Widcombe Parade – traffic will be reduced and flow reversed

Wide bridge leading to and from Dorchester Street

When the Rossiter Road/Widcombe Parade scheme costing £1.8m is implemented, hopefully in 2014, consideration should be given on how cycling in the area can be improved.

Towpath to thimble Mill. Could be part of off road cycle route through south of Bath

The basics of the scheme are that Widcombe Parade traffic will be reversed and reduced by about 80% and Rossiter Road made into two-way traffic to become the bypass that Widcombe people have fought for over a period of 30 years.  The present cycle lane should become a properly constituted cycle contraflow, with different coloured tarmac, preferably green to clearly identify it.

There is an opportunity to extend this cycle lane down to the Churchill Bridge as Claverton Street will still have four lanes of traffic.  An east bound cycle lane could also be installed on the opposite carriageway of Claverton Street as far as the h’apenny bridge.  The crucial part of any wider scheme here is to make the wide footbridge to the west near Churchill Bridge into a shared path.  This would allow cycle access to Widcombe avoiding the difficult Churchill Bridge gyratory.

There is also the possibility of using the subway under the A36 as a shared path with suitable safeguards, clearly giving priority to people walking, enabling cyclists to access Holloway towards the Two Tunnels Greenway and to cross into the city.

This depends on the Council considering cycle links, not just how bikes can get safely through Widcombe.

Four lanes in Claverton Street. Must be some room for cycles

In addition, but not as an alternative there could be an off road cycle path from the Churchill Bridge along the river towpath going east, which would avoid both Rossiter Road and Widcombe to connect with the towpath from Thimble Mill to Pulteney Bridge, St Johns Road and Cleveland Bridge.  This route could provide a southerly off road route for people riding bikes through the south of the city avoiding the A36 altogether.

What is needed here is for a design for cycling roughly on the route that I have outlined, taking cyclists through Widcombe Parade as well as providing an off road southerly through route.  To the west a connection with the Bristol/Bath Railway path is easy to make over the present crossing at Churchill Bridge.

I have many misgivings about a scheme that is mainly designed to ensure continued traffic flow through the area, rather than prioritising the regeneration of Widcombe Parade and its local shops.  However, this is an opportunity to design for much improved safety for people on bikes.  The bulk of the money is to be spent not on regenerating Widcombe Parade and improving cycling, but on improving traffic flow.  Surely the time has come to shift priorities from motor traffic to people on foot and on bikes.

Northern Entrance to subway

If the Council is serious about giving a high priority to people on bikes officers could carry out  a brief study of cycle links around Widcombe.   This would enable investment in both on and off road cycle links, which would be of great benefit to local people and visitors to the area and signal that the Council is prepared to take cycling seriously.

The Firs/Avenue junction showing red paint

One of the comments so far in response to my post about the cycle contraflow in Cheap Street/Westgate Street (I still don’t know if/when it will be completed, but I am inquiring), is about making the contraflows clearer by painting the lanes on the road.  There are all sorts of difficulties connected to doing this in the city centre, but elsewhere it can work.  After all the London “superhighways” for cyclists are painted blue.   The photo of The Avenue and The Firs contraflows in Combe Down (where else?) shows how a little paint can work really well.

Simple sign that makes the contraflow clear

There is paint only at the beginning and end of the roads. Traffic is not heavy on either road, so a light touch here is fine.  These contraflows  are cheap to install, people on bikes no longer  ride on pavements in these roads and the contraflows slow motor vehicles down as a bike approaches.

Whatever the type of implementation; and I think it should be horses for courses, with physical barriers between cycles and motor vehicles as the first option on busy roads.  In my view all one way streets should be contraflows for bikes as this shortens journey times and keeps cyclists away from time consuming, dangerous one way systems.  This is a way of encouraging  people to ride bikes.  Contraflows can make the journey shorter, safer and more direct.

I welcome any views on this issue and perhaps information as to where there is a need for contraflows.  Please comment if you wish.

Chris Hoy signing autographs at the Odd Down Circuit Opening

The £1m announced to improve Seven Dials for people on foot and on bikes on Monday, as part of the successful West of England Partnership’s (Bath, Bristol, South Glos and North Somerset councils) bid for Government Cycle City funding is not the only capital funding to be have been allocated to cycling in Bath and North East Somerset during the last two years.

Starting in 2011 £500k was allocated to implement 20 mph speed limits as the default in residential areas, which turned out to be one of the commitments asked for in the Times in its “Cities fit for cycling” campaign, so although not directly targeted at cyclists it does help safety of all road users, including people on bikes.

This was followed by £500k for cycling infrastructure in this financial year and it is very likely that this will be followed by a further £500k for 2014/15

A successful bid by the West of England Partnership to the Coalition Government”s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF) in 2011, led to a £3.1m investment in B&NES.  This funding has been used to create the off road cycle path on the globe straight to Bath Spa University, a toucan crossing at the Globe pub and a ramp from the A4 to the Bath/Bristol railway path.  This money will also go towards partially funding a bridge over the river at Batheaston to enable people on bikes and on foot to link across the river with the National Cycle Network Route 4 (NCN4).

In addition the funding is being used to extend the “Boris” Bike hire scheme in the city, a new pedestrian link to the Two Tunnels Scheme at Claude Avenue, grants to employers, such as the RUH, to provide cycling facilities for staff and a new TravelWest web site to promote “Better By Bike” activities.

In addition, through getting Sky Ride to the city a connection was made with British Cycling that resulted in funding of £600k from British Cycling for the off road cycle circuit at Odd Down.

Opening of Two Tunnels 6th April 2013

Add to this the £400k that the Council has contributed to the Two Tunnels Project and the extra £200k successful bid to complete the northern link of the Two Tunnels to the Bath/Bristol Railway path and we have reached the target of £10 per head of population capital expenditure on cycling, for each of the 4 years of this Council administration.  This is the target recommended in the All Party Parliamentary Report on cycling and the recommendation in the cycling motion to this September’s Lib Dem Conference.  Now all we have to do is deliver the projects for which funding has been obtained.

The improvements will bring the us closer to making Bath a cycling city.  What is needed now to really embed improvements for local people choosing to ride bikes and those visiting the city on bikes, is a Cycling strategy for the next 10/20 years as part of the overall Transport Strategy that the Council is about to embark on.

Crowded bike stand in Orange Grove on Monday

When walking in the city centre in the past few days I have been struck by the high levels of occupation of bike stands. This seems to indicate a growth in numbers of people in Bath cycling.

This is likely to be because of some touring cyclists visiting Bath, but also locals lured out on their bikes by the summer weather.  There is a need for many more stands.

Around the Guildhall on Monday there were no bike stands vacant.  The photo shows about 14 bikes locked to the “car” stand in Orange Grove.  In Kingsmead Square last Saturday morning all the stands were occupied, as were the stands outside Waitrose.  This is all good news and supports the anecdotal evidence that cycling has been boosted by the opening of the Two Tunnels Greenway.

Last week I met a Spanish family of four, who were staying in Bath and directed them from Widcombe to the Two Tunnels by the least busy route, as they were not keen to mix it with the traffic on Wells Road.  More signage to the Two Tunnels path from the city would help people unfamiliar with the area.

An increase in touring cyclists will give a boost to the economy.  Particularly as people on bikes spend more than other visitors, because the very nature of the bike means that they carry less than visitors who arrive by other means of transport.

After a couple of months the average use of the Two Tunnels route averaged 527 cyclists per day.  Of course most of these will be local leisure cyclists and commuters, but there will be some touring cyclists amongst them.

It would be useful if we could get some firm evidence for how many more people are visiting the city by bike because of the improvement and publicity about the Two Tunnels Path and the Odd Down off road circuit.

Update:

On 29th August there were 18 bikes locked to the “car stand” in Orange Grove – this must be a record.  Yesterday on Twitter a bike commuter said that he might have to stop riding his bike into the city because he could not find anywhere to park.

If you have this problem contact your local councillor to complain that there are more cycle stands needed.  There are four councillors for the city – Manda Rigby and Brian Webber for Abbey ward and Andy Furse and Dougles Nichol for Kingsmead – its in the city centre where the main shortage is.  It might be wise to contact any of these as well as your local councillor.

Further Update:

I have been told that there are new cycle stands to go in to the south of the Guildhall and the bicycle corral (car) is then due to be moved, but it could go into Cheap Street.  This is from the team who managed the High Street works, but they will also talk to highways to see if there is a budget for more cycle corrals for the city.  I will find out how long it will take to get the extra stands in to the south of the Guildhall.

Cheap Street showing incomplete cycle contra flow

A contra flow for cyclists was begun in Cheap Street and Westgate Street months ago, but the Cheap street section is still not complete.  My information is that the job was given to Atkins, the Council’s highways contractor and that they would complete the work when they are in the area! The contractor should agree a time when the job is to be done and do it.  If they can’t do the job the Council should  give it to someone who can.

All that is needed is painting some yellow lines, burning others off and putting  the blue badge parking on the south side of Cheap Street. This doesn’t reflect well on the Council’s organisation.