Bradford Cycle Lane

[classic33]

Lighter areas in the photo are tactile paving.

You can see another area up at the crossing.

 

[NorthernDave]

But if you get doored it is not a driving offence. You can be killed by being doored and the driver walks free. So cycle lanes are painted slap bang in the "Kill a Cyclist With Zero Consequences" zone. Classy.

To be clear, I feel it's the council responsible which is being criminally lethal there at many levels - including the designers who should have refused to produce plans for such deadly obstacles, the executive who should have refused to approve such plans, the contractors who should have refused to build such plans - not those who are enticed into killing or being killed by it.

If you think those 'door zones' are bad, wait until you see what's being installed on the east side of Leeds between the Shaftesbury junction and Selby Rd...
Firstly, apologies for the image quality - they're from a cheap dashcam that was never designed for this type of use.
Inbound, A64 York Rd (40mph dual carriageway with a 24-hr bus / cycle / taxi lane), between Selby Rd and the Shaftesbury junction. This section has been worked on for (at least) two months now and shows no sign of completion. However, the new alignment is in place and clear to see.

From the left - houses with drives, footpath, CSH, small dividing kerb, car parking bays, bus lane, main dual carriageway.
So cars coming off a drive will be initially unsighted to peds and cyclists until partially emerged. Cyclists will be vulnerable to cars coming off these drives, but also to being "doored" by anyone stopping in the parking bays. Car passengers will almost certainly be facing away from any approaching cyclists, making the situation worse. Car passengers will disembark straight into the CSH, presenting a further danger to themselves and cyclists, which will be exacerbated if putting children into the car.
In addition to this, there is every possibility that access to existing drives will be blocked by people parking in the parking bay. Equally anyone wanting to access their drive will have to enter the bus lane, potentially turn through a narrow gap between parked vehicles and cross the CSH at right angles, before immediately crossing the footpath. If these vehicles have to stop, they will protrude into the bus lane and having driven forwards onto the drive (the most likely option given the layout), they will have to subsequently exit the drive in reverse, compounding an already unsatisfactory situation.
Is this really the best solution - for anyone?
More images further along the same section:

In the image above, note how the CSH diverts around the site of a bus stop / shelter (not yet completed) and how close it gets to the wall / driveway. Peds will be expected to cross the CSH into the bus shelter area and then cross back on the other side.

Inbound, A64 York Rd (40mph dual carriageway - buses are in a guided busway in the centre of the road at this section), between the Shaftesbury junction and Selby Rd. Like the images above, this section has been "worked on" for months, with little obvious signs of any ongoing progress.

Similar outlay to above - from left, houses with drives, footpath, CSH, parking bays, 40mph dual carriageway. largely the same problems as previously, but now vehicles will be maneuvering from a 40mph running lane. Cyclists still face the perils of being doored from vehicles in the parking bays as well as looking behind them for vehicles accessing drives from the A64. Vehicle passengers are again likely to be facing away from approaching cyclists, making a poor situation even worse.

Note how close the driveway dropped kerbs are - surely this will lead to direct and frequent conflicts with vehicles in the parking bays?

Note the sharp curve before the CSH crosses the side road - the red tarmac of the previous cycle lane can still be see in the throat of the side road.
There is no sign of any cycling provision on the far side of the junction yet.

Slightly further down the hill. Residents here have traditionally parked on the wide footpath, although much of this has now been taken up by the CSH.
However, despite the welcome lack of parking bays here, cyclists will still face the perils of vehicles accessing / leaving the 40mph dual carriageway at a 90 degree angle to access these homes. Remember vehicles heading onto the parking area / drives will be turning off a fast moving A road, directly across the CSH from behind any cyclists

Note the layout around the pedestrian crossing (where peds cross back from the central guided busway), along with more dropped kerb / driveway access.
You may notice the bus stop just past the crossing - see below

This is the bus stop - the CSH appears to just stop. Presumably this will become a 'shared space', although once the bus shelter has been put in space would appear very limited.
But why is there a bus stop there if buses are using a guided busway in the centre of the road? That's because only two First services (40 and 56) use the bus way - all other services (Arriva, Yorkshire Coastliner, City Zap, Harrogate and District and all other First buses) use the normal carriageway so bus stops have been maintained for them on the normal dual carriageway - this is the sort of transport logic the authorities apply in Leeds.

So, that's a few pics of a frankly terribly thought out and poorly implemented section of the scheme. It's not all like this, some parts are pretty close to being ideal (poor surfaces being excepted), but sections like those above tarnish the whole scheme and are quite possibly enough to put people off using it. I know I'd be extremely wary about using the sections I've shown above.

Oh and just for fun, here's one more pic on the outbound carriageway nearer Leeds (opposite Go Outdoors, if you know the area).

The CSH is in a shared space here, between the angled retaining wall and the bus shelter - yes, it really squeezes through that gap where all the bus passengers will stand.

