Deansgate Cycle Slalom

 Deansgate is famous for it's on-street sports events and Manchester City Council seem hell bent on inventing a new one, cycle slalom.

The new northbound cycle lane weaves it's way between pavement and a forest of bollards with priority being given to vehicle parking, loading bays and traffic coming out of side streets.

What's wrong with building cycle lanes that actually go in a straight line along a straight road?

Southbound you are running with the traffic negotiating badly designed bus gates before you are suddenly directed to cross the traffic onto the opposite side of the road only to be dumped back into the traffic just before the end.

Tempted to call it a load of bollards...

Liverpool Street Popup Cycle Crap

There has been plenty of bullshit around popup cycle facilities in this area.

However, the reality on the ground is pretty dreadful.

Even before I got to Liverpool Street today, this shit blocked the cycle track.



Like many of the dreadful private hire drivers in the area this one has registered their vehicle as a private hire in Wolverhampton...



Mind you once I reached Liverpool Street, a local post person blocked the cycle lane with their van.



After that was the proof, if needed, that temporary cycle facilities, are just that, temporary.

Easily damaged, in this case it looks like a motor vehicle had hit the plastic barriers and blocked the cycle lane.



Salford council clearly couldn't care less about this facility. It is shit. There has been no effort to repair the dreadful road surface.

This is just not good enough!

Oxford Street Popup Cycle Lane Closure Signs...

Here's a sorry tale of anti-cycling measures that ends well for a change.

Whilst the executive member of the council appearing on TV extolling the virtues of cycling and walking, the council officers, who are much less enthusiastic about cycling, were making plans to close the cycle lanes on Oxford Street in Central Manchester.

I first noticed the markings on the road...



Then the signs appeared...



However, it turns out that the executive member had seen the plans and blocked them, so words have been had and the signs have been removed.



I know these cycle lanes are pretty crap, but they are better than having a queue of buses up your backside!

Manchester's Flagship Cycleway?

I don't think I've ever been along Oxford Road on a bike without having to swerve into the road to avoid taxis, roadworks or other obstructions.




The taxi drivers block it all the time.



This is also a common occurrence.



The roadworks never seem to stop.



When combined with taxis it makes the cycle way almost pointless.

Parking on Cycle Facilities

It's an everyday occurrence...



They really don't give a shit do they...



Even if the road markings say "KEEP CLEAR"!



And when there is plenty of space on the road...



Even better when the cycle track has just been fenced off!



But that doesn't matter to most drivers...



Even when it's dark.



Just imagine what would happen if you blocked the roadway with a bicycle.

Well, you don't need to imagine - just watch this!



More here.

Oxford Street Southbound - Useless!

I am beginning to think we should call this sort of thing "flagshit infrastructure"

Why on earth is there no kerb separating the cycle track from the parking spaces?

This idiot had no idea what he was doing and didn't care...



Yes this is a cycle track...



Further south it becomes a slalom - this is just dreadful.



Somehow I wish the traffic engineers had thought cyclist!



Useless!

Belfast: Hire Bikes & Bollards

On a recent business visit to Belfast I managed to grab a few photos of the cycle facilities in the city.

Walking in from the ferry terminal, apart from some two-way pavement cycle tracks beside the one way system, the first significant sign of money being committed to cycling was a Belfast Bikes hire station. According to their web site there are 35 docking stations, but they are only located in the city centre, so no use for foot passengers arriving off the ferry from Birkenhead.



The next facility I came across was a two way bollarded cycle track with cycle lights in Upper Arthur Street.



It was striking for the choice of white, cycle signed, flexible bollards. These are far more visible than any being used in the Manchester area and unlike crap armadillos they seemed to keep vehicles out.



However, the interface with the crossing at Chichester Street was somewhat clumsy.



I also came across a single direction, bollarded cycle track in Queen Street.



Though the bollards didn't reach the pedestrian crossing, and this blue van was blocking the exit...



This track in College Square North was blocked by a container



and vehicles, so I assume it was still being built.



Overall I didn't see that many people cycling, though those that were mostly dressed in ordinary clothes. A significant proportion of the people on bikes were using the hire bikes, often in quite smart office clothes, so it seems to be having a positive impact.

Portland Street - still a bus sandwich

Took this video today.

Only a small part of this dangerous cycle route has been modified, the rest is probably the most dangerous part.



This was how it looked back in March.

One has to wonder what this all cost. Perhaps I'll get round to an FoI request...

Roadworks blocking cycle routes

Most contractors carrying out roadworks couldn't care less about cycling.

This is the site of the Ordsall Chord works in Water Street carried out by Network Rail.

Going south west...



and in the opposite direction



Totally blocked!



And then further along the traffic lights have been dumped in the new cycle lane.

Armadillos, Broken Bollards and Crass Carparking

Welcome to Salford's shit cycle infrastructure.

Starting at the junction with the A576, this is Great Clowes Street in Salford. This is the start of a new set of cycle infrastructure, and it leaves a lot to be desired...



The cycle lane has only just started when it runs straight into a bus stop.



Next there is a plastic island with two plastic bollards. Note how the island is entirely in the cycle lane, not even on the white line. This makes the cycle lane feel crowded and, quite frankly threatening.



Next there are the armadillos - these useless items are a method of dumping waste plastic from Spain on the UK's roads. Note how these are placed well into the cycle lane rather than on the white line as was the case with the original trial on Middlewood Street and Liverpool Street.




These plastic lumps make cycling along this route very uncomfortable.



You quite quickly feel trapped between the armadillos which, because of their shape, could easily throw you into the road and the rubbish which is strewn in the cycle lane.



At the junction with Upper Camp Street, all the plastic falls away and the junction is totally exposed to oncoming traffic.



Beyond the junction the dirty, un-swept cycle route feels neglected and horrible.



At the junctions there is no protection. All the cars I saw emerging from side lanes blocked the cycle lane. Notice how this cycle lane then crashes into a bus stop.



In any location where there is a bus stop or a junction there is no physical protection whatsoever.

In other words, when it gets difficult and dangerous, you are on your own.



This bus stop show just how sharply a bus must swerve across the cycle lane to get into the bus stop.

This is dangerous!



Further along, this traffic cone, left in the middle of the cycle lane, demonstrates just how much Salford council really care about people cycling.



This area is strewn with broken glass and broken pieces of traffic cones.



And then we find the cycle lane blocked by a car...



Almost parked right up against the next set of bollards this car IS PARKED LEGALLY!

There are no double yellow lines...



On Broughton Bridge you approach the carnage of broken plastic...



Here traffic cones mark the locations where vehicles have smashed up the bollards, here one has been destroyed,



next both have disappeared.



As you move onto Blackfriars road there are more



and more broken bollards.



Followed by proof that the armadillos can't keep motor vehicles out of cycle lanes



provided by a "HIGHWAYS MAINTENANCE" driver who was fitting something to a nearby lamppost.



There are then a few more items of plastic in the cycle lane before



you are thrown into this expanse of tarmac as you approach Trinity Way.



After Trinity way there is a short burst of green paint



before the cycle lane turns into car parking spaces and charging points for electric cars.



Quite why this stretch is given over to parking is something only Salford Council can answer,



and at the end of it there was yet another car blocking the cycle lane.



At the junction with Viaduct Street there are lots of cones and road signs in the cycle lane.



Finally the cycle route ends in this bus stop.



The rest of the route into Manchester City Centre is just road.

Quite frankly this is horrible nasty, dirty and neglected.