The consultations on the proposed Cycling &Road Safety Improvements to Aldersbrook, Blake Hall, Lakehouse and Centre Roads and Woodford New Road are now open. You can find the proposals at the Consultation & Engagement Hub on the Redbridge website: https://engagement.redbridge.gov.uk/ Please do respond.
REDBRIDGE CYCLE FORUM UPDATE: The proposals were discussed at the recent Redbridge Cycle Forum. The forum is a quarterly meeting, organised by Council Officers who work on cycling matters – whether that is promoting leisure cycling or developing cycling infrastructure. Jo Blackman, Cabinet Member for Environment and Civic Pride, attended the meeting. I was pleased about this as it stresses the importance of cycling to the forum. Officers invited those at the meeting to contact them after the meeting with any thoughts or questions they had regarding the proposals. The discussions focused on the Aldersbrook, Blake Hall, Lakehouse and Centre Road proposals but the comments largely apply to the Woodford New Road proposal as well.
ISSUES RAISED BY RCC REGARDING PROPOSED CHANGES:
Bus boarders (see picture below – I didn’t know what one of these was either!). Passengers when getting on and off buses have priority but at all other times cyclists have priority. However, one can see how pedestrian/cyclists could get themselves into a tangle in this situation. LCC have told us that in practice this is only a problem if both the cycle route and the bus route are heavily used and therefore this needs to be taken into consideration.
Whether pedestrians will be disadvantaged by replacing traffic islands with a combination of raised speed tables and narrowed car lanes (because of the introduction of protected cycle lanes). Officers have explained that the tables are commonplace and that this is not envisaged to be a problem.
The difficulty cyclists will have turning right from the protected cycle lane on Aldersbrook Road, into the Estate’s Roads. Whilst this has been raised officers have yet to answer this point.
The proposal to install speed pillows rather than sinusoidal humps. Sinusoidal speed humps have a profile that works for cyclists – they are commonplace in Newham and other neighbouring boroughs. LCC have told us that it is generally accepted that good practice to install these in preference to pillows which, depending on positioning encourage swerving or can be driven straight across with a wheel either side. Officers have not responded to this query.
I have also noticed that advanced stop lines don’t feature at the Blake Hall, Bush Road, Overton Drive junction and we will further enquire about it.
JUNCTIONS AND ROUNDABOUTS: Perhaps most critically though the schemes fail to deal with the junctions at the ends of the protected lanes: getting round the mini roundabouts at the top of Aldersbrook Road and getting through the junction of Bush Road, Blake Hall Road and Overton Drive. In doing so the proposals, taken as a whole, arguably fail to comply with the Department for Transport’s Cycle Infrastructure Design Guidance Local Transport Note 1/20 which has the following to say:
“Cyclists must be physically separated and protected from high volume motor traffic, both at junctions and on the stretches of road between them”. (Summary principle 3, p10)
“Junctions and crossings are where most conflicts occur, and the actual and perceived hazards are greatest. Junctions are often the most hazardous and intimidating parts of a journey for cyclists. A junction that does not provide safe facilities may prevent people from cycling through the junction, but may also be the reason that people will not use the remainder of a route.” (p96)
“Roundabouts account for around 20% of all reported cyclist killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties” (p120)
“Cycles must be treated as vehicles and not as pedestrians. On urban streets, cyclists must be physically separated from pedestrians and should not share space with pedestrians. … At crossings and junctions, cyclists should not share the space used by pedestrians but should be provided with a separate parallel route.” (Summary principle 2 p10)
REDFBRIDGE CYCLING CAMPAIGN: We will respond to all consultations – although we are not ones of the bodies being consulted formally. The response will be that we are pleased that Redbridge are bringing forward proposals aimed at improving cycling and road safety and that protected cycle lanes can be of benefit to cyclists. However, without sorting out the junctions at the beginning and end of the lanes – which are hazardous – Redbridge may not see an increase in cycling. And further that, by not dealing with the problems for cyclists presented by the junctions, the proposals will do little to improve road safety and, taken in the round, do not comply with Department for Transport guidance on the design of cycle infrastructure. Finally, that we are looking forward to Redbridge redesigning the junctions at which point we would expect to be able to give the schemes our wholehearted support. We encourage everyone to comment on all the proposals – it will make a difference. If you have any questions you can email them to us at redbridge@lcc.org.uk and we will forward them on to Officers. The closing date for all the consultations is 20th August 2021.
Redbridge Cycling Campaign 