Closed
Plastic wands on cycle lane
Reported in the Road Markings - Worn/Faded category anonymously at 10:28, Tue 8 September 2020
Sent to Northamptonshire Highways less than a minute later. ref: 2284020.
The cycle lane going down (south) Rushmere Road was already too narrow (< 1.5m), but with plastic wands sited within it (on the pavement side of the line), is now far too narrow for a steep descent. Lime trees produce growth from the pavement side, as well. To use this lane safely you have to cycle towards the outside edge of it, and this is now impossible, meaning cyclists are likely to cycle outside the barriers. Some drivers will be likely to become upset by this. Why has the downhill lane been converted to a mandatory one, but not the uphill lane? Why not have someone who cycles advise on these changes?
Updates
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Thank you for reporting a fault. We will use the information you have provided to assess and prioritise this fault in accordance with our published response times for fault reports.
State changed to: Investigating
Posted by Northamptonshire Highways at 10:28, Tue 8 September 2020
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Vehicles are knocking these plastic posts down at the traffic light junction with Billing Road. They bend, or are knocked out from the ground completely, including the base. Incredibly dangerous for cyclists on such a busy road, that is made narrower with the leaves.
Posted anonymously at 21:20, Fri 2 October 2020
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Now autumn is here, leaves are collecting on the edge of the road, in the left-hand part of the cycle lane. This happens every autumn on this road. These are slippery when wet so unsafe to cycle over. This reduces the usable width of the cycle lane still further (cyclists already cannot cycle in the right-hand part of the lane as they need to keep a safe distance from the posts). Only a very narrow part of the cycle lane is generally safe, making it almost unusable. Sometimes there is no part of the lane that is safe due to the quantity of leaves.
Posted anonymously at 21:23, Tue 27 October 2020
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Wands are being removed from the lane, and discarded onto the verge. Failure to maintain the infrastructure reinforces the anti cycling message that the council exudes.
Posted anonymously at 11:11, Thu 29 October 2020
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At 2:30am today a vehicle drove over all of the posts at the top of Rushmere Road - 5 have been knocked out and the rest are damaged.
They were all over the road and cycle lane.
It is outrageous that the council expect cyclists, pedestrians and residents to report on the status of the condition of this cycle lane.
It is not fit for purpose and is not safe for cyclists to use.
As a resident, it is traumatic to hear these posts being struck, they need to be removed before someone gets seriously injured.
Posted anonymously at 13:02, Thu 29 October 2020
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The works to segregate the cycle lane on Rushmere Road were funded through the Emergency Active Travel Fund which was announced by Government in May 2020. Northamptonshire County Council was allocated £351,000 to support walking and cycling, including for the introduction of temporary and experimental measures to reallocate road space away from motor vehicles such as through the introduction of light segregation for cycle routes, which is seen as providing a more comfortable experience for cyclists. Rushmere Road was chosen as it is wider that other roads, and the southbound direction was selected owing to the limited on-street parking and number of accesses compared to the northbound direction. Implementing these experimental measures enables us to see how well such segregation operates where there are existing cycle lanes, before considering more permanent/harder segregation elsewhere. The scheme will be regularly monitored through a combination of quantitative and qualitative assessment to understand whether for those choosing to cycle, using the lane has improved in the presence of the wands, and whether the installation causes problems for other road users. Following early feedback we are looking to shortly make a number of changes to the scheme. The proposed changes include some localised widening to maximise the width available in the lane whilst still complying with the minimum remaining road carriageway widths. The number of wands will also be reduced and a combination of wands and short-sections of kerbing (known as orcas) will be used to give the lane a more open feel, whilst also affording the same feeling of protection from motor traffic. We are also looking into a new type of storm drain cover that is narrower than the existing ones to reduce the hazard potential to cyclists riding over them. With regard to sweeping the lane of leaves, we are investigating various options for effective cleansing. One of the reasons for installing the lane was to find out how different methods for sweeping segregated cycle lanes would work in practice for any future permanent segregated cycling infrastructure development.
State changed to: Closed
Posted by Northamptonshire Highways at 10:44, Wed 4 November 2020
This report is now closed to updates from the public. You can make a new report in the same location.