As a by product of checking some other stuff tonight I came across a Danish review and design proposal for Blackfriars Bridge. Interesting read although I'm not sure some bits of it will work on London cyclists e.g. turn right at Stamford St in two stages.
A Danish Design for Blackfriars Bridge
- Thread starter Red Light
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thankyou
interesting in it's own way, but if I ever produced a proposal for a building so light on precedent studies and so wildly light on political objectives that I'd expect to get fired. Not that it is any way out of the ordinary for transport studies, which, in my considerable experience, are the work of people who somehow failed to get in to urban 'masterplanning'. There is the same lack of critical judgement that characterises TfL's current preoccupation with traffic smoothing in Streatham Hill- and, most glaringly, a failure to analyse the traffic coming south down Farringdon Road toward the bridge. That's the key to the problem going southbound - there's a massive release of cars and vans on the green light at the Embankment resulting in a kind of reverse F1 start at the junction with Stamford Street. Put a bus lane southbound bus land down Farringdon Road (let's forget cycle lanes) and that release is reduced. It would also make Farringdon Road a much nicer place to be, which is not such a bad thing if you're thinking of pedestrians walking north of the new Blackfriars Station. The difficulty with that (for transport consultants) is that it reduces the capacity of the road markedly. But, then again, this report was written just before the highly successful (if highly unplanned) closure of Battersea Bridge, so traffic evaporation wasn't so potent an idea.
As for the rest - they don't consider making Blackfriars Bridge northbound at the Embankment a no-left turn, which is disappointing - this was a problem in 2005 and is still a problem now, with bikes getting left-hooked by commercial vehicles and cars going left. If people want to drive from the south side of Blackfriars Bridge to the westbound Embankment why are they not why on earth are they not crossing at Westminster Bridge? Maybe, though, there is a presumption in favour of flexibility.
It is useful in one respect. If we are to believe the report, back in 2005 there were
About 30,000 cars and 2,000 cyclists cross the Thames on Blackfriars Bridge on an average day. About 300 buses stop at each bus stop located on the south side of the bridge. Pedestrian counts indicate about 20,000 pedestrians on an average day
How times change - and for the better! However cheesed off we might get with TfL's car-first approach, the number of bikes crossing Blackfriars Bridge must have leapt up three times in six years!
interesting in it's own way, but if I ever produced a proposal for a building so light on precedent studies and so wildly light on political objectives that I'd expect to get fired. Not that it is any way out of the ordinary for transport studies, which, in my considerable experience, are the work of people who somehow failed to get in to urban 'masterplanning'. There is the same lack of critical judgement that characterises TfL's current preoccupation with traffic smoothing in Streatham Hill- and, most glaringly, a failure to analyse the traffic coming south down Farringdon Road toward the bridge. That's the key to the problem going southbound - there's a massive release of cars and vans on the green light at the Embankment resulting in a kind of reverse F1 start at the junction with Stamford Street. Put a bus lane southbound bus land down Farringdon Road (let's forget cycle lanes) and that release is reduced. It would also make Farringdon Road a much nicer place to be, which is not such a bad thing if you're thinking of pedestrians walking north of the new Blackfriars Station. The difficulty with that (for transport consultants) is that it reduces the capacity of the road markedly. But, then again, this report was written just before the highly successful (if highly unplanned) closure of Battersea Bridge, so traffic evaporation wasn't so potent an idea.
As for the rest - they don't consider making Blackfriars Bridge northbound at the Embankment a no-left turn, which is disappointing - this was a problem in 2005 and is still a problem now, with bikes getting left-hooked by commercial vehicles and cars going left. If people want to drive from the south side of Blackfriars Bridge to the westbound Embankment why are they not why on earth are they not crossing at Westminster Bridge? Maybe, though, there is a presumption in favour of flexibility.
It is useful in one respect. If we are to believe the report, back in 2005 there were
About 30,000 cars and 2,000 cyclists cross the Thames on Blackfriars Bridge on an average day. About 300 buses stop at each bus stop located on the south side of the bridge. Pedestrian counts indicate about 20,000 pedestrians on an average day
How times change - and for the better! However cheesed off we might get with TfL's car-first approach, the number of bikes crossing Blackfriars Bridge must have leapt up three times in six years!
