Showing posts with label A10. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A10. Show all posts

Thursday, 23 August 2018

Transport for London are blocking safe cycling conditions on Shoreditch High Street

As I have previously reported, the A10 in Hackney is the most dangerous road in the borough to cycle on, with 26% of all cyclists killed or seriously injured in collisions from 2004-2014 occurring on it, and a third of all collisions involving buses and cycles resulting in a injury to the cyclist also occurring on the A10. Shoreditch High Street is the southern end of the A10 in Hackney, part of the Shoreditch Triangle and one of the busiest cycling routes in the borough as it links Hackney Road, Kingsland Road and Old Street with the City and Commercial Street. It also suffers some of the highest level of cycling casualties in Hackney.

Last year, as part of its healthy streets approach, Transport for London consulted on proposals for Shoreditch High Street with two main interventions. The first was at the slip road leading from Hackney Road onto Shoreditch High Street; reducing this from two traffic lanes down to one, by enlarging the island


Above: before and after the changes to this junction 

This has provided a slightly wider, but shorter, cycle lane leading into the ASL. The cycle lane is still completely pointless a lot of the time however, as it remains impossible to reach it if any more than a couple of vehicles are waiting at the lights

Before
After

I'm not sure why the space taken from the carriageway was reallocated to a larger island; surely it would have been a perfect opportunity to create a protected cycle lane for people cycling from Hackney Road onto Shoreditch High Street. Even better would be to close this slip road to traffic entirely to provide a dedicated protected left turn for those cycling onto both Shoreditch High Street as well as for those cycling onto Old Street.

The route from Hackney Road onto Old Street remains the most popular route for people on bikes here, heading into the West End via the Old Street Roundabout and Clerkenwell road, the busiest cycling corridor in London. However nothing has been provided for the huge amount of people who cycle this route everyday, with people on bikes having to often squeeze between two lanes of traffic to get to the lights



Only to find when they get there that TfL haven't even bothered to create an ASL here and so cyclists have little choice but to surround the cars and lorries waiting at the lights instead







The other measure consulted on, and built, was at the point where Quietway 13 crosses the road, with the main intervention being removal of a southbound traffic lane to create an island where cycles turning into Rivington Street can wait, along with all traffic to turn into Calvert Avenue.


It also proposed reducing the width of the footway 'to allow larger vehicles' to turn into Calvert Avenue, otherwise known as quietway 13!


Before and after quietway improvement works on Shoreditch High Street

Note that what was not part of the consultation diagram, the "Keep clear" signs to help motor traffic coming out of Calvert Avenue to turn right onto Shoreditch High Street; a popular manoeuvre, due to the fact that Shoreditch High Street is restricted to buses, Taxi's and bikes only further south



The consultation responses showed that 50% of respondents did not support this scheme, with many believing it did not go far enough to protect people on bikes. The Hackney Cycling Campaign expressed concern that the proposed crossing would not help vulnerable and unconfident cyclists and they recommended that a segregated and signalised cycle crossing should be provided. 

I was pleasantly surprised to read the response from Hackney Council to this scheme; they believed a more ambitious scheme could be developed to further improve safety at the junction. They recommend a segregated junction crossing for cyclists as well as the segregation of the entire length of Shoreditch High Street for a cycle lane. In relation to the proposed bus lane, the Council also said that they prefer cycle segregation along Shoreditch High Street rather than a bus lane on the southbound lane of Shoreditch High Street. As a result they oppose this proposal as they are concerned that if a bus lane were to be introduced in the short term, it may be difficult to subsequently remove it.

To hear Hackney Council suggest that TfL should not create a bus lane, in order to instead create a segregated cycle lane would have been unthinkable just a few years ago and shows the huge progress within the mindset of some members of the council over the last couple of years. TfL responded that significant changes to the existing layout of Shoreditch High Street are not proposed as part of this scheme but segregated cycle lanes will be considered as part of the wider Shoreditch Triangle scheme.

Despite not being their road, Hackney Council have even gone as far as to produce their own plans for protected cycle tracks along Shoreditch High Street


This scheme even included a protected cycle track replacing the slip road at the Hackney Road / Shoreditch High Street junction with safe space for those cycling onto Old Street, instead of the dangerous layout that TfL have left untouched


Therefore it is thoroughly depressing to read the Mayor of Hackney confirming that Transport for London have rejected these plans. The council claim that TfL believe that the road width and modelling would not support a segregated track north and southbound and are therefore are proposing a southbound segregated cycle track and a bus and cycle only lane northbound.

Transport for London rejecting plans for protected cycle lanes in both directions here 

Whilst TfL are willing to block this scheme they will not even fund it as the Shoreditch Triangle scheme is reliant on third party funding from proposed and future nearby developments and that the withdrawal of Bishopsgate Goods Yard has left a shortfall in the funding to implement the scheme.

 The discussions between Hackney and TfL on the Shoreditch Triangle scheme have been put on hold so it appears that the road layout will remain in its current state for many years to come. Whilst TfL continue to refuse to allow protected space for cycling, something that could also improve bus journey times, it is likely that many more people will continue to be seriously injured or killed whilst cycling in Shoreditch.
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Saturday, 24 February 2018

Cycling with buses in Hackney

Hackney has a lot of buses and therefore a lot of bus lanes. Cycling is allowed in all of these bus lanes and whilst this might be slightly better than cycling on the main carriageway, sharing space with buses is still not a comfortable experience that most of the population of the borough are willing to take up. There have been claims in the past that buses are more dangerous than lorries to cyclists in London and I wondered just what the collision and injury rate is in Hackney between buses and people cycling. A few years ago I wrote about cycle injuries and fatalities in Hackney over a ten year period from 2004-2014. I have gone back to the raw data and have extracted all collisions within the borough involving someone cycling and a bus that caused an injury and have plotted them all onto a  map:

click here to view the map

I've included the age and sex of the person injured or killed, along with the severity of their injuries and a brief description of the collision itself (these descriptions are lifted directly off the police report and not my own words). Here is a breakdown of the statistics:

 There were a total of 81 collisions within that ten year period involving bikes and buses in Hackney that resulted in an injury to the person cycling. 11 of these were serious injuries and 70 resulted in slight injuries to the cyclist. There was one fatality which was Dan Harris, who was killed by a Stagecoach bus ferrying journalists from the Olympic Park during the Olympic games in 2012. This highlights that not all of these collisions will involve TFL buses running scheduled route services but as in this case may be the same contractors running other services, such as rail replacement buses.

 Over 80% of the collisions occurred on A roads, which is not surprising as that is where the majority of buses run. As for the roads these collisions took place on 27 of them, exactly a third, occurred on the A10. I have previously already reported that the A10 is the most dangerous road for cycling in the borough with 28% of ALL cycling collisions resulting in serous or fatal injuries to the person cycling occurring on this road.

A woman cycles with her child on the pavement along the A10 in Hackney. Would you cycle with your children in that wide bus lane on a road with such horrific casualty statistics?
The A10 in Haggerston, a narrow pavement alongside five wide lanes for motