Time for my weekly update:
24th October (one week after the much delayed "offical" opening of the route from Leeds- Seacroft) -
still not finished!
And unsurprisingly there is still lots to do, but to keep us entertained in the meantime, I've got a few more pics of what you get for £2 million per mile.
Apologies again for the quality.
Here we have the outbound route between the Torre Rd flyover and Harehills Lane.
As you can see, the cycleway has been highlighted across the junction in green and despite road markings elsewhere on the route showing the vehicles on the road must give way to cyclists on the CSH, here we see a Give Way sign for the cyclist, who has to perform a tricky 270 degree appraisal of the traffic before proceeding. Bear in mind that any traffic turning in here is coming off a 40mph dual carriageway.
Same junction, but look - the road markings for traffic exiting the office park say that they must give way to cyclists on the CSH. While this is undoubtedly for the best, it is at odds with the other side of the junction and is bound to lead to confusion, or worse. Also note how the old "non-super" cycle lane is still very much in place on the carriageway.
Not a great pic next, but it does highlight a good point. Notice how the CSH is sandwiched between the footpath and the newly installed parking bay, putting the cyclist (just visible next to the red car) right in the door gap. What you can't see so well here due to the quality of the pic is the appalling quality of the workmanship here.
Next pic is the CSH approaching Killingbeck Drive, the retail park where Asda is. Again, not a great pic, but you can make out the depth of fallen leaves already collected in the CSH by the way they obscure the inner kerb. This was reported last week, but remains uncleared.
Again, note the "non-super" cycle lane still in place on the carriageway.
This is a good one, just past Killingbeck Cemetery at the entrance to Lyme Chase, we have this confusing mess of road markings.
Who gives way to who here? Remember any vehicles are exiting / entering a 40mph dual carriageway here.
Anyway, there is a gap from the bus shelter you can see above right past the petrol station and shops right up to the traffic lights just past Burger King, where there is nothing. No CSH, in fact no cycling provision at all. No cycle lane, no shared path, just a 40mph dual carriageway that opens out to 4 lanes as it passes through the traffic lights (at the lights there is an ASL though, so that's alright). And oddly a 1990's off road cycle path that is about 50m long and leads to a toucan crossing, where after crossing two sets of lights you can join the restarted CSH.
And finally, you might remember that I've mentioned the dangerous junction of the A64 (Barwick Rd) and York Rd at Seacroft?
The good news is that they've finally painted it green and although the white lines have yet to go in, you can see (just) where they have chalked in where they are about to put in Give Way markings for cyclists. This is probably wise - it goes against most of the other priorities nearby, but would you really cycle straight over this junction and assume that a car driver coming off the 40mph dual carriageway would give way to you? I certainly wouldn't.
The faux-by-four is in the standard position here for traffic waiting to pull onto the main road, which will inevitably lead to conflict with any cyclists.
Clearly there is still a lot of work to do, but I can't see how they're going to salvage this now. Parts of it are excellent, but there is so much that is just wrong that it undoes any positives.