 

[PMarkey]

I've given up on the CSH for my daily ride to and from the LGI , it's just too stressful and to slow at least on the way into Leeds, it's mostly flat or down hill from Thornbury roundabout and I have no trouble hitting 25-30 mph on fixed so I use the road but this means I get no end of grief from people at bus stops and pedestrians for not using the cycle track plus numerous punishment passes and on the last occasion I used the CSH verbal abuse and aggressive weaving from a Peugeot 206 all for having the temerity to use the road and not the cycle route I've started using the route via Tong to and from home it's a little on the lumpy side especially on fixed but it is way more scenic and a lot more enjoyable .

Paul

 

[classic33]

I've given up on the CSH for my daily ride to and from the LGI , it's just too stressful and to slow at least on the way into Leeds, it's mostly flat or down hill from Thornbury roundabout and I have no trouble hitting 25-30 mph on fixed so I use the road but this means I get no end of grief from people at bus stops and pedestrians for not using the cycle track plus numerous punishment passes and on the last occasion I used the CSH verbal abuse and aggressive weaving from a Peugeot 206 all for having the temerity to use the road and not the cycle route I've started using the route via Tong to and from home it's a little on the lumpy side especially on fixed but it is way more scenic and a lot more enjoyable .

Paul

Over 18mph and you should be on the road anyway.

 

[NorthernDave]

Over 18mph and you should be on the road anyway.

For virtually all of the downhill bits, you could freewheel and seriously exceed 18mph (Crossgates Lane to Melbourne Roundabout, Killingbeck Cemetery to Wykebeck Valley Rd, Torre Rd flyover to Leeds City Centre).
The issue is the lack of understanding that cyclists are under no obligation to use the thing - even the YEP seems under the impression that cyclists MUST use the CSH.

 

[mjr]

Over 18mph and you should be on the road anyway.

Don't start that shoot again. We shot down the government when they tried to retcon crap infrastructure by publishing a "code of conduct" that said that.

Cycle tracks should be built for cycling speeds, so at least 20mph in most places. It sounds like the Leeds CSHOOT blatantly isn't and cyclists should be concentrating on pointing out the government's incompetence, not grumbling about each other.

 

[glenn forger]

even the YEP seems under the impression that cyclists MUST use the CSH.

That chap seemed to backtrack a bit, he said "Oh no, I just meant cyclists seemed unaware of the cycle lane!" It's possible they were fully aware of the cycle lane and chose not to use it cos it's a load of old squit.

 

[keithmac]

Yorks not much better, most of our cycle lanes are still on the road and blocked by bus-stops!.

I'll have to take a picture of Hamilton Drive roundabout, honestly surprised no-one's been knocked off a cycle down there!.

They put a cycle lane full length of Beckfield Lane, riding across everyones driveways.., it just puts cyclists in conflict with car drivers for no good reason. The best place there is to be on the road unfortunately then you have all the comments about not using the lane!.

The people who design these routes should cycle them as well.

The joys of cycling!.

 

[glenn forger]

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....ay-falls-two-months-behind-schedule-1-8078877

 

[NorthernDave]

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co....ay-falls-two-months-behind-schedule-1-8078877

Sadly another example of how a once fine local paper is now happy to simply print whatever it is fed by the council press office.
The scheme is not two months late - it was originally due to open in December last year making it (to date) 8 months late and there is no realistic possibility of it being finished in the next month or two such is the amount of work outstanding.

 

[NorthernDave]

Update - 1st September 2016: Now 9 months overdue and still nowhere near finished, some sections still haven't been started.

(The official completion date was December 2015)

 

[NorthernDave]

Update - 1st October 2016: Now 10 months overdue and still nowhere near finished, some sections still haven't been started.
(The official completion date was December 2015)

 

[DCLane]

I rode this on Friday - haven't reported the incident to CityConnect as I honestly think they can't be bothered - but a wagon used the cycle lane and the road, catching me as I was on it. This was on Stanningley Road: https://www.strava.com/activities/729788222

It's only a matter of time before someone's killed on this thing. I've ridden it 4 times since it's opened and on each one there's been at least one instance of cars / pedestrians / blockages which was dangerous on the Stanningley Road section from the interchange to the weird roundabout.

 

[PMarkey]

I gave up weeks a go and now use Tong Street , Tong Lane , Tong Road and through Armley to get to the General Infirmary when my youngest is being treated as an inpatient .

Paul

 

[NorthernDave]

It also looks like parking enforcement has been abandoned on the eastern section already.
On Friday, between the Outer Ring Road and Cross Gates Lane there were half a dozen cars / vans parked on the CSH mainly outside the shops, with a couple more half on / half off the CSH on the opposite side of York Road by the cafe.

And the section from Foundry Lane to Moresdale Lane (past the new fire station) suffers from dropped kerbs on the vehicular access that aren't dropped enough leaving proud edges and large pools of standing water after even a small amount of rain that takes days to clear - that is going to be a near permanent obstacle throughout the winter then.

There is still the lack of markings showing priorities leaving some junctions in an incredibly dangerous state (reported again this week).

The above were pretty much the first sections finished (word used advisedly) on the eastern section and are indicative of the issues that beset the whole scheme.