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Dear all,
Several people have rightly
expressed concern about the works going on in Paynes Park / Bedford Road and
the apparent lack of any thought for cycling. Thanks to the noise made by some
of you and the intervention of Simon Young at NHDC we managed to arrange a
meeting with the designers at Herts Highways. It was a very positive meeting,
the engineers listened and took on board much of what was said. Whether this
will survive the many layers of review and auditing that highway projects go through
we do not know.
We were asked to keep the plans
and our discussions confidential. I stated my view that it is always better to
be open with people, and that secrecy just generates suspicion. We have however
respected HH’s request and kept this to ourselves. However, Roxanne Glaud of
Herts Highways has been quoting snippets out of context in correspondence so it
is time that we made our views public.
For those with access to the “Cycle
Hitchin” forum the letter can be found in the group file space at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cycle_Hitchin/files/HCC%20270109%20Paynes%20Pk%20Jubilee%20Rd.pdf
For everybody else, a copy will shortly be available on the
CTC North Herts campaign page.
(sorry Tina, could you add this one to your list please).
Please sharpen your pencils or
keyboards and ask your Councillor why HH seem free to pursue their own agenda
instead of following the plan that was developed through public consultation.
My email to Roxanne Glaud at
Herts Highways, and dialogue between Roxanne and Dave Borner follows:
Regards
Alasdair DV Massie CEng
MIStructE
CTC Right to Ride Representative, North Herts
CTC is Britain’s largest cycling
organisation with 70,000 members. Formed in 1878 we have actively campaigned
for better, safer roads, locally and nationally since our inception.
We have a large and active
section for North Herts and Stevenage.
From: Alasdair Massie
Sent: 12 February 2009 11:39
To: 'Roxanne Glaud'; David Borner
Cc: Derrick Ashley; Richard Thake; Simon Young; Stuart Pile; David Burt;
'alasdair_massie@...'
Subject: RE: Danger to Cyclists - Old Park Road, Hitchin
Dear Roxanne,
I
am sorry but I have to butt in on this discussion. To suggest that the works in
Bedford Road are somehow about making it an inviting area for elderly people is
disingenuous in the extreme. Since when did groups representing the elderly
show any enthusiasm for shared pavement cycleways and high speed gyratories ?
This
scheme prioritises motor traffic, in direct conflict with HCC’s stated User
Hierarchy, for no real gain to car users and at the expense of all
non-motorised users.
Please
do not patronise us by pretending it is about poor little old ladies. For you
information, poor little old ladies often rely upon their bicycles to get about
because they do not own a car and they have difficulty in walking for any
distance. For many people a bicycle is not a toy or a convenient vehicle, it is
a vital mobility aid that allows them to overcome what would otherwise be a
debilitating disability.
If
you take the time to read your own policies and the Manual
for Streets you will find in them the “Hierarchy of Measures” for both
pedestrians and cyclists. The favoured measures are the same – reduce traffic
volume, reduce traffic speed. Pavement conversion is a measure of last resort
which suits neither user well.
The
solution for the Bedford Road gyratory is clear and well known – restore two
way traffic flow, which removes almost ALL of the traffic from Bedford
Road and Paynes Park. It is in the 1998 Transport Plan. Public support was good
– nearly twice as many in favour as in opposition. It was in the 1999 Cycle
Network Plan as well, and the same issues were coming up yesterday at the
Hitchin Transport Plan workshop.
Herts
Highways have had a decade to think about this and plan for it and
design how it should be done. What have you been doing all of that time ? Why
when you started an expensive and disruptive road rebuilding scheme did you not
already have this pre-planned and thought through ? In short, why were you so
pathetically unprepared ? It was all there for you, all you had to do was put
the plan into reality.
