Bristol Railway Path upgrade

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captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
Word on the street (as Huggy Bear used to say in the 70's) is that Sustrans have secured cash to upgrade the path with segregation between cyclists & pedestrians but this may involve actual barriers not a bit of paint. I was wondering how this would work if you suddenly needed to swerve around something suddenly blocking you and..crash...straight into a fence?. Also, what about turning off right or left?. I wonder exactly how this would work?.
 

Arjimlad

Tights of Cydonia
Location
South Glos
I cannot imagine how this might work. Certain busy sections might benefit, I can see, but the path is rather narrow for any physical barrier to be installed.
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
I think they're doing this because pedestrian groups down in Easton have been especially vocal as it's a school crossing. I think that there used to be a footbridge at this point, now you need to cross the path (down, cross & up again), probably taken out after Beeching axed it in the 60's. In the past, I've seen people down there with speed radar guns. The local rag - Bristol Post - has run articles on it & people always blame cyclists for accidents.

The only two accidents I've seen here in 10 years commuting both involved people letting their dogs off leads. No mention of wandering in-my-own-world texting pedestrians or people who let their dogs run wild.....Fed up of cyclists getting all the blame.

The contentious section is here:
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/r...-on-bristol-railway-path-now-a-hazard.210317/
 

mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
I read something somewhere about it being an upgrade with a community-led design or some such nonsense.

If there is segregation, the cycle side still has to be wide enough for all cycling+walking users because walkers will still walk on the cycle side, but cyclists can't use the cycling side legally to avoid them.

As you say, the Bristol Pest always blames cyclists, even when it's shoot like dogs out of control off leads which is clearly inadvisable and arguably illegal. A few Dutch-style "Dogs On Leads!" signs would be a good first addition IMO.
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(source - copied for the purpose of commentary)
 

rogerzilla

Legendary Member
I bet there won't be space for cyclists to pass each other in opposite directions. There never is on shared paths with a line down the middle.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
We need to all go to the NL and see how it’s done. The pen pushers who potentially sign this off need to go more importantly, rather than sign off something stupid and ineffectual like elsewhere in the UK.

The solution used in the NL works well, but I won’t disclose exactly what it is. I’ll leave those who don’t know in a state of suspense.

Culture and common sense play a large part in the Dutch model ;)
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
We need to all go to the NL and see how it’s done. The pen pushers who potentially sign this off need to go more importantly, rather than sign off something stupid and ineffectual like elsewhere in the UK.

The solution used in the NL works well, but I won’t disclose exactly what it is. I’ll leave those who don’t know in a state of suspense.

Culture and common sense play a large part in the Dutch model ;)

If I were in charge, I'd just hire a Dutch designer.
 
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mjr

Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
If I were in charge, I'd just hire a Dutch designer.
Before the project was completed, they'd quit, sick of being told "you can't do that here because of UK regulations" which they find to be incorrect every time but it wastes their time each time and a sane human can only take so much reading for regulations before they lose it!

That happened somewhere but I don't remember where. Was it Bracknell? I remember someone in Milton Keynes who got famously fed up being blocked from building proper continental roundabouts (I think he got one built on the north edge of Stony Stratford which survives and a couple on the edge of Bletchley which I think have gone in "improvements") but he wasn't Dutch.
 
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captain nemo1701

captain nemo1701

Space cadet. Deck 42 Main Engineering.
Location
Bristol
Just saw this video of BBRP online. This is what a flow of 1800 people per hour looks like. Hope it displays OK:

View: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BBRPOnePath/permalink/430758834239582/


That's a short section of footpath which only goes under the road bridge. It's not complete, but may be the idea Sustrans has for a raised pavement the length of the path. It's location is here:
B2B.jpg

Red dots are the existing path, yellow dots show another railway line which used to carry waste from the nearby tip. There's a cycle path follows the line a little, but veers off. The second rail line appears to be abandoned as it's now massively overgrown & i haven't seen trains on it for a few years now. It would be great if the second line be converted into a cycle path since it's a much more direct route & avoids most of an industrial estate. BTW, the unit immediately across the street to the northwest of the B2B path end is where some of the interiors of Casualty were filmed.
 

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