to cycle up to the high level through waiting passengers and back down). It's marginally better than London 7SL or CS2 because there's no kerb for you to hit your right pedal on, but it's far worse than Cambridge or even 25-year-old Milton Keynes stuff.

 

[Profpointy]

good for them ! I am utterly convinced that painted on cycle lanes result in closer passes and more risk to cyclists.

 

[mjr]

good for them ! I am utterly convinced that painted on cycle lanes result in closer passes and more risk to cyclists.

Don't worry - the plans include some painted-on cycle lanes as the cycle lane/track hybrids give up at every farking junction, including well before the terminal junctions

Edited to add: actually, the cycle lane/track doesn't become a painted lane until it's IN THE MIDDLE of the Old Road crossroads. It becomes a cycle track described as a "3m shared foot and cycle path, segregated by white line" which is probably councilspeak for a 1.5m cycle track at footway level. How you're expected to get from the cycle tracks to/from the middle of the crossroads isn't clear to me.

 

[Drago]

Its Oxford. Someone probably stole it.

 

[EltonFrog]

.

...Either that or they are going to create some sort of hateful segregated cycle lane which dumps you on the wrong side of the road with wheel-wrecking kerbing alongside.

I rode along that yesterday for the first time, an odd configuration I thought

 

[Drago]

Hold on just one goddamm minute. Cycle lane disappears, Carlos admits being present at the time of the theft. Motive + opportunity = guilty!

 

[EltonFrog]

Hold on just one goddamm minute. Cycle lane disappears, Carlos admits being present at the time of the theft. Motive + opportunity = guilty!

Ah yeah, but wait..I have a lullaby.

 

[KnackeredBike]

https://www.facebook.com/Cycloxfanpage/posts/1152487661526580 links to the plans. It's a half-height cycle lane/track hybrid except it looks like Oxfordshire have farked up the side road junctions (radius too slack, so unnecessarily high left hook and T-bone risks and it looks like maybe no side road ends are closed off) and bus stops (no bypasses - you're directed to cycle up to the high level through waiting passengers and back down). It's marginally better than London 7SL or CS2 because there's no kerb for you to hit your right pedal on, but it's far worse than Cambridge or even 25-year-old Milton Keynes stuff.

Thanks for that, I should have know it would be hidden away on an obscure part Facebook rather than somewhere sensible like the council website.

"Phase 1" has been absolutely terrible with cycle lanes ending just where the road narrows and all sorts of fun and games so I have high hopes to ignore Phase 2.

 

[KnackeredBike]

good for them ! I am utterly convinced that painted on cycle lanes result in closer passes and more risk to cyclists.

I would tend to agree with you but I have slight OCD that means cycle lanes along just one side of the road makes me recoil in horror.

Incidentally when they painted the yellow lines they painted them down the middle of the cycle lane, which means all the bikes look like the front half have been the victim of a hit and run with a paint lorry.

 

[mjr]

Thanks for that, I should have know it would be hidden away on an obscure part Facebook rather than somewhere sensible like the council website.

It's almost certainly on the council website but I found it easier by searching a group I know on Facebook - which probably says nothing good about your local council's website!

 

[KnackeredBike]

Found the council map of it and it doesn't look terrible or feature contraflow, which is always a good start.

https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/cms/...TheSlade_PublicConsulationPlans_March2017.pdf

I note they examples they have at the bottom are Cambridge (brilliant, as you'd expect), Brighton (average) and Bristol (insane with a road hump in the middle of a contraflow cycle lane). So they are drawing inspiration from all ends of the spectrum.

It looks like the weak point will be their "Raised entry to side road giving pedestrian and cycle priority" which in practice seem to give priority to nobody and thus end up as a place for cars to wait whilst joining the main road, or take priority when turning into a side road across a cycle lane. Really they should be yellow boxes or some sort of stationary traffic prohibited grenade enforced no-mans land.

Also the perennial "bus stop shared space between a queue of passengers for the bus and cyclists".

Noted than despite the new double yellows there is still a lot of parking along this road and I can see a 2m wide dropped kerb cycle lane becoming a 2m wide off road parking area very quickly.

I can see this being a total mess.

 

[mjr]

Found the council map of it and it doesn't look terrible or feature contraflow, which is always a good start.

Found? I did include that link in my second reply!

It looks like the weak point will be their "Raised entry to side road giving pedestrian and cycle priority" which in practice seem to give priority to nobody and thus end up as a place for cars to wait whilst joining the main road, or take priority when turning into a side road across a cycle lane. Really they should be yellow boxes or some sort of stationary traffic prohibited grenade enforced no-mans land.

It depends. The ones aligned with the kerb like that work OK around here, as long as the corner radius is tight - which it isn't there, as far as I can tell. Ultimately, though, enforcement will determine if it works or not.

I think the weaker points are the rampless side road crossing (because the driveway can't enter across a ramp?), the acute-angled abrupt merge back onto carriageway at the southern end and all the points where people are directed to cycle through walkers waiting to cross the road or board a bus.

Also the perennial "bus stop shared space between a queue of passengers for the bus and cyclists".

Yes, they've chickened out of building bus stop islands.

Noted than despite the new double yellows there is still a lot of parking along this road and I can see a 2m wide dropped kerb cycle lane becoming a 2m wide off road parking area very quickly.

I can see this being a total mess.

It might or it might be a bit of a mess. Ultimately, though, enforcement will determine if it works or not.

 

[KnackeredBike]

Apologies @mjr, I don't use Facebook and TBH couldn't work out how to navigate behind a big "WANT TO SIGN UP TO FACEBOOK?" box.

 

[mjr]

Apologies @mjr, I don't use Facebook and TBH couldn't work out how to navigate behind a big "WANT TO SIGN UP TO FACEBOOK?" box.

second reply, but never mind