Cycle superhighway bosses have attempted to allay concerns about the layout of the road at Stanningley Bottom and Richardshaw Lane, following a number of alterations in the area. Concerns about the width of the road have been raised by lcoal residents, businesses and drivers. Here’s CityConnect’s post …
Over the past few weeks, we’ve been contacted by residents and road users of Stanningley about the new road layout in Stanningley Bottom following the completion of works there.
Residents have been concerned about the width of the carriageway, the junction near Richardshaw Lane and the lack of road markings through the area.
Space is limited through Stanningley Bottom and the changes made are intended to provide a better balance between the needs of people travelling through the area, the needs of local businesses and the well-being of local people.
There is insufficient space for a fully segregated cycle track and the alternative design of ‘shared space’ was taken as a design option for Stanningley Bottom following a series of consultations with residents and business owners.
Instead of segregating bikes, cars and pedestrians, the scheme aims to reduce speeds through the area by narrowing the lanes, removing road markings and road signs, and introducing a junction with ‘roundels’ instead of traffic lights or roundabouts.
These provide a combination of psychological measures to influence driver behavior to establish an environment which takes the attention of drivers away from road markings and signage and reliance on signals and allows them to make their own decisions by reading the situation.
This reduces speed without causing significant traffic delays – the optimum speed to move the highest number of vehicles through an urban area is not high, at around 20mph.
Similar schemes, such as one in Poynton town centre have been successful in both these regards, as well as improving the place, exchanging noisy traffic accelerating through the junction with slower, more consistent and quieter traffic – which has had a positive effect on local businesses, who’ve seen an increase in footfall.
Accident statistics from Cheshire East also support that the junction has been made safer by reducing the number of accidents deemed ‘serious’ – dropping from 6 incidents in the three years before the scheme, to no reported ‘serious’ incidents since completion.
There was little change between accidents deemed ‘slight’ pre and post-implementation. To compare, in the four years from 2011-2015, there has been five serious accidents and 15 slight accidents in the area around Stanningley Road and Richardshaw Lane.
This video below is worth a watch to see the before/after effect of Poynton’s Shared Space.
We understand that the changes are currently unfamiliar and this may take some time to adjust to for those who’re used to it in a previous form – there is also some extra signage to be installed to mark the start of the shared space which will feel more like a ‘Gateway to Stanningley’.
As with any scheme, the area will be subject to scrutiny and this scheme in particular is the first to use the ‘roundel’ concept at a major junction.
The safety of the scheme has undergone a safety audit from an independent team and, following completion, a further audit will take place.
Recommendations will be considered for implementation and further safety audits will be undertaken, 12 and 24 months post-completion – which will review any available accident data.
CityConnect isn’t just about building the cycle route. The Stanningley Bottom scheme is about improving places: streets busy with fast through traffic, pollution and noise are not places where people want to spend time. The shared space scheme in Stanningley Bottom is a first step towards this.
This article was first published on the City Connect website.
The major difference between the “roundabout” at Stanningley n the one at Poynton is the positioning of it, at Stanningley bottom there are buildings restricting drivers vision whereas at Poynton the area is quite open allowing drivers to see what’s coming, just because something works in one place doesn’t mean it’ll work somewhere else, this is a poor piece of planning from the highways dept and is an accident waiting to happen.
The completed signage should have been installed at the same time as the coloured road surface, also should have made all road users aware of the changes well in advance, the communication as been appalling throughout.
No results found for a roundel in the highway code ??? over to you city (DIS) connect
With regard to the comment about the highway code, roundels are effectively an unmarked junction, like an unmarked crossroad where no road user has priority over any other.
I have checked the highway code and nothing about Roundels, could you explain where you are getting your description from, some mention of royal air force roundels, so maybe we should look out for aircarft as well.
The highway code doesn’t reference roundels, but it does unmarked junctions. The ’roundel’ is just an unmarked junction with the layout designed to encourage drivers to flow around it in a circular fashion.
City connect have called it a roundel (no such thing) in the highway code which is what we are supposed to adhere to whilst using the public road networks, and that applies to motorists,cyclists and pedestrians alike no exceptions.
The ’roundels’ are badly placed though! The reference to Poynton is nonsense as there is clear sight of other traffic at the junctions there but not so on Stanningley. The one at the bottom of Richardshaw Lane is placed at a point where in order to actually see what may be approaching from the right you have to edge out so you are already on the roundabout before you can see anything, and therefore unintentionally pulling out on people who have right of way. There has already been a bump there. Its not a fear of change, it is annoyance at such an utter nonsense that is now Stanninley.
As previous posters have said, the comparison between Poynton and Stanningly is invalid due to the lack of sight lines and much reduced space at Stanningley. The statement from CityConnect is just a series of platitudes and wishful thinking. I hope it works but have reservations. We shall see but for the cost involved “we shall see” doesn’t cut it.
Can anyone tell me the protocol at roundels? Give way to traffic from the right? Just call it a roundabout and erect appropriate signage to remove any ambiguity.
Wow, what utter nonsense! I wonder if they actually believe this crap?
I catch my bus near there every morning. I can tell you I have already seen a number of near misses. Accident waiting to happen as far as I can see.
If you believe that Stanningley bottom looks anything like Poynton you need to get another job, probably serving in a major fast food outlet where getting things wrong is the norm!
A driver must know what he/she should be doing. Not make it up as they feel like. there must be one clear way not the multiple choice. It’s far too small to use the new way, people do not drive like the so called designers think they will.
I’m glad to see efforts made to improve safety but I do feel that the level attention to safety and communication ‘DURING this construction process is really poor.
Blocked footpaths and no related signage is a recurrent issue.
well they are never going to admit they are idiots that have got it wrong are they?, sack the lot of em, the whole things been a disaster that will be a total waste of money with very very few people using the cycle lane. Time these decision makers were held personally responsible.