New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

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londonbikerider
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New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by londonbikerider »

Hello

During those strange times, like many others, I had to re-arrange my daily routine including the journeys to work, those haven ot become a daily task for now. But when have to leave the house for reasons that cannot be done via a Zoom meeting, I have noticed that lots of work is going on the roads of central London. The roads between Finsbury Park and Holloway road have been affected for a little while now, hopefully for the better since the plans suggest a significant improvement

Image

There a few points that may not be resolved yet, like the traffic lights by Fisnbury Park and Madras Place, that can become a long wait. And the increasing numbers of "delivery riders" that would leave their mopeds parked wherever is closest to a take-away shop from which they collect.
Time will tell!
drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

Really interested in this, as my route to work involves arriving at FP by train, then going this way on a Brompton, to join the Liverpool Road to Angel. But of course I haven't been into the office for a year.

Would be great to see some photos, if you know a site that has them, or more details?

To be honest, I never thought that road was that much of a problem. They did some work several years ago to make the road outside Arsenal station sort of partly one-way for motorists. Mixed results in my experience - reduced traffic, but what there was now came at you at speed, knowing that no motor vehicles were coming the other way, where previously everything had been more calm.
londonbikerider
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by londonbikerider »

I have found this rendering, it looks nice and at this very moment the works are (finally) near completion

Image

The segregated cycle lanes are not continuous, though. And hopefully will get one more layer of tarmac because right now they're not smooth at all.
Unless they're planned for the new fashion of extra-wide bicycle tyres? (scratches head).

Time will tell how effective will be those new cycle lanes, and how often they'll be blocked by a parked car...
Cyril Haearn
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by Cyril Haearn »

That is a queer picture, the cyclist is riding on the crossing although someone is crossing on foot

No motors in sight, +1!
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drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

There's a refuge, and that usually makes two crossings, so vehicles can cross on the opposite side of the refuge from the pedestrian. Though I'm not sure exactly which designs count as refuges - don't think just adding bollards in the centre of the road on each side of the crossing does, for example. I suspect that the different markings on those sections would mark them as refuges, but don't take my word for it.

There can be a lot of bikes, at differing speeds, down that road. Expect a lot of cyclists in the main carriageway, overtaking other riders. Speeds going downhill (towards FP) can exceed 20mph.
Last edited by drossall on 30 Mar 2021, 1:01pm, edited 1 time in total.
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mjr
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by mjr »

Has someone a link to the consultation, please?
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Pete Owens
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by Pete Owens »

That junction looks very nasty for any cyclist attempting to turn right using the designated route - first turn left, then do a U-turn across the main carriageway.
drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

Yes, I don't think I'd be anywhere near the cycle lane for that manoeuvre. But the road is not overly busy.

The main issue, I think, might be that, at present, there's a reasonable amount of street parking, and a fair amount of 20mph limit. So cars naturally stay behind bikes a fair bit. There's a risk of this scheme doing little except to increase motor-vehicle speeds. The bottom of the road, out of sight in the picture, gets narrow and is a pinch point, and bikes need to be out in the road to discourage the racing drivers from overtaking into the bend. It will be interesting to see how it pans out, because comments at this point are a bit speculative. But I have mixed feelings about whether the scheme was needed, and how much it will help.

Edit - actually, I don't think the lanes continue beyond the RAB, which is probably for the best. Whereas, behind the artist to the right, there are shops. There's often double-parking outside those, forcing cyclists out into the path of cars. The lanes may help with that.
londonbikerider
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by londonbikerider »

At the moment, the works are near completion, the mini-roundabout is open and most of the traffic is flowing.
There are still restrictions for motor vehicles by the Arsenal tube station, which -given the number of drivers who go past the signs of "diversion" and "traffic enforcement cameras"- I guess is becoming a source of income for Islington Council? :wink: I digress.

So, this mini-roundabout is probably ok given the circumstances. The close proximity of the junction with Holloway Road makes impossible to use traffic lights. This was proved during the road works when 3-way and 4-way temporary lights weere installed. Bad idea, really.
To have no horizontal signs, it's not a good idea either. This was the previous arrangement and didn't work that well.

The problem I see, is when coming from Holloway Road, the cycle lane does not follow the roundabout but is effectively diverting the cyclists to Benwell road where they have to give way to the traffic coming from the A103 and going towards it from Drayton Park Road. I'm not convinced with this.

And still, there is not yet a consistent plan for a route that would link with Finsbury Park, where the traffic lights and crossings are not adequate.
Time will tell, I suppose!
drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

A photo or two would be interesting. I go back past Benwell Road every day (in normal commuting times), heading for FP station. Can we just ignore the cycle route and stay with the road to get towards Drayton Park? Would we want to?

I can look of course when I do start going in to work again. Would be unfortunate if they did all that and we all diverted to other routes to avoid it!
thirdcrank
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by thirdcrank »

drossall wrote: 30 Mar 2021, 8:54am There's a refuge, and that usually makes two crossings, so vehicles can cross on the opposite side of the refuge from the pedestrian. Though I'm not sure exactly which designs count as refuges - don't think just adding bollards in the centre of the road on each side of the crossing does, for example. I suspect that the different markings on those sections would mark them as refuges, but don't take my word for it.
My interpretation of the artist's impression is that there are three separate crossings: one on either side forming part of the cycle tracks and one in the middle across the main carriageway.
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mjr
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by mjr »

drossall wrote: 28 Apr 2021, 9:14am A photo or two would be interesting. I go back past Benwell Road every day (in normal commuting times), heading for FP station. Can we just ignore the cycle route and stay with the road to get towards Drayton Park? Would we want to?
I think you can, but the only reason that would make me do so would be congestion of the cycleway.
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drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

Thanks. I was referring to what londonbikerider said about cyclists being diverted into Benwell Road. Interested to take a look now!
drossall
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Re: New cycle lanes by Finsbury Park/Arsenal

Post by drossall »

I finally had to go into the office yesterday. Only to clear it out - we're still working from home, but the office is being reduced and rebuilt to suit the new world of flexible work that we'll return to. Anyway, I got the chance to have a look at the complete scheme, as I rode from Finsbury Park station to Angel.

I thought it was a bit mixed. What do others make of it? The lanes on the Liverpool Road are more useful than those past the stadium, I thought. Bike speeds vary considerably, but the Arsenal ones are a bit narrow for easy overtaking, and the lane of parked cars between the cycle and car lanes makes it hard to use the car lane - even though the roads are usually pretty empty. Also the parked cars can hide approaching cyclists from motorists.

On the Liverpool Road, with just posts between cycle and car lanes, using the latter for overtaking was much easier.

In general, the lanes worked well when there were enough cars to cause significant hold-ups, and few bikes so that you could sail past in the bike lane. In the reverse situation, slow cyclists mean you'll end up in the car lane anyway. Swings and roundabouts, I suppose. Did make we wonder though whether 20mph limits (which already exist in many places) and leaving the whole road, which is generally quite wide, mixed use might be more flexible.

The place I might have liked a bit of help is on the right-hander northbound on Drayton Park. Every now and then you get a motorist trying to race you into that, then braking sharply in front of you to take the corner - even though it's downhill and you're probably near the 20mph limit yourself. But I guess that they judged, as so often where cyclists need protection, that there wasn't enough road space to provide it.
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