CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Tsar Frank
(17 posts)-
Posted 11 years ago #
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Good for Frank, and good for the Herald. It looks like they're both on the right track.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"
GLASGOW'S cycling tsar has admitted the city's roads need a major overhaul if it is to encourage more people to take to the streets on bicycles.Frank McAveety, who is spending the summer touring the city on his bike, delivered a withering assessment after coming up against potholes, poor signs and angry motorists.
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Some people 'here' thought he would be doing the Netherlands trip as a 'jolly'.
Don't know if he was always a secret cyclist or has had some sort of major conversion!
Of course it could just all be party political - though I suspect some of his fellow party members understand/care less than KB.
In Edinburgh cycling is 'all party', the trouble is that some cycle so 'normally' that they don't really understand the "obstacles" that deter would-be-cyclists!
So we should ask Mr. M to ride the streets of Edinburgh and give advise.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I read an article in which Mr McAveety stated that Glasgow City Council are going to build more cycle tracks every year until the entire city is covered. It's good that he understands what's necessary, but I would suggest that, with the amount of money that is currently spent, this cannot be done particularly rapidly.
Posted 11 years ago # -
And based on what they have done already I'll stick with the road.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@wee folding bike: yup, the two disconnected scraps of cycle track on London Road are a waste of space and money. I hope that the NL visit has inspired a commitment to a higher standard, but I won't be holding my breath!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Have you tried the bridge to no where east bound?
Dumps you onto one way west bound Waterloo st. I decided to go north on Pitt St then east on Bothwell St to get out of that one.
You can't turn into Elderslie St from St Vincent st even though they have built a segregated lane on the south end of Elderslie st. You can get onto it by crossing St Vincent St from the north end of Elderslie St.
I don't even understand what the London Rd lane is for.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I have. When you come off the bridge you can use the Toucan crossing and cycle along the shared-use pavement, which soon takes you to a two-way cycle track along Waterloo Street. I don't agree with shared-use pavements, but this one is fairly wide and doesn't present too much of a problem.
And yeah, it all gets quite messy in the West End. At the junction you mention I tend to see cyclists crossing (illegally) with pedestrians. The bit on Elderslie Street where the cycle track disappears and then reappears on the other side of the road is also infuriating, and the sensors that activate the cycle phase of the traffic lights are quite unreliable.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I used the shared use footpath first time but I really don't like doing that. I went back to check there wasn't a better way and used Pitt St.
There doesn't seem an easy way to get from Waterloo St to NCR 75 by the Clyde. I think you have to cross the west bound traffic which isn't expecting you to do that. Even then I don't know which road would let you get there. I'm sometimes in Robertson St (SQA have their office there) but it's a compulsory left turn at the south end. That means you can't use Wellington st to get there. The other roads seem to be one way the wrong way or require a right/left on Argyle St.
I used to walk though that bit of Anderson to Argyle St for an ET course 20 years ago. The ped crossing at the train station worked just fine. I'm really not convinced the bridge was a good way to spend money. Might be a bit smarter than fencing off George Sq during the hottest weather in years. Where do people go to eat their Greggs take away?
Posted 11 years ago # -
I know what you mean. I think the problem is that it's been conceived of as a "route" that everyone will cycle from end to end. It doesn't seem to have occurred to the designers that someone might want to use only part of the route on their journey.
I really hate the M8, with all its flyovers, flyunders, and footbridges - my instinct tells me that we should be tearing down all those kind of grade-separated structures in our cities, not building more. I also have to admit that I felt a perverse sense of pride in the Bridge to Nowhere back when it was a useless folly!
Having said that, I'm glad it's finished. It's been nicely done and it's better that we get some use out of it rather than it just sitting there empty.
Posted 11 years ago # -
What was your thinking on the side railings?
Over the M8 with 4 lanes of 50 mph traffic it's just a simple railing.
Over the car park at the eastern end the railing arches over the top.
I don't know why this is how they did it.
Going to the end of the cycle lane puts people in Hope St which seems to be the kind of thing people who use cycle lanes would want to dodge.
At least the ski jump is still there, because they didn't join it to the M74, and there are turnouts on the M8 which should have gone to Maryhill but they didn't build that bit on top of the F&C city branch.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yeah, that's strange - seems to me like the arch railings should go the whole length of the bridge. And the railings are all new - they replaced older shorter ones. Odd.
Hope Street is intimidating - I prefer to quickly nip round onto Gordon Street and go up West Nile Street if I can. Interestingly, Glasgow City Council proposed a cycle track along West Nile Street four years ago. It hasn't been built, obviously. This is why I will believe Frank McAveety only if he manages to get something done!
Posted 11 years ago # -
There is a contraflow lane on W Nile St between St Vincent and Gordon St. I don't think there is a north bound lane on that section. Was the plan to have one the entire length of W Nile St street both ways? I guess that could get people off Union/Renfield St with the busses and big holes. It would need to go down Mitchell St behind Fraser's to reach Argyle St.. I like the back of that building. It still has Wyle & Lochead names on it.
I don't like using the W Nile st lane in the rain as there are slippy looking setts. I've never skidded on them yet but they look iffy.
Posted 11 years ago # -
The arch feature is thanks to risk averse money people well away from Glasgow (Virgin Is) who owned the hotel, who lease the land from Glasgow Council to use as a car park below. Massive paranoia that people would leap over the 1.8m fences etc. Sadly GCC were not inclined to tell them they were the tenants....
Design compromise achieved but is interesting feature.
Notice how that nice smooth asphalt surface is now a bit wavey - seems to be sliding down on the east side.
How long before someone hits this bollard-less island and comes a cropper? https://www.flickr.com/photos/h52/21206407565/in/dateposted-public/
Posted 9 years ago #
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