Last month we wrote about some new proposals from the city council for Gosforth High Street. Here is the Newcastle Cycling Campaign response.
Area 1
While the suggestion for option 1 would stop traffic turning on to the Great North Road it wouldn’t reduce traffic traveling north on Moor Road South, and would likely lead to an increase in traffic traveling south on Moorfield.
Option 2 could reduce the amount of traffic going north on Moor Road South and potentially Moorfield, but would do nothing to reduce southbound traffic on Moor Road.
A better solution would be to combine the two proposals, removing the exit on to the Great North Road and preventing vehicle traffic moving between Moorfield and Moor Road South. This would be more likely to reduce traffic on Moor Road South which, if it is to be used for active travel instead of the High Street, needs to be as quiet as possible. Neither of the two suggested proposals do anything to remove traffic from Moor Road South.
Area 2
It is good to see the Toucan crossing highlighted as a legitimate route. The reality is that this is very much ‘ride on the pavement’ for anybody trying to use it on a bike. The pavement isn’t particularly wide here, and has light poles reducing the width even more, but is better than nothing.
The additional pedestrian crossing is very welcome.
It is good to see cycle lanes being retained on the this section of the High Street. However being paint only is not safe. If there is room for a cycle lane, why does it not have some protection? If there isn’t room for protection to be added – which is usually only as wide as a white how can the cycle lane be safe? We would like to see safe, protected cycle lanes here.
There is also no way for people cycling east to west to cross the Great North Road in this section. The removal of the right turn box for the Grove makes things much worse for anybody on a cycle using The Drive or Graham Park Road to get to the Grove and on towards the Metro Station. It’s unlikely many people would make the lengthy, circuitous diversion down to Moor Cresent, along the pavement and across the crossing on to Moor Road South.
It’s not clear from the diagrams in the documents what is happening with the new section of the bus lane between the new crossing just south of Graham Park Road and the existing crossing just north of Elmfield Road. We appreciate the diagrams are only indicative, but they show two north bound lanes (one for buses), one south bound lane and a south bound painted cycle lane at the northern crossing (the current layout), yet just north of the new there is supposed to be all of the above, once the new bus lane is added, plus a north bound cycle lane.
As far as we can tell the road is the same width for its length between these two crossings, so how is there room for two cycle lanes, two traffic lanes and a bus lane south of Elmfield Road but not north of it? Unsurprisingly, we are keen to see cycle lanes (with protection added) remain here, but do not want to see people squashed by a bus. The provided diagrams for the new proposals and the currently reality don’t seem to add up. This could do with some clarification.
Area 3
On one hand we would very much like to see protected cycling infrastructure on the High Street. On the other, 60 metres of bi-directional cycle lane in the middle of a roughly 1km long street isn’t really ideal.
It also appears that the crossing leading directly to the entrance to the shopping centre has been removed. If there’s a reason people want to cross the road here, there’s a good chance it’s to go to the shopping centre so making that harder is not a good start. As this is a high street, changes should take in to account people wanting to get to the facilities on it, not just pass through it.
Adding some way for people cycling to get east-west is good, but this just highlights how much easier it would be if people could just use the High Street to travel along on a cycle in the first place.
The protected lane on St Nicholas Avenue is good, as people who live to the east and want to visit the High Street may well come that way as the park provides the only link from the east for quite a stretch. If people are to be encouraged to use the park there could do with some provision to reduce conflict with pedestrians though – a wider path with a smoother surface for example.
There are many roads coming from the west however, so having only one that has safe turning facilities on to the High Street isn’t ideal. Having a gap to allow people cycling south on the High Street to turn in to West Avenue is good, but as it’s not at a controlled junction anybody trying this will need to stop, blocking the south bound traffic and wait for a gap in the north bound traffic – something which would require a lot of confidence to do.
There isn’t any coherent north/south route west of the High Street so expecting everybody to use one point to arrive at the High Street doesn’t make as much sense as on the east side.
If somebody is cycling from the west and uses West Avenue to aim for the park they will need to pass two stop lines and pedestrian crossing points. Will it be possible to do this in one go or will this be a very slow junction to navigate? Will there be a separate light phase for cycles, and will this be every cycle of the lights at all times of day?
One of the most useful things that could be done here is provide more cycle parking for people cycling to the shopping centre. There is some but not much at the moment, mostly on the opposite side of the road to the shopping centre.
As most of the wider work is around buses and adding bus lanes it seems a bit inconsistent to then add a pinch point in the middle of the High Street.
If the southbound stop line on the High Street was moved back to just north of West Avenue this could provide an opportunity to reinstate a useful pedestrian crossing, keep the north bound lane for buses and still provide a cycle phase on the lights for people on bike to get in to and out of St Nicholas Avenue be effectively making a wide junction.
Area 4
There is nothing in this area that aids or encourages cycling. Everything about it would discourage all but the most confident from cycling here (and because of that quite possibly shopping/using services nearby).
Area 5
Having a protected cycle lane linking Alwinton Terrace and the school towards the Great North Road is good, though it would be better if it carried on to the adjacent school and the lane to the park and play area behind that.
At first glance the continuation of this bidirectional route through the junction at Regent Centre looks positive. However there are a number of issues. The whole think looks to be catering for people travelling through this junction having come from further south or north. Not continuing the link along Hollywood Avenue to a point just east of the exit from ASDA leaves a gap that would render this unusable for many – people travelling with young children to a school from the Garden Village for example. A four lane road that encompasses the exits from two supermarkets is not somewhere many people would feel safe cycling, even if they do have a dedicated light phase at the start, so that is a frustratingly short missing link.
In the new proposals how do people cycling from west of Regent Centre get to the middle school or the shops? As things currently stand, people cycling along Regent Farm Road can turn north in to a kerb protected or through a gap in the protection in to the south bound lane when the lights allow. Getting from Regent Farm Road in to the Garden Village or M&S/ASDA by bike currently involves using pedestrian crossings or a very bold manoeuvre across several lanes of traffic to wait in the middle of the junction.
The new proposals don’t seem to have way for people to get from Regent Farm Road to the middle school on a bike. If the proposal is implemented as shown it’s likely people would aim for the crossing at the junction of Christon Rd and use that to cross the Great North Road so it should be a Toucan. Doing that however is problematic as the left turn lane from the Great North Road makes that difficult to do safely. That lane could be removed without removing any connections for drivers or buses and would make the area simpler for pedestrians and cyclists.
These proposals also highlight the fact that it’s pretty much impossible to easily/legally cycle to or from the school just north of Regent Centre. There’s no provision for people riding southbound to get in to the school without using pedestrian crossings that have very limited space. There is also no way for people leaving the school to travel south easily. As on the High Street, this whole area is optimised for people to drive through, making it extremely hostile for anybody trying to get to the many facilities close by foot or cycle. It’s a great candidate for a CYCLOPS junction.
If the proposed solution is implemented then one thing that needs serious consideration is the reliability of the cycle lights. Anybody using cycle lanes around the city knows that the dedicated cycle lights often (but not consistently) skip their turn in the wider sequence, leaving people waiting at them wondering if they are working or not. There are already lengthy waits for everybody at this junction, which will increase with an additional phase for cyclists, so if the lights don’t have a cycle phase every time, all day, people are not going to want to continue to wait and will find their own way across the junction. If that happens it is likely to lead to some very dangerous conflicts.