Yorkshire cycling website
29th August 2018
Leeds Bradford cycle superhighway
I crossed the Leeds Bradford cycle superhighway at the weekend, when I was riding the Wyke Beck Way. I haven't looked at this cycle route since October 2015, when it wasn't yet finished.
On this latest occasion, I just took a couple of photos of the bit that I saw, where Sutton Approach meets the A64 York Road in Killingbeck. I definitely did not make a thorough assessment of the route, but I have a couple of points to mention.
The quality of the route is impressive, at the point where I crossed it. As you can see from the main photo at the top of the page, there is kerb protection.
Important too is the way the cycle route continues across the junction. The green paint shows the route clearly, and there's priority over left-turning traffic. It's a traffic light-controlled junction, so the issue of priority over traffic emerging from the side road doesn't arise.
Going straight on is fine, but if I'd wanted to turn right, across the A64, to get to Killingbeck Drive - well, there doesn't seem to be any provision for that. You either re-join the road, I suppose, with some difficulty as it's a busy dual carriageway, or you get off your bike and use a nearby pedestrian crossing.
Floating bus stop, Leeds Bradford cycle superhighway
It's the right idea in principle - use a floating bus stop, to keep anyone cycling along the superhighway away from buses.
I watched for a short while at the floating bus stop, or bus stop bypass, pictured above. It wasn't too busy at the time I was there. One person came along the superhighway on a bike. A few moments later, there was one person walking along the pavement.
According to the intention of the design, the pedestrian would have crossed the cycle lane where there is tactile paving, to the bus stop, then crossed back after the bus stop. What he actually did was keep going in a straight line, on the green paint of the cycle lane.
The Cycling Embassy of Great Britain says the cycle track should be separated by kerbs from the footway, with minor level difference (not the case here). 'For pedestrians, it will resemble a small road they have to cross. Tactile paving should be used to guide people to crossing points.' (Tick for the second point). 'The cycleway should not involve swerves, or sharp corners - it should be designed to allow smooth and easy cycling, with good sight lines.' (Cross for this point).
I think the main reason why this bus stop bypass is not working properly (albeit from very brief observation) is that instead of offering people on foot a straight on option, the pavement asks everyone to cross to the bus stop, whether they are getting the bus or not. But that's not what people do.
The designers might say that there isn't space to have the pavement and cycle track side by side here. The space would have to come from the road.
This was a very brief look at the Leeds Bradford cycle superhighway in passing. I do intend to ride the whole thing in the future, and comment in more detail.
28th July 2018
Toyota are promoting their Aygo car on the basis of the text message conversations you can have when you're driving. Why are they building distracted driving into their designs, with, in effect, a mobile phone screen just above the gear stick? And is a video portraying distracted driving an acceptable advert?
Read about the Toyota Aygo ad for distracted driving.
31st July 2018
Official opening of new cycle & pedestrian passageway, Seville, February 2018, by Junta de Andalucia, Licence CC BY-SA 2.0
How bike lanes were built in Seville, Spain, is not a new story, but it's worth reading because of what it says about how quickly you can have a complete network of quality cycle infrastructure.
Read about building Seville's bike network.
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