Double Bollards on Plastic Islands

Sometime in the past week or so the black and yellow bollards have been removed from Middlewood Street and Liverpool Street (they didn't last long!) and have been replaced by new plastic traffic islands with two bollards on each.



There are four on Middlewood Street, at the beginning and end of the section without armadillos where the yellow bollards were installed,



and the other two marking the beginning and end of the line of armadillos.





The bollards are the soft new plastic ones, like the yellow bollards, and the traffic islands seem to be an amorphous, possibly recycled, hard plastic.



They are hollow, like the armadillos, you can tell by kicking them, and also, like the armadillos, they are secured to the road by bolts. You can tell this from the bolt covers.



By contrast the bollards required a much larger hole to be sunk in the road, this is where one was removed.



On Liverpool Street, two more of these islands have been installed, the entry one in place of the bollard,



and the exit one in place of the final armadillo.



They all looked very clean, as if they have only been in for a day or two.

It remains to be seen how they perform. They have a bit more presence than the bollards, but the predominant colour is black so they visually merge into the road.

As for their resilience, it is notable that they have slanted sides to deflect any impact, I suspect they are really only suitable for car parks and other places with low traffic speeds. I am also concerned that they could throw a small car onto its roof if driven into at speed.

Bloody Drivers, Look Where You are Going!

My walk to work this morning on Liverpool Street revealed just how many drivers are too busy on the phone or Facebook or Twitter to be bothered to look where they are going.

This one is staring at his phone, whilst driving...



This one was driving too, not stopped, but actually moving...



I think this one was actually stopped in traffic, but wasn't paying attention to the road around him.



And then this idiot may not have been on the phone but was on the wrong side of the road, travelling quite fast and the bicycle rider was lucky not to get hit.



Bloody drivers!

Armadillos, Cones and now Bollards!

Salford Council have continued to add additional protection to the armadillo trial on Middlewood Street and Liverpool Street.

This morning I discovered that the cones in Middlewood street have been removed, and in their place is a single plastic bollard.



It is a rather wonky specimen, easily bent by hand,



it wouldn't stand up to being hit by a motor vehicle.



Also, the two cones which were marking the cycle lane further up the slope have been removed.



Further along in Liverpool Street another black, plastic bollard has been installed.



This one looked a little more upright,



but it is in the wrong place to protect the last few armadillos, which were the first to fail last time.



I wonder how long those bollards will remain standing?

If the bollards prove to be more long lasting, then we may conclude that the bollards should be installed in place of the armadillos. If however they both fail again then it clearly sends out the message that plastic of any shape is no protection against motor vehicles.

Salford's Substandard Cycle Lanes

Liverpool Street in Salford is a very wide, straight, busy road with cycle lanes on both sides. With all this space and a two metre wide echeloned zone in the centre I would hope to see full width cycle lanes on both sides. Cycle-friendly Infrastructure states that:-

Cycle lanes on links should be a minimum of 1.5m and 2m wide wherever possible. (11.3.2 pg46)

So are these lanes 2.0m wide?



Nothing like it!



Even measuring to the outside of the cycle lane white line these lanes are only 1.4m wide, less than the guidance minimum, and this on a road that could easily take 2.0m wide lanes on both sides.



These lanes are also in poor condition and have intruding drains.



However, these are not the narrowest cycle lanes in the area. Take a look at this cycle lane at the eastern end of Eccles New Road. The lane starts off at around 1.4m wide then narrows suddenly.



Even worse you are then squeezed against a dangerous solid barrier.



This section of the lane has less than 0.20m of usable road surface between the double yellow lines and the white line.



In fact it is less than 0.9m wide, even if you include the gutter, the double yellow and the white lines.






It is just as bad on the opposite side of the road.



It is, of course, of a high enough standard to be included in the National Cycle Network as Route 55.



Salford Council must be proud of it!