Now
I have used language more colourfully than I would otherwise choose to do, and
may have caused offence by doing so. I am sorry if this is the case but we were
asked by Herts Highways NOT to make the plans, or the results of our
discussions, public. We respected that even though we believe that it is
counter productive to keep people in the dark. So, I would be very grateful if
you returned that respect by NOT QUOTING SMALL PARTS OF OUR COMMENTS OUT OF
CONTEXT. If you want a nugget to pass on to members of the public then you
would be better off using this one :
|
We have concerns that we were being presented with two,
bottom of hierarchy “solutions” that fail to address problems with the
road hierarchy at source, and instead target the “symptoms” by removing
cyclists from the carriageway. |
Our
comments are attached, in full, so that people can see for themselves what our
comments are, rather than having little bits of them passed on by people who
have their own agenda. For the record, neither 3.0m lanes nor 3.5m lanes are
satisfactory in the environment of the Paynes Park gyratory. Both lie within
the “critical” range for the mix of traffic encountered and will make for
intimidating cycling. The proposals put forward and discussed are not, by any
measure, a solution – only an attempt to get the best out of a bad job. The
solution is to restore 2 way flow and you should have planned for it.
Let
us see some action behind the retoric. Let us see Herts Highways actually put
the needs of pedestrians and cyclists, using the roads a matter of yards from
the town centre, at the top of the list of priorities instead of right at the
bottom. Leaving people the scraps that are left after all of the usable space
has been dedicated to people driving around in circles is NOT in
accordance with any guidelines at any level of government.
So,
spare us the weasel words please and get on with the task that the people of
Hitchin said they wanted you to do over ten years ago.
Regards
Alasdair DV Massie CEng
MIStructE
CTC Right to Ride Representative, North Herts
CTC is Britain’s largest cycling
organisation with 70,000 members. Formed in 1878 we have actively campaigned
for better, safer roads, locally and nationally since our inception.
We have a large and active section
for North Herts and Stevenage.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roxanne Glaud [mailto:roxanne.glaud@...]
Sent: 12 February 2009 10:32
To: David Borner
Cc: Alasdair Massie; Derrick Ashley; Richard Thake; Simon Young; Stuart Pile;
David Burt
Subject: Re: Danger to Cyclists - Old Park Road, Hitchin
David
Thank you for your email.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide an alternative
route for cyclist as
part of this scheme.
We have followed the TMA 2004 act which calls for a prioritisation
of users
based on location and in this instance we had to address
the needs of some
users who have no alternative in their ability to access
the town centre.
These users are the visually impaired and other
disable people within the
locale of this area were prioritised.
Kind regards
Roxanne
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| David
Borner |
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<dborner@...|
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| 12/02/2009 10:24
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To: Roxanne Glaud
<roxanne.glaud@...>
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cc: Derrick Ashley
<derrick.ashley@...>, Richard Thake
<racthake@...>, Simon
Young |
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<simon.young@...>, Stuart Pile <stuart.pile@...>,
Alasdair
Massie
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<a.massie@...>
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Subject: Re: Danger to Cyclists - Old Park Road,
Hitchin
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Roxanne,
I think you may be getting a little confused here.
In Bedford Road, narrowing the lanes further will allow a greater width for the
proposed off-road
pavement cycle lane. There is no such proposal for
Old Park
Road.
When I cycle along Old Park Road I find it very
unpleasant, but at least there is adequate lane width to allow overtaking. I
strongly suspect your
proposed 3.25m lane width has much the same problem
with "squeezing past" as a 3.5m width. I am not sure that reducing
the width to 3.0m as in
Bedford Road would be wise as cyclists then become
human speed bumps causing the traffic to slow down or change lanes, although it
might be
marginally better than the "squeezing
past"
option.
It is a pity that HH did not consult CTC (or local
road users) about Old Park Road before starting the work. Could I ask that you
consult CTC as a
matter of urgency now? The delays caused to the
roadworks by bad weather may give an opportunity to alter this scheme before
too much money is
spent.
The Hitchin Cycle Network proposed alternatives to
the Old Park Road route, which are unfortunately not available yet.
Implementing these now might
be another
alternative.
Regards
David Borner
--- On Wed, 11/2/09, Roxanne Glaud
<roxanne.glaud@...>
wrote:
From: Roxanne Glaud
<roxanne.glaud@...>
Subject: Re: Danger to Cyclists - Old Park Road,
Hitchin
To: "David Borner"
<dborner@...>
Cc: "Derrick Ashley"
<derrick.ashley@...>, "Richard Thake"
<racthake@...>, "Simon Young" <simon.young@...>,
"Stuart Pile"
<stuart.pile@...>, "Huw Hamer"
<huw.hamer@...>, "Graham Harris"
<graham.harris@...>
Date: Wednesday, 11 February, 2009, 5:12
PM
Mr
Bonner
Apologies for the delay in
responding.
A research project produced by TRL demonstrated
that where too much
width
had been provided at narrowings then their was
a
tendency for
car/lorries
to attempt to push pass a cyclist without passing
out of the cycle lane
and
therefore the project recommended that critical
widths were
avoided.
Information provided by CTC in their response to
the new cycle lane
on
Bedford Road have highlighted that traffic lanes
of 3.5m are of a
critical
with allowing HGVs to push pass a cyclist but
without enough space to
do
safely. They go on to say that reducing the
lane width would ensure
that
HGV's needed to change lane when attempting to
overtake a cyclist.
They
highlight that there is no right answer as the
resulting width would still
be in a critical range for car/cycle
usage.
HCC has aimed to implement schemes that will
incorporate the guidance set
in the Traffic Management Act (TMA 2004) route
user hierarchy. In a
town
centre environment a road user hierarchy might
give particular attention
to
the accessibility needs of
pedestrians
and people with
disabilities,
including around temporary works. So the resulting
hierarchy might
be:
• Visually impaired and other disabled
people
•
Pedestrians
•
Cyclists
• Buses and Public Transport (including taxis and private
hire
vehicles)
• Freight (including loading
facilities)
• Private cars and
motorcycles
• On street
parking
As highlighted earlier in the correspondence we
have
prioritised
improvements for pedestrian and the elderly to
implement the Old Park
Road
crossing and due to the space restrictions on Old
Park Road this space
has
had to be taken from other road users.
Additionally, the proposal to
reduce
the width of the carriageway was reviewed by an
independent safety
Audit
Team and they were satisfied that safety would not
be jeopardised. It
was
felt that the wider footways would be
particularly
appreciated
by
pedestrians especially those with impaired
mobility from the Cheshire
Home.
As previously mentioned, a Safety Audit 3 will be
undertaken upon
scheme
completion and any issues raised will be
remedied.
Kind
regards
Roxanne Glaud
Strategy Development Manager
-
Northern
Hertfordshire
Transport, Programme and Standards
Unit
Hertfordshire
Highways
01707
356580
www.hertsdirect.org.uk
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| David
Borner
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<dborner@...|
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| 09/02/2009 14:56
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>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
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To: Roxanne Glaud
<roxanne.glaud@...>
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cc: Derrick Ashley
<derrick.ashley@...>,
Richard Thake <racthake@...>,
Stuart Pile
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| <stuart.pile@...>,
Simon
Young
<simon.young@...>
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Subject: Re: Danger to Cyclists - Old Park Road,
Hitchin
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>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Roxanne,
If Old Park Road is to be narrowed to 6.5m,
that means 3.25m per lane.
An
average HGV width is 2.5m, leaving 0.75m free.
Cyclists are recommended
to
ride 1m from the kerb - so I hope you can
begin to see the
problem.
I have included an article below on this
issue, from which you can see that
a
lane width of 4.25 or 4.5m is more appropriate.
I
am not sure what
the
maximum achievable lane width would be in
Old Park Road, but doubt if
even
that would really be enough. Clearly, unnecessary
narrowing is not
very
sensible.
If it is unavoidable to narrow Old Park Road
because of
pedestrian
considerations then some other safe alternative
for cyclists needs to
be
provided. &nbs
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