Camden are consulting on an extension of the Royal College Street scheme, across Camden Road, northbound to the junction with Kentish Town Road.
I thought I'd start a forum discussion for comments on their proposals, as well as for general comments on the original Royal College Street scheme.
Looking at the proposals, there are some immediate problems that leap out at me.
- on the section of RCS just south of Camden Road, it would surely make sense to have all the parking, loading bays, and bus stop, in a line, on one side of the road. This would have the added advantage of allowing space for a bus stop island, outside the cycle track, which would be an improvement on the existing RCS bus stops.
- The southbound cycle lane on the section just north of Camden Street is completely unprotected, facing oncoming traffic, which isn't good enough. It also has a loading bay inside it, which drivers will have to move across the cycle lane to access. I appreciate that Camden don't want to tinker with existing kerb lines, but this really should be addressed. There's plenty of space, it just needs to be done properly, with a loading bay outside the cycle lane.
- The 'junction' with St Pancras Way - where all motor traffic will be turning left, and (nearly) all cycle traffic wil be going straight ahead - really needs to be carefully designed, as this is a huge potential conflict point, with motor traffic turning across the path of cycle traffic, frequently. But I'm not convinced by the proposed design, at all, which essentially amounts to pushing cycling and driving into the same space before the junction in an attempt to stop dangerous overtaking. But the conflict has essentially just been displaced to this point, with drivers and cyclists 'wedging' into a narrow pinch point.
More general points - the extension will only involve armadillos, and no planters. Is this going to provide adequate protection?
Are the bus stop designs - identical to the existing RCS arrangement, with bus users alighting directly onto the cycle track - good enough? Should they be upgraded with 'islands'?
Other comments welcome below, as well as general issues with the existing RCS scheme.
Thanks!
