Sub-Standard Cycle Lanes - Letter to Bolton Council

[growingvegetables]

Is it like a cycle route the council had built near me - contractor laid the asphalt, and topped with a layer of chips at least an inch thick?

Contractor was supposed to come back after the chips had been bedded in by users (bikes? Honestly!) and remove the excess. Contractor "forgot" this was part of the contract.

 

[dellzeqq]

Has anyone seen the cycle lane on the A675 between Belmont and Bolton? WTF When this first appeared (6 months ago?) I thought it hadn't been finished as it's loose gravel. 6 months later and no change so I believe they are going to leave it like that.

have you called the council? I (and, I'm sure, many others) rang up and complained about some speed humps in Battersea Park, and they clawed the money back from the Contractor.

 

[400bhp]

No, this thread just reminded me about it. Perhaps mrHappy can bung me a contact email?

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

No, this thread just reminded me about it. Perhaps mrHappy can bung me a contact email?

I'll send it tomorrow. (Don't have my laptop with me now.)

 

[Banjo]

have you called the council? I (and, I'm sure, many others) rang up and complained about some speed humps in Battersea Park, and they clawed the money back from the Contractor.

I suspect this is what may have happened in my recent success at getting a cycle lane improved. If the council has contracted an outside company to install something to a certain standard they can quite rightly hold back payment until its put right.

I think the lesson is the minute you see something wrong being installed get straight on to the Highways department.While its still not paid for the council has the upperhand. Getting them(the contractors)back later once the job is signed off and paid for would be a whole different ball game.

 

[sheddy]

Can anyone give me any links as to how cycle lanes should end and at what distance before a large roundabout ?
Our Council are proposing to bring them right up to the roundabout, which would put you in the gutter and bring you into conflict with vehicles when you want to turn right.

 

[growingvegetables]

this? - not very helpful; parts 9.8.2 and 9.8.4

 

[sheddy]

Thanks, I've seen that doc and it is a bit poor.
BTW can anyone tell me the road name or provide a streetview link to that York roundabout with the cycle lanes that often gets discusssed

 

[Richard Mann]

Thanks, I've seen that doc and it is a bit poor.
BTW can anyone tell me the road name or provide a streetview link to that York roundabout with the cycle lanes that often gets discusssed

Don't think its all that good myself, but here you are: http://g.co/maps/4u9cv

Best advice is a roundabout 25-40m inscribed diameter (ideally 28m), perpendicular narrow approaches. The Swiss say terminate the cycle lane before the roundabout, but if there are queues then you're best off continuing the cycle lane very narrowly to the roundabout.

 

[Amanda P]

Richard's link is the right one - the 'magic roundabout'. Opinion is deeply divided on whether it's any good; I don't think so. One good feature is nothing to do with the gutter bike lanes: some of the car lanes are physically divided so that if you're going left, you must take the left lane. Once in the left lane, you must turn left. this means that signals aren't really necessary, and your'e not guessing which way a car's going to go.

Most York cyclists ignore the bike lanes there. The lanes may remind drivers that there might be cyclists about though (not that they should need reminding).

 

[dand_uk]

Perhaps it's some kind of wind-up?

So soon after writing this (see earlier posts):


the council have just repainted this cycle lane on Manchester Road between Bolton and Farnworth:

View attachment 4573

Unbelievable

Things like this make my blood boil! Look how wide the road is!!!!!

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Some progress perhaps. (Blog article here.)

They have continued to repaint the cycle lanes in both directions along most of Manchester Rd, exactly as they were before, so I wrote this open letter a couple of weeks ago to the chap at the Highway Authority, with a copy to my councillor:

Dear Bolton Highway Authority,

SUB-STANDARD CYCLE LANES IN BOLTON​

In August 2011, I wrote to Bolton Streetcare, pointing out a number of issues regarding the poor standard of cycle lanes in Bolton, particular on my commuter route from Astley Bridge to Salford. My message was forwarded by the Streetcare team to yourselves in the Highway Department on 30th August 2011. A copy of the message I sent, along with your reply, is included in this blog post.
In that message, I pointed out that “most cycle lanes in the borough do not meet the minimum acceptable width of 2.0m (or 1.5m on roads that are not busy and have a 30mph speed limit), which is specified in section 7.4.2 of [the] DfT guidelines“, and mentioned particularly Manchester road in this respect.
In your reply, which you sent to me on 2nd September 2011, you gave two main reasons for this failure to meet the guidelines:

“The cycle lanes … were installed … before the latest guidelines were produced.”​

and:​

“… as you may be aware the funding available for such schemes has been either greatly reduced or suspended completely.”​

You went on to say:

“Where the lanes are substandard they are reviewed when maintenance work, such as resurfacing, is carried out or other schemes are implemented and either rectified or removed if necessary.”​

It has, therefore, been most disappointing to see that, over the past six months, the cycle lanes in question have all been repainted exactly as they were before, giving the lie to all three statements that I have quoted above, as excuses for not implementing the DfT recommendations. Please could you let me have an explanation for this, as it appears to be a case of wilful negligence regarding the safety of cyclists on Bolton’s roads.
I have included below a number photographs of the repainted substandard cycle lanes:

The pictures can be seen in the open letter in my blog site.

Yesterday, I got this reply:

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the above.​

The road markings concerned were renewed by our maintenance contractor and obviously some cycle lanes have been put back as they were rather than to the latest guidelines. We will review the route and rectify the road markings as necessary.​

Yours sincerely,​

I won't hold my breath, but at least it looks promising.

(Now, what about those door zone cycle lanes further on ... hm.)

 

[davefb]

not even funny is it...
mind you, it'd be great evidence if anyone got hurt..

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

When I got the last, promising, reply, I asked what the likely timescale would be. I only just saw the answer as I sent my email from the wrong account, but it looks good:

The works should be carried out w/c 11th or 18th June hopefully if the weather is ok.

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

Just found out from the Greater Manchester Cycle Challenge pages that the engineer I've been communicating with rides a bicycle himself. Here's hoping.