Port Street Contraflow Pavement

This route was, on the original plans quite a reasonable proposal. However, Manchester City Council are not acting reasonably on cycle provision at the moment, and this is a fine example of a reasonable idea being made into a real mess.

The idea is to take people cycling from the pedestrian crossing by the Rochdale Canal down Port Street into the city centre. A straightforward, mandatory contraflow cycle lane with protecting kerbs or islands would have done the trick... along with a sign saying except cycles below the No Entry sign.



The first problem is that this is not a mandatory cycle lane.



The second problem is that somebody made the stupid decision to widen the pavement.



Now cycles are forced to give way at each side turning,



there are a series of kerbs to negotiate



and pedestrians walking into the cycle route.






Only right at the end does the pavement get back onto the main carriageway



and again it is only an advisory cycle lane.



Perhaps the only thing they have got right are the bollards at either end...



All in all this is a simple task to put in a contraflow cycle route that has been turned into an exercise in forcing people to cycle on the pavement. Or has money that was set aside for improving cycle routes been used to resurface a road and widen the pavement?

Observations from Bristol

On a very brief trip to Bristol a couple of weeks ago I took the opportunity for a walk round to see if I could understand why cycling is becoming a real success story there.

It is 15 years since I lived in Bristol, and some things have changed quite a bit.

For a start the entire city centre and beyond is all one big 20mph zone.



There are also contraflow cycle lanes on almost all the one way streets.





This one near Broadmead has been there a very long time,



But these on Nelson St and All Saints St are more recent



So why does Bristol have double the weekly level of cycling of Manchester?



Figure 1. Proportion of residents who cycled (any length or purpose) at least once a month in England’s 8 core cities (plus Bath and East Somerset, North Somerset, and South Gloucester during 2010/11 - from Considerate Cycling 39

 There are a lot of people on bikes in the centre of Bristol,



even where there is no obvious infrastructure,



and there is a good variety of approaches to cycling clothing.



This is despite the fact that Bristol wont win any prizes for cycle lane maintenance,



or enforcement!



And their traffic free routes get obstructed too,



and there were several of these signs about the place



It may have helped having Sustrans head office in the city,



and there is a vibrant cycling culture that just keeps growing.



I don't think there is any one measure that you can point at and say that it is the reason for cycling being more popular in Bristol than in Manchester. Bristol has many very steep hills, yet this seems to be no barrier. By contrast much of Manchester is fairly flat.

I think some of it is down to the energy of may different people in Bristol over many years. From the people in the Bristol Civic Society who prevented the docks being concreted over in the late 1960s to the forming of Cyclebag (Channel Your Calf and Leg Energy Bicycle Action Group!) in 1977, who began building the Bristol to Bath Railway Path and then the formation of Sustrans, to the more recent foundation of the rather more radical Bristol Cycling Campaign in 1991 which brought together a group of people, including me, who were prepared to push much harder for change and target the damaging effects of motor traffic on our lives.



I left Bristol in 1999, and things have continued to change for the better in Bristol. Levels of cycling have grown steadily despite all the problems with the Bristol cycling city project where money was spent badly, but out of that has grown the Bristol Cycling Festival and many other home spun projects that have become very successful.

It is, in my mind, Bristol's radical and vibrant cycling culture which has created the conditions for the city's cycling success over the past 30 years and created the conditions where policy can shift from wasting money on roads to reducing road traffic and encouraging walking, cycling and giving the streets back to people..



Photo from the Bristol Post

Two way driving on one way streets

You really have to take care at junctions in Manchester, because you never know when a car is going to emerge the wrong way from a side road...



It seems that the local drivers don't take much notice of one way streets round here, particulally around Deansgate.



And this one was by the Council House...



Still, it demonstrates two way working of one way streets, something that can now be done on these streets for bicycles with minimum cost.


update---



and more info on contraflow cycling from the CTC

The Unreachable Cycle Lane - London Road

Ever wondered how magical cycling can be? Look no further than London Road by Piccadilly Station, here you will find a cycle lane built for the magical appearing cyclist...

I just couldn't work out how any cyclist could legally reach the beginning of this lane, it just appears, going northbound on a crossing island between the southbound one-way traffic and the tram tracks. I couldn't even see the traditional Cyclists Dismount sign in the area.



If you aren't walking past you just wouldn't know it was there.



The pavement lane just appears on the island, turns into a short piece of segregated track,



before turning into a contraflow cycle lane, alongside a car parking bay, though some drivers prefer the pavement.



After the road becomes two-way at a car park exit the facility ends in a reasonable advanced stop bay, but not before the lane is squeezed down to barely more than the width of the double yellow lines.



Still, since it is so difficult to get to, I don't suppose many people use this route.


View Larger Map