| The home of cycling in Stevenage and Hitchin |
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| The home of cycling in Stevenage and Hitchin |
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I recently stumbled across news of proposals to rearrange the roads in the Centre of Letchworth. Unfortunately the period for planning consultations had expired by the time I came across it so we have missed the chance to formally comment.
Please, if you hear of any proposals that will have a significant impact on the road environment, alert your campaign team to them. If we don’t know what is happening, we can’t influence it for the better.
The plans are to reverse traffic flow in Leys Avenue and Eastcheap, and to rearrange car parking from parallel bays to chevron bays. The roundabout at the head of station road would also be changed to traffic lights. Details here.
There doesn’t seem to be much to worry about for cyclists, but the lack of ambition to improve the town centre is disappointing. The chevron parking is likely to increase the sense of vehicle dominance, and no attempt has been made to restore two way cycle flows.
We are concerned that the traffic light proposals will make a rather hostile junction with too many traffic lanes shoe-horned in instead of making space for cyclists. Lastly, we would like to see better use made of the space outside the station – wouldn’t it be nice to have a big, public, pedestrian priority square here instead of the vehicle dominated space that currently exists ?
We have written to the council asking for these concerns to be taken into account, and for two way cycling to be restored in Leys Avenue and Eastcheap.
Read the full letter here.
Regards
Alasdair
We have been involved in a very unproductive dialogue with Herts Highways about the Jubilee Road / Baldock Road entrance to the Letchworth Retail Park. There is a bit of an accident cluster here as vehicles emerge into the path of traffic that has just put its collective foot to the floor on the very short stretch of dual carriageway. The dual carriageway is a complete anachronism on this otherwise single carriageway road. It serves no useful purpose but encourages speeding and aggressive overtaking before the road re-merges just 400m later.
The solution is obvious � restore the road to single carriageway, reduce the speed limit to 30 mph and the problem goes away. Better than that, it will reduce the attractiveness of this route to driving and free up a huge amount of road space that could be put to better use � like creating really attractive walking and cycling conditions.
Unfortunately the engineers at Herts Highways are only interested in spending a lot of money signalising the junction, adding yet more tarmac to the carriageway. They are determined to remove cyclists from the road onto a very narrow and unsuitable footway, in direct contradiction to the Hertfordshire Cycling Strategy�s recommendations. It gets worse. If you want to carry on your journey towards the leisure centre you will have to negotiate the junction in four separate stages.
It is a disaster. I have seen a lot of really bad cycling schemes in my time and this is one of the worst.
We have said as much in two letters. The first on 27 January and then again on 6 March. Now I may be wrong, but I think these are pretty clear in stating that we absolutely, fundamentally oppose these proposals. Since Hertfordshire�s Cycling Strategy says �
"Cycle tracks will not be created through the conversion of footways, without a full assessment by reference to the hierarchy of solutions, a cycle audit and full consultation with all stakeholders."
� that should have been the end of the matter. At the very least, we should be now looking at a scheme minus the pavement conversion.
Unfortunately not. Herts Highways appear absolutely determined to force cyclists onto this pavement, and they are equally determined that it should not even approach the very minimum standards needed for shared use. This is not careless bad design, it is deliberately bad design.
We are currently examining the options, the last of which is to take legal action to prevent this dreadful scheme proceeding. It is an extraordinary reflection on Herts Highways� attitude towards vulnerable road users and to the consultation process that we should have to consider going to court, to prevent a development that purports to be in our name, when their own Strategy document says very clearly not to do it.
Regards
Alasdair
We have recently sent a letter to coucillors to discuss the works being undertaken in Baldock and a press release was sent out to highlight the issues.
We have recently been approached by Herts Highways to discuss proposals for a cycle route network to link the Clothall Common Estate on the easten edge of Baldock, with the centre of the town. Our comments took the form of three emails and a gallery of annotated photographs, all of which can be read here. Furthur details.
Herts Highways' proposals are very preliminary at the moment. We are taking a position that is intended to be supportive and encouraging, while steering engineers away from unsuitable routes and unhelpful infrastructure. Please channel any comments through me. Let your local councillors know that you are interested in what is happening, and that you expect our advice to be taken on board.
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Roadworks suddenly appeared at the junction�of Letchworth Road and Weston Way in Baldock. Nobody had thought to consult us about the work, which involves widening the road at the junction, moving the crossing, and putting in traffic lights. HCC are also creating a new "slalom" course for the school kids who make up most of the crossing users. Well, why take the direct route when you can zig-zag across the grass and launch into the road at a blind corner ?
It took a month and a Freedom of Information request to prise the details out of the County Council. Heaven only knows why they are so defensive about it unless they knew we would be critical of what they are proposing. Unfortunately that is precisely what we had to do - all the more reason to have consulted us.
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