On Saturday I thought I would walk the length of Otley Road to see what the cycle lane is coming along. What an absolute mess! Swerving on and off the main carriageway, no clear (as yet) indication of rights of way at traffic lights, starts half way up the road and stops before it gets to the top, some parts (well a couple of very short strips) of dedicated cycle lane, the rest simply shared use with pedestrians. The worst bit IMO though are the little ramps as the lane goes from the road and back onto pavements - little short ramps up and tricky tight bends to negotiate to avoid the trees that line the sides of the road (and I reckon they will be physically quite hard for normal people just using bikes as a mode of transport trying to keep some momentum on what is quite an uphill slog).
What a complete and utter waste of money.
I know there are a few of you on here that live in Harrogate and I'd love to know what you think.
I commuted up that road for 10 years. (Worked at Beckwith Knowle)
I used the pavement for the vast majority of that time, on account of the locals frequently trying to kill me, or yell abuse.
Sounds like a lot of the cycle lanes in Cambridge, awkward entry and exits to the cycle lanes, weaving all over the place with tight turns and poor transitions between road and cycle lanes, utter mess.
To be fair calling it a Cycle Lane Scheme is up there with some of the BS from Boris
It’s never really been about a cycle lane ( imho ) and the work so far has mainly been about the Otley Rd - Harlow Moor Road junction, improving it for vehicles ….
Like you say … If it really was about improving things for cycles it would have gone at least to the Harlow Carr turn if nor right to Beckwithshaw and started at the Prince of Wales roundabout not at the top of Cold Bath Road 😡😡
and started at the Prince of Wales roundabout not at the top of Cold Bath Road
Yeah that bit particularly confused me - any school kids coming from town to Harrogate Grammar or Rossett/Rossett Acre still have to share with other road users until Cold Bath Road.
I delivered a similar rant to my MP and actually got a reply from him yesterday. Funding came from central government for the works, along with HBC and housing developers in the area.
He is awaiting responses to the other points regarding construction, but did point me to a Q&A with the planners where they say that they "expect faster cyclists to use the road" when going downhill ( http://www.bit.ly/3KaOe14).
I stick by my original opinion that it's a cunning way of taking sustainable transport funding and using it as an excuse to get a new road junction and a major road resurfaced.
Can't comment on the quality of the actual lanes but it does seem to have caused a huge amount of disruption for not very much actual distance.
Oh, and we keep forgetting which roads they have blocked off which is a bit embarrassing when tear arsing about on blue lights!
I can't comment on this particular scheme, but...
I stick by my original opinion that it’s a cunning way of taking sustainable transport funding and using it as an excuse to get a new road junction and a major road resurfaced.
...Has certainly been common in my experience.
Oh, and we keep forgetting which roads they have blocked off which is a bit embarrassing when tear arsing about on blue lights!
Which service? I know someone that's a paramedic in Harrogate 🙂
Fire John, water fairy!