Segregation - by wooden fence?

This small section of cycle track has been closed for months whilst contractors have been digging holes for some reason. Now the workforce has departed a wooden fence has appeared between the cycle track and the pavement.



Strangely a further fence has been built to block the route and force cycles into the road - a dual carriageway with heavy traffic. Notice how the cycle track has not been resurfaced at its original level.



So why on earth are these fences here? Are they a new infrastructure experiment or some idiotic idea hatched up by a rogue council officer or contractors trying to cut corners?



Or could this be a land ownership issue?



Answers on a postcard please...

When Cycle Tracks End...

The A56 Chester Road/Bridgewater Viaduct heading north east towards Deansgate has a two way cycle track on the right hand side. for people cycling south east it is ok, just so long as you watch out for traffic at the junctions.

However, if you are using it to cycle north west you are in for a nasty shock...

It is tricky to cross junctions on the wrong side of the road, and here at the junction with Great Jackson Street the road eats into your space making curved give way lines.



Carrying on it doesn't seem too bad,



but if you are aiming to go north up towards Deansgate then the most obvious thing to do is take this left turn.



However, as these two lads find, you are simply dumped into the path of oncoming traffic.



The large raised traffic island then gets in your way, making things even more dangerous.



From here on it is anyone's guess, one of them goes straight on to the pavement whilst the other dives left across the road.



He did make it across safely, leaving his mate going up the pavement on the other side of the road.



This is one of the worst examples of dangerous cycling half-measures in Manchester, that I have found. I know of one person who was hit by a car here 10 years ago, and I am sure there have been more. I think this was a facility that was unfinished, rather than designed to be this dangerous, but either way round it should never have been left like this.

I find it far safer to stick to the road going north east on Chester Road, and avoid this track altogether.


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Victoria Street Update

There have been some improvements in Victoria street.

The Cyclists Dismount signs have gone, along with the temporary lights behind the ASL box.



There is now a bollarded cut through into the area by the Cathedral.



However at the bottom end, whilst the sign has gone, there is no gap in the barriers, so bikes still end up on the pavement.

Sackville Street - Fresh Paint...

Back in October I posted this photograph of a bollard in Sackville Street which had been added right in the middle of the pavement cycle sign.



Now, whilst the bollard is still in the middle of the cycle sign, someone has been rearranging the paintwork.



From the opposite direction it used to look like this...



Which makes a bit more sense now.



Notice how the original southbound arrow has been burnt away. However they didn't bother to remove the cycle symbol from around the bollard, so it still looks pretty stupid when approaching from the South.



Which leaves me to wonder whether this work had been scheduled back before October 2010, or whether this paintwork has been amended as a result of some bad publicity...



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London Road - Fresh Paint!

Ok, it seems someone has been out on London Road with the white paint since I first took some photos there and has (sort of) joined up the Unreachable Cycle Lane.

Now going north from the junction with Fairfield Street the short piece of cycle lane, which rapidly turns into a bus lane seems to be the start.



If you look really carefully you might notice that when you get to the corner with Whitworth Street you are supposed to cycle left onto the pavement - see where it says "SLOW", that's it...



You are then directed to cross Whitworth street using the pedestrian crossing, but not after you have been warned that this is the slow route - and it takes a bloody long time for the lights to change, so this will delay you considerably.



Eventually when you get to the other side you will find that new bidirectional cycle signs have been painted on the pavement - so fresh you can see the construction marks. One of these new markings directs you back onto London road - though here there is no sign where to go next...



However, if you search around you may find the start of The Unreachable Cycle Lane, which is also now showing fresh paint.



Again the markings are so fresh you can see the construction marks, and the very strange addition of "CITY", just in case you thought Manchester was still a town.



And this was the same spot on 27th November...



This was all apparently part of the Fire Station Quality Bus Corridor scheme scheduled for completion in mid-November 2008! Seems like this is a real mess, there are a lot of disjointed signs and cycle markings in this area thanks to this bus priority scheme.

There is classic piece of mindless cycling infrastructure, just around the corner in Whitworth Street, but I'll save that piece of crap for another post.



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Great Ancoats Street

Heading Northwest along



is a cycle lane that's got a split personality...

It gets off to a start in the most useful of places, a bus stop, just after the road crosses the Rochdale Canal.



At this point it is definitely an advisory on-road cycle lane, but it then vanishes to fit in a pedestrian crossing...



it resumes as a cycle lane,



but then swerves onto the pavement for just a few meters



before forcing the cyclist out into the path of the moving traffic at the lights.



Then after the junction it is back onto the pavement for an obstacle course round the poles,



a dangerous squeeze between a sign and the oncoming buses,



and a dubious side road crossing,



more squeezing between the traffic and the poles,



before the next set of lights



where the route just disappears!



Nasty piece of work this, if it isn't dangerous, then that's because no sane cyclist would mount the pavement to use it.


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Bollards - Sackville St

Bollards are one of the most common obstructions in cycle routes. In this case one has been added right in the middle of the cycle sign.



Clearly in this case the bollards don't obstruct a cycle route, unless you are good at bunny hops.



The cycle markings are pretty confused and confusing.



This is actually trying to tell you where to go after crossing northbound under the Mancunian Way.


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