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news
Harrogate cycle lane illustration from HDCA and Beech Grove modal filterCycling group slams "nonsense" proposal that suggests 1.3m 'murder strip' cycle lane against flow of traffic in Harrogate
Would you fancy riding against the direction of general traffic in a dedicated cycle lane that is 1.3 metres wide, with no physical protection? That is one of the proposals made by North Yorkshire County Council in a consultation on active travel for a road in Harrogate, with a local cycling group describing the contraflow cycle lane suggestion as "dangerous" with no benefits for active travel.
> "Omnishambles" Bristol cycle lane fenced off just one week after opening
Despite scrapping Harrogate's first LTN on Beech Grove earlier this year (shown in the image above), Area 6 of North Yorkshire County Council launched a consultation on active travel measures earlier this week, that is set to close on 28th November and could possibly see modal filters reinstated if the council decide to go with option 1 of their proposals; option 2, however, is a very different story, and would potentially make cycling in the area even more dangerous than it currently is, according to Harrogate District Cycle Action (HDCA).
The first option, that HDCA describes as "excellent", would see a modal filter on Beech Grove and the adjacent Lancaster Road, while a nearby junction would be no entry to southbound traffic to prevent drivers heading away from town using it as a through-route, or 'rat run'.
An illustration of the "nonsense" section option (Harrogate District Cycle Action)
The second option would make Beech Grove one-way for motor traffic heading away from Harrogate town centre, with space for parked cars on the left and cyclists travelling in the other direction on the right (or the left, for the cyclists squeezed into a 1.3m cycle lane). Cyclists heading southbound would be expected to share the road with traffic, as is the current situation.
HDCA describes the narrow width of the contraflow lane as a "murder strip in the gutter", and says the road is not wide enough for car parking, a general traffic lane and a contraflow cycle lane.
"Option 2 is nonsense, and should not be presented as an option at all in this consultation," adds the HDCA.
"It provides zero benefit to active travel – indeed, it may make matters worse.
"We have pointed this out on multiple occasions going back to 2020 but Area 6 have not listened."
Though this proposal may never see the light of day, it's perhaps concerning that those responsible for the consultation were either unaware or willing to disregard the Government's Gear Change strategy and more detailed LTN 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance.
In its response to the proposal, HDCA quotes the relevant parts of LTN 1/20 that says cycle lanes "less than 1.5m wide should not normally be used", and that cycle lanes with no physical protection should be considered "unacceptable" when referring to the northbound 'murder strip' part of the proposal.
For southbound cyclists on the road, heading out of town and mixing with motor traffic, the group says: "Cycling south could well be worse than now, because the carriageway would effectively be narrowed by the cycle lane. You’d be stuck between the parked cars and the cycle lane, potentially with impatient drivers behind, harassing you or close-passing you.
"In our view it is unprofessional of Area 6 to put forward a so-called active travel scheme that in fact has zero benefit for active travel.
"If they went ahead with Option 2, it would be because they wanted to look as though they were doing something, while actually doing nothing of value."
Arriving at road.cc in 2017 via 220 Triathlon Magazine, Jack dipped his toe in most jobs on the site and over at eBikeTips before being named the new editor of road.cc in 2020, much to his surprise. His cycling life began during his students days, when he cobbled together a few hundred quid off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story) and bought his first road bike - a Trek 1.1 that was quickly relegated to winter steed, before it was sadly pinched a few years later. Creatively replacing it with a Trek 1.2, Jack mostly rides this bike around local cycle paths nowadays, but when he wants to get the racer out and be competitive his preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking - the latter being another long story.
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19 comments
I only recently moved away from Harrogate a few moths ago with work and I never understood how the hell the town got the World Champs there in 2019. It is by far on of the worst places for cycling infrasctructure. Get out towards Knaresborough, Ripon, Skipton directions and the roads are fantastic. Pately Bridge would more often than not be be preference. But Harrogate is horrendous. The roads are constantly being dug up and create chaos with communiting. Skipton road is too dangerous to cycle on at rush hour. Every time the council attempt 'improvements' they just make things worse. For those who know Oatlands drive. They put in a cycle lane and double yellow lines near the stray yet the whole road is just a car park every single weekend. The whole thing is a farce. The council put in planters along some roads only for self entitled twunts in SUVs (and there are more per capita here than any other part of the country) just mount the pavements or fields and drive around them.
The also intend expanding an already huge building of a housing estate which will close roads and cycle lanes which will create a 3 mile detour. Thats a huge distance to add on to your commute if you cycle to work/school . The towns roads are a total mess imo
It was only about 5 years ago that cycle groups campaigned to be allowed to contraflow any one way street, in the name of convenience. How was that safe but doing the same with a white line on the road suddenly 'murder'.
Whether contraflow cycling is a good idea depends on the volume and speed of traffic and the width of the road.
Beech Grove is used as a rat run and space is highly constrained. The contraflow lane would not be safe and would not attract new people to ride bikes there. In the other direction it would just be cycling in mixed traffic as now - so no improvement.
'Murder-strip' is a well-known phrase to describe a painted cycle lane, translated from moordstrokje, which was Belgian word of the year in 2018.
there are many of these I know of where I cycle regularly and they all have some kind of segregation be it full or islands at intervals. The ones without any segregation are on short distances and 'quiet' roads but do have a bollard at the junction to prevent motor vehicles cutting the corner. Though not all of them.
There are several one-way streets in Glasgow where contra-flow cycling is permitted. No cycle lane - painted or otherwise - is provided.
I prefer this arrangement to a painted contraflow cycle lane or a soft-segregated contraflow cycle lane (such as Howard St in Glasgow) - cycle lanes are inevitably full of parked cars, forcing cyclists into oncoming traffic. It's preferable just to be facing the traffic in the first place. On a quiet street this can be preferable to cycling in the direction of the traffic - cars can't come up behind you trying to bully their way past.
I agree with that.
The problem with Beech Grove is that it is a rat-run, because the main road is one-way in the other direction - so not a quiet street.
There are several in Ipswich, but this is the worst by far. On a jink in the road and the bus drivers commit to taking their line before they can even see if there is a cyclist approaching them on that corner.
Ugh. That looks like "our streets are too narrow ... for a bus route!" There does seem to be a fair bit of pedestrianisation in the middle of the town. Is it the case that the low-car / bus area has grown as big as people think they can cope with? Are the pedestrian areas "no cycling"?
Ipswitch is pretty compact overall and presumably is flat. Ideal place for cycling, you'd think?
It looks like (and I say this as someone who thinks that public transport should be proiritised over private motor vehicles) busses are just getting too big for UK streets.
Those same ones were used in the small village where I used to live and they caused absolute carnage. They constantly got stuck, blocked the roads, they were dangerous, couldn't make tight corners without "sweeping" across the pavements (I've told the story on here before about how I've had to dive into a front garden to avoid a bus turning right). All for the benefit of the 1-2 passengers on board.
It's bowl shaped, flat in the centre,but the outskirts are elevated up. But there's very few spots to park bikes safely in the town and cycling infra like that example which are bigger problems.
The pedestrianised bit you can cycle on at some times of the day, and not at others, though it doesn't make much difference in practice.
They keep talking about extending the pedestrianised area, such that those contra flow cycle lanes would be gone, but then the bus routes and bus stations would have to be merged, re routed, and there's no appetite from the local council to make that change.
When the better half was in hospital in Ipswich, I took a bicycle there as the bus journeys would take up the whole day, very limited visiting hours.
Most of the time I enjoyed it, though the contraflow down what I saw as a high street, the one with a Sainsbury's on it was often very worrying.
Yep which is kind of a twin road to the one above, as its the exact same buses heading out of town, not in. But with added shops & pedestrians to avoid.
The route from the hospital into town, is considered the main cycling link route through town, part of an NCN route Sustrans promoted, so it always gets prioritised for any money.
Its not bad compared to the contraflow bits, but its lightyears away from getting people to ditch cars to use it.
I hate these type of lazy contraflows and you see them allover the country, including London (which I know has better infrastructure than most places, as a whole). Probably ticks a checkbox that the councils are doing something for cycling, but they are damn-right dangerous. Building this type of infrastructure should be regarded as criminally negligent.
There was one in Harbourne, coming off its high street towards the university, luckily quiet road, had a few hairy incidents, saved by having a set of Night-Sun Tri-lights, around the millennium, had I had some ever readies it would have been very different.
Well signed, but paint does not protect.
Coming from Farnborough towards North Camp station once more a cycle lane against a one way street, but it uses the parked cars as a form of "protection". Definitely not perfect, bad parking affects, of course an moved snow makes it impassable.
There's one of these in Cheltenham, that runs opposing the direction of car traffic on a one-way street that I used to use on the way home (the street, not the lane), and it's barely wide enough to fit the little painted bicycle emblem in it. Insane design.
That's not even the worst one, this one a couple of hundred yards away between two lines of parked cars here Dropped pin
https://maps.app.goo.gl/K7AcYzu33jdpxLyc6?g_st=ic
The exit onto traffic light controlled junction form an unexpected direction is interesting...
That second example is probably slightly better – less bad – than the first, because not having a defined lane kind of leaves you free to use the whole of it. Though it could be made a nicely usable street by restricting parking to one side only...
And presumably most drivers just think that the cyclists are breaking the law by cycling "the wrong way" on their road!
wow I was more interested in the 6 wheeled merc on the streetview on that dropped pin, to be honest! 😅