Cycle Infrastructure on the A59 Poppleton to York - Part 2
1st November 2021
Cycling in Yorkshire
Cycling in Yorkshire
1st November 2021
This look at the cycle infrastructure along the A59 between Poppleton and York City Centre is Part 2. It continues from the Water End junction, where I left off in Part 1, and finishes at The Mount/Blossom Street.
South east of the Water End junction is Poppleton Road Primary School, where there are multiple traffic lanes. This side of the junction needs to be re-worked, taking space away from motor vehicles to allow cycle tracks to be built.
After the school there are some terraced houses, with parked cars both sides of the road.
Problem: there's no cycle infrastructure on this stretch.
Solution: remove the parking to create cycle tracks either side of the road. There isn't any other solution, and if you're building a safe cycle route along the A59, you can't just abandon people here (see Summary Principle 8 and 21.
As before, central refuges that constrain road width should be replaced with parallel (zebra + cycle) crossings.
Incidentally, the lights at the crossing pictured above take a full 40 seconds to change to green for pedestrians. It's no longer the 1970s, and it is past time to stop rolling out the red carpet for motor vehicles in this way at the expense of those on foot, especially outside a school.
After the junction with Ash Street, a cycle track starts behind a row of parked cars. It's segregated from pedestrians and protected from moving traffic, which is good.
The only thing to add would be a buffer zone of at least 0.5m between cyclists and parked cars to avoid 'dooring'.
The cycle track and footway cross Renshaw Gardens.
Problem: the cycle track gives way to traffic on Renshaw Gardens, but it should not (para. 10.5.7, LTN 1/20).
Solution: give the cycle track (and ideally the footway) priority over the side street. If the City of York were motivated to prioritise active travel, it could sort this out tomorrow with a pot of paint.
Next, the arrangements go wrong at a bus stop.
Problem: that's not an LTN 1/20-compliant bus stop bypass.
Solution: follow the guidance in LTN 1/20 - see Figure 6.29 below.
At the Holgate Park Drive junction, again the highways engineers' instinct was to give all the space to motor vehicles, with sweeping curves favouring high speeds.
Cyclists and pedestrians are an afterthought, and provision for them is inconvenient and involves long delays while the VIPs in cars are prioritised.
Problem: cyclists are asked to make a detour to the left, press a button for permission to cross, then wait a very long time before the lights turn green.
'Cycle routes should be at least as direct - and preferably more direct - than those available for private motor vehicles.'
Text from Figure 1.1, Core Design Principles, LTN 1/20
Solution: a signal-controlled cycle facility (para 10.4.21, LTN 1/20) is needed here, with cyclists offered a direct route with enough green time.
This requires the cycle track to continue straight on, not deviate to the left to a crossing.
It could use the existing road layout, and give cyclists a green light at the same time as straight on traffic, while left-turning traffic is held on red. Or remove the left-turn lane and make that the cycle track, and have a cycle phase and a motor vehicle phase to the lights.
The cycle track continues after the Holgate Park Drive junction, next to a bus lane. It's good provision, unless drivers park in it and there's no enforcement. This van belongs to Dynniq Mobility, who - according to their website - are 'changing the way people travel; safely, sustainably and efficiently.'
Next the segregated cycle track joins the footway and deteriorates to shared use for quite a long stretch, past a pedestrian crossing and a bus stop.
Problem: 'Cyclists must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians. On urban streets, cyclist must be physically separated from pedestrians and should not share space with pedestrians' - Summary Principle 2, LTN 1/20.
Solution: keep the footway and cycle track separate, and create a floating bus stop.
The segregated cycle track starts up again after the bus stop.
It should be given clear priority over the entrance to Holgate Works.
At the Acomb Road junction, the cycle track veers off to the left to go behind the Fox pub. That's a good solution for straight-on cyclists.
There's a Toucan crossing for anyone turning right onto Acomb Road.
It's after the Fox that there's a problem, where cyclists are asked to rejoin the carriageway just where they cross a side road without priority.
Problems: there is no priority over the side road and no proper provision for rejoining the carriageway. Cycle provision goes from segregated cycle track to dangerous, narrow, painted, unprotected cycle lane.
Solutions: give people on bikes priority over the side road, then continue segregated provision with a fully-kerbed cycle track. Give the cycle track priority over Wilton Rise, and remove on-street parking up the hill in order to continue the kerbed cycle track to the bridge over the railway.
On the bridge over the railway, cycle symbols are painted in the gutter, but there is no safe infrastructure.
Problem: the provision for cycling is tokenistic and dangerous. This bridge may put people off cycling the route at all.
Solution: traffic lights that are green for motor vehicles in one direction, and green for cyclists only in the other direction. It's turn and turn about for motor vehicles, and people on bikes aren't harassed by impatient drivers - instead they have the lane to themselves.
The system could even be triggered by a push button.
Kerb-protected cycle tracks need to continue along the A59 Holgate Road to the junction with Blossom Street.
Dalton Terrace is quite narrow in parts. It could be made one-way and 20mph, with cycle tracks with light segregation either side, for two-way cycling.
I'm not going to do a comprehensive review of cycle provision heading out of the city on the A59, but I'll pick up a few points in Part 3.
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