What Would You Do Here? (Roundabout)

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tombaileytyne
What Would You Do Here? (Roundabout)
tombaileytyne

This is a 1930's roundabout in a suburban area. Three corners are served by quiet service roads which are great for cycling. The forth corner was a pub but is now a Sainsbury's Supermarket.

Broadway, running north south is 30mph, with 20mph service roads either side. Beach Road East-West is 40mph (was 60mph), high traffic volume, also 20mph service roads either side. Beach Road Eastbound widens to three lanes as it approaches the roundabout, traffic is heavy enough that this won't change.

The creation fo the Sainsbury's store has led to an increase in traffic movements, but also an increase in pedestrians crossing the mouth of Beach Road. After a bit of lobbying an upgraded crossing is no being designed. Great, have wanted this for years, if done right it will link the service roads to form a better north south cycle route.

One technical challenge which you can see from streetview is that the service road in the south-west corner is around a metre lower down than the level of Beach Road http://goo.gl/maps/lB5L , this gets worse the further you get from the junction. UK traffic engineers will want to put in a Toucan crossing as far back from the roundabout as they can, by which time the difference in levels gets worse, I sense some sort of horrible wheelchair ramp coming on.

tombaileytyne

1/ radical kerb realighnment to tighten up the radius of the turn from the roundabout into beach road i.e. cut speed enabling the crossing to come closer to the roundabout. Also creates space for new pavement.
2/ crossing must have its own island, with eastbound traffic only getting its additional lane after the island.
3/ New pedestrian & cycle entrance into the Sainsbury's, which then is the most direct route north to rejoin the service road. If not possible then grass verge on the north west edge of the roundabout converts to cycle track.
4/ cycletrack ramps up to the crossing from the service road in the south-west corner, possibly a raised table in the service road so the ramp is not as extreme.
5/how to prevent the engineers from installing acres of guard rail?
6/ what to do about the old traffic island, is it best removed?

tombaileytyne

10.6 Parallel crossings

10.6.1 When separate pedestrian and cycle routes meet to cross a road, a parallel crossing may be appropriate. This is especially useful in places where there are relatively high cycle and pedestrian flows across the road.

sallyhinch

Does that mean ones where  you can cross in one go?

Regarding roundabouts, the Pedestrianise London UK-ification of the CROW guidelines is here http://pedestrianiselondon.tumblr.com/post/24151812132/roundabouts

AKA TownMouse

Golly
Golly's picture

This is a real-life example of how the Dutch do it that operates like clockwork:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEXD0guLQY0 

However, this only works if you have appropriate legislation and a cycling culture. If you tried to introduce it in the UK today, I would give it about 15 minutes until you had the first casualty!

sallyhinch

It just looked a bit scary in a UK context - but there are UK ways to encourage drivers to give way, such as Zebras, humped crossings with give way markings, and other cues (like tighter corner radii)

I'm not sure what legislation would be needed though? 

AKA TownMouse

Golly
Golly's picture

I was referring to the 'strict liability' legislation that they have in most of continental Europe: http://www.cycling-embassy.org.uk/wiki/dutch-cycle-because-strict-liability-made-everybody-drive-safely-and-play-nice. The jury is out as to the degree to which this influences driver behaviour, but it does appear to be a significant factor.

tombaileytyne
This now seems to be at a stage where we've convinced the council to bring the new crossing much closer to the mouth of the junction, 7m which is in line with the CROW. I suspect the next design will still show a single span toucan, so mixing of peds and bikes and no island. Next objective is to keep peds and bikes untangled and get bikes an island so can cross without relying on lights, but avoid a forced two stage crossing. Parallel crossings for bikes and peds, possibly even signalled for peds but not for bikes. I am trying to get sainsbury to move their access so that cycle traffic can flow north over their land (seem quite up for this). I don't think priority for bikes without signals is achievable here, and the public pressure from pedestrian perspective which is securing funding is for a signalled crossing.
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