Parrs Wood Road, Manchester; and double yellows before islands?

[SavageHoutkop]

There's recently been a consultation on cross city bus travel, which I replied to. In particular, the bit of the consultation I was interested in was the Oxford Road / Wilmslow Road bit as I travel that route every day. In my reply, I commented that Parrs Wood road is 'recommended' to cyclists as an alternative to Wilmslow Road as soon as you get south of the Sainsbury's in Fallowfield, and asked if it had been considered to upgrade that rather than Wilmslow Road (for cyclists).

If anyone cycles Parrs Wood road, you'll know that there is a cycle lane along a fair bit of it (in both directions) and also that it's usually full of parked cars as it's a residential area and the cycle lane is only dashed with no yellow lines. IMHO this is the biggest waste of paint I've yet come across, but perhaps outside of peak commuting times it's a bit better?

Reply from the Council was:
"With regard to Parrs Wood Road, we are aware that if there is a high level of residential parking, then a cycle lane that is not protected by double yellow lines will often be parked over. However, providing a cycle lane still visually narrows down the road and raises the prominence for the cyclist when there are no cars parked and traffic may otherwise speed up. Parked cars tend to slow traffic down as traffic is more cautious on narrow streets. We do recognise that cyclists are competing with other road users and we have to balance the needs of all. In a residential street we would not be able to introduce double yellow lines as these would raise objections from residents. With very limited budgets, we are not able to prioritise funding on taking out infrastructure, therefore there are no plans to remove the stretch of cycle lane you are referring to on Parrs Wood Lane."

Anyone got any comments on what they think of that road? I'm considering emailing back to request a double yellow just before one of those pedestrian-island-things in the middle of the road, as on my way home I usually get pinched at one of them (before anyone suggests primary, some **** passed on the opposite side of the pedestrian-island-thing the other day; and as he turned left immediately after I can only imagine he's a local). The link to the particular island I'm referring to is here; where southbound gives me much more grief than northbound as there are usually a string of cars all along the southbound route, and cars stuck behind me as I pedal safely out of door reach until that island get impatient. Thoughts on the minimum length of double yellow needed before the island will also be appreciated.

 

[fossyant]

I ride Parrs Wood often, and never use the lane.

I always pull wide on those islands anyway.

Not a bad road to ride along as it's light traffic mostly.

 

[Lurker]

You could plot your route as recommended by national standards cycle training i.e. well out from parked cars, taking a smooth line with no sudden direction-changes, and use that to work out how many car parking spaces would need to be removed for cyclist safety - and hence the number of cars-lengths of double yellow lines that would need to be installed on the approach to the pinch point.

Additionally: Surely better than cycle lanes which by their own admission are commonly obstructed (i.e. worse than useless) would be for the local authority to put cycle logos (roundels) in the middle of the running lane? Even only a couple, one at the pinch point and one shortly before it, could be helpful for cyclists as a safety/comfort aid.