You couldn't make it up

[quack]

A cycle lane at a busy and dangerous junction in York, built only three years ago with Cycling England money, is to be removed at a cost of £12,000. Here's an extract from the local rag:

"A CYCLE lane at a York junction is to be removed at a cost of £12,000 – only three years after it was put in. City of York Council’s cabinet last night approved taking away the bike route to make way for the reintroduction of a left-hand traffic lane at the junction of Clifton Green and Water End,despite emergency services and cyclists opposing the move.
The changes to the junction, made in 2009, saw the car lane replaced with more space for cyclists. But local residents said this led to motorists seeking alternative routes turning their streets into “rat runs”.
Council transport officers admitted the new alterations would make the layout less safe for cyclists, but said it would reduce congestion.
North Yorkshire Police, North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service all said the junction should stay as it is, while cyclists gathered outside last night’s meeting at Fulford School to call for the bike lane to be retained. The council’s Labour group pledged to bring back the car lane after winning power last year.
The cabinet chose the cheaper of two options for making a fresh set of changes to the junction, with the cost of the other possibility, including a central cycle lane, being estimated at £35,000.

In a public consultation, 106 of the 178 people who responded said the current arrangements should remain, while 56 favoured the arrangement which was approved.

[reohn2]

As you say you couldn't make it up

[[XAP]Bob]

Demo.. Democra.... ah sod it...

[Steady rider]

I am wondering what are the options,

20 mph zone near the junction may help so that even without a cycle lane traffic should be slowed slightly

where the cycle lane will be replaced with an inside traffic lane, could it be feasible to make it 'no overtaking by motor vehicles', thus effectively no vehicles passing cyclists at the location of the old cycle lane or junction

legal processes - if worthwhile

accept as a lose in this case

Any others?

[daveg]

Professional advice? Ignore it.

Public opinion? Ignore it.

Last thing you want is cars going down quiet streets. Much better if they can squish cyclists instead.

[[XAP]Bob]

The problem is rat runs, so deal with them....

That means calming, lights or centre street barriers (permeable to cyclists preferably)

[Steady rider]

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/9630272 ... ed/?ref=mr

[thelawnet]

Not unusual.

Here's an (ex-!) local safety measure, with its own website whining about the congestion it supposedly caused

http://www.fishwick-island.org.uk/

It's now been removed, you can see a comparison here:

http://brookwoodcrossroads.wordpress.co ... ck-island/




Basically the island provided convenience for pedestrians + cyclists who could cross at that point, between the two sides of the canal, rather than walk 30 yards to the traffic lights and negotiate two separately phased sets of lights.

[thirdcrank]

With regard to York, it's easy to make the mistake of believing that the place is somehow cycle-friendly. It's nice and flat with a very strong history of utility cycling. All I've ever seen in York at street level has been highwaymen managing the problem of having more bicycles than normal in the UK, for the ultimate benefit of the motoring public.

Dick Turpin had nothing on his modern counterparts.

[quack]

For those interested, this is what is to be built: (Sorry, link to council plan, option 1 doesn't seem to work):

Cycle lane stops. Cyclists then have to pass up to ASL via two very narrow lanes, of which the plan says: "both the left-turn and right-turn lanes approaching the junction would be sub-standard, which would create queues of tightly packed traffic and specific difficulties in accommodating larger vehicles that would be likely to encroach into other traffic lanes."

You take your life in your hands. The council admits cyclists will be less safe, but congestion may be eased. By a left filter lane that can at best take only four vehicles!
And the whole thing was prompted by a vociferous local anti-cyclist lobby that doesn't miss the chance for a rant in the local newspaper and its website.
"Cycling City York" runs the council spin. Cycling city, my eye.
Perhaps the CTC should choose a safer, more cyclist-friendly venue for our annual show.

[daveg]

For those interested, this is what is to be built:
http://democracy.york.gov.uk/(S(aw2b23j ... fc1asnl055))/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=55563

And the whole thing was prompted by a vociferous local anti-cyclist lobby that doesn't miss the chance for a rant in the local newspaper and its website.
"Cycling City York" runs the council spin. Cycling city, my eye.
Perhaps the CTC should choose a safer, more cyclist-friendly venue for our annual show.

Now I know that I'm a cynical old git, but I wonder is some of said Councillors or perhaps financial supporters live in said streets that are affected. I mean, if that's the case then fair do's they should come first - squash the oiks on boiks (sorry)

[snibgo]

This is quack's link.

I haven't been back to York since I lived and worked there some 30 years ago. In those days, cycling was strong despite the usual opposition from motorists. It suffered similar problems to Cambridge: ancient narrow streets, employment was concentrated in the city-centre, housing was spread around the suburbs.

Cambridge made the decision not to allow motorists to take over the city. It seems York decided the opposite.

[thirdcrank]

Thy York Bypass, and perhaps to a lesser extent the completion of the ring road around the entire city brought a lot of relief from through traffic. The days of the A64 traffic passing the Minster are now history.

it seems to me that the benefits were not locked-in. There's a dwindling number of good shops in York but it's not somewhere I've felt welcome as a cyclist. Whenever I've been there, no matter what the means of transport, I don't remember ever seeing any cycling provision that made me think "That's good" but I've seen plenty that's rubbish. Considering the amount of cycling there, the provision overall seems very poor.

[Steady rider]

http://www.google.co.uk/images?sourceid ... group&sa=X

Cost £4 million but its the exception perhaps, riverside tracks and York to Selby cycle path are reasonable.

The particular junction serves as an across outer/inner city main link for many people. driving via the city centre is a problem and taking the ring road may be out of the way for some. York has expanded in population and the inner road system capacity is probably near to 1930 style. Business/Council like more people and property for extra cash/rates but it gets tighter on the roads to cater for them each year.

ps the Uk missed the boat in 2000 by not building 1000 bridges to cater for walking and cycling, instead we had the 'Dome' and bits and pieces and a few bridges.

[thirdcrank]

I don't really know anything about the background to the York - Selby cycle path, but I presume it was one of Sustran's earliest projects. My introduction to it was a bit strange. I was riding up the B1222 in what was probably the early 1990's. I was thinking of ways to get across the R. Ouse without having to use the A19 and I had a look at my OS map. I don't even know why I had the map with me because I'm familiar with the York area. I knew that the main railway line had been moved further west to avoid subsidence from the proposed extension of the Selby Coalfield (older readers will remember that coal is lumpy black stuff that used to be dug out of the ground for fuel) so I wondered if the any of the tracks shown on my map had been removed. Lo and behold: a complete new cycle track over the bridge.

Whether the local authority (which had a much smaller area then) had any involvment, I don't know. Even if they financed it 100% it doesn't really affect what's happened in York itself. To a layman like me, little if anything has been done to limit the effect of the motor car. On the contrary, it seems that every possible technique has been used to maximise capacity for motor traffic, given the constraints of what's left of a medieval city. I'm not suggesting that this is somehow unique to York, far from it, but in the past, York has been an ideal place for cycling as a mode of transport.