Here's the response I got regarding the gravel on the cycle lane. It's interesting that the funding comes from a cycling budget to encourage cycling in London when they turn bits of it into shared space with no markings. I personally think these 4 shared use areas are hazardous to both cyclists and pedestrians.
I agree that there are some lunatics who ride far too fast down Rotten Row but I feel that removing the markings to show that cyclists also use this section of path will lead to conflict with pedestrians who are unaware they are wandering into the path of riders - even those going slowly over the shared use bits.
"Thank you for your enquiry about this scheme and my apologies I could not write sooner.
I know you have taken a close interest in this scheme but I think it will be useful to give you a brief history of the project again, and answer your specific questions.
The project is funded by £50,000 from Transport for London’s Cycling on Greenways 2009/2010 budget. This budget was created to encourage and fund the Mayor’s strategy for opening more cycling routes in London’s green spaces.
Hyde Park is a heavily used park with many routes too crowded or unsuitable in other ways for use by cycles. We considered carefully which of our current routes would benefit from improved safety and Rotten Row was one of them.
Monitoring by CCTV and Park Management, park user complaints and a safety audit all showed that there was a continuing conflict at the junctions of pedestrian paths with the cycle route; with a small minority of cyclists travelling at dangerous speeds and being abusive to those who cross or wander into the cycle path. Hyde Park is a leisure space and the cycle tracks are designated as leisure routes and not cycle highways. Fast road routes exist on South and North Carriage Drives.
To reduce the conflicts and make the path safer for pedestrians, we employed an Engineering consultancy to redesign the junctions as ‘Shared Use Paths’ according to design rules in the London Cycling Design Standards published by TfL. As a result we have now designated the junctions as shared use space. This also allows us the take enforcement action more easily against dangerous riders.
Granite sett panels work as visible and tactile warning strips are a standard feature in the Royal Parks to show the entrance and exit of cycle routes. The initial installation of these features took place in September 2009 but through a mistake by the contractor, the setts were supplied as ‘cropped’ rather than the specified ‘bush hammered’ finish resulting in a surface that was too rough and of poor quality. Consequent the contractor had to reinstall the works at their cost. The contractor, by the way, is our framework contractor Ringway, who supply the Royal Parks highway works after winning a nationally advertised tender process. May I also emphasise that rates we paid for the work were very competitive and the cost of the contractor’s mistakes has been borne entirely by them.
The last part of the design was to install a change of surface. The change of surface we use for pedestrian and shared use paths to separate them from designated cycle tracks is an angular flint gravel dressing to a bitumen emulsion (sometimes called ‘tar spray and chip’). This material is dressed loose to hot bitumen and must be left for a couple of weeks to consolidate and for the bitumen to harden. The loose chippings protect users from sticky bitumen during the maturing process. This loose material is swept up at a later date. During this time the loose gravel is a small unavoidable hazard to cyclists and we provide warning signs. I have also put up a blue cycle information sign explaining the new layout.
It will take a little time for the behaviour change required by the new layout to bed in. We are closely monitoring it.
Yours
David Bird"
I agree that there are some lunatics who ride far too fast down Rotten Row but I feel that removing the markings to show that cyclists also use this section of path will lead to conflict with pedestrians who are unaware they are wandering into the path of riders - even those going slowly over the shared use bits.
"Thank you for your enquiry about this scheme and my apologies I could not write sooner.
I know you have taken a close interest in this scheme but I think it will be useful to give you a brief history of the project again, and answer your specific questions.
The project is funded by £50,000 from Transport for London’s Cycling on Greenways 2009/2010 budget. This budget was created to encourage and fund the Mayor’s strategy for opening more cycling routes in London’s green spaces.
Hyde Park is a heavily used park with many routes too crowded or unsuitable in other ways for use by cycles. We considered carefully which of our current routes would benefit from improved safety and Rotten Row was one of them.
Monitoring by CCTV and Park Management, park user complaints and a safety audit all showed that there was a continuing conflict at the junctions of pedestrian paths with the cycle route; with a small minority of cyclists travelling at dangerous speeds and being abusive to those who cross or wander into the cycle path. Hyde Park is a leisure space and the cycle tracks are designated as leisure routes and not cycle highways. Fast road routes exist on South and North Carriage Drives.
To reduce the conflicts and make the path safer for pedestrians, we employed an Engineering consultancy to redesign the junctions as ‘Shared Use Paths’ according to design rules in the London Cycling Design Standards published by TfL. As a result we have now designated the junctions as shared use space. This also allows us the take enforcement action more easily against dangerous riders.
Granite sett panels work as visible and tactile warning strips are a standard feature in the Royal Parks to show the entrance and exit of cycle routes. The initial installation of these features took place in September 2009 but through a mistake by the contractor, the setts were supplied as ‘cropped’ rather than the specified ‘bush hammered’ finish resulting in a surface that was too rough and of poor quality. Consequent the contractor had to reinstall the works at their cost. The contractor, by the way, is our framework contractor Ringway, who supply the Royal Parks highway works after winning a nationally advertised tender process. May I also emphasise that rates we paid for the work were very competitive and the cost of the contractor’s mistakes has been borne entirely by them.
The last part of the design was to install a change of surface. The change of surface we use for pedestrian and shared use paths to separate them from designated cycle tracks is an angular flint gravel dressing to a bitumen emulsion (sometimes called ‘tar spray and chip’). This material is dressed loose to hot bitumen and must be left for a couple of weeks to consolidate and for the bitumen to harden. The loose chippings protect users from sticky bitumen during the maturing process. This loose material is swept up at a later date. During this time the loose gravel is a small unavoidable hazard to cyclists and we provide warning signs. I have also put up a blue cycle information sign explaining the new layout.
It will take a little time for the behaviour change required by the new layout to bed in. We are closely monitoring it.
Yours
David Bird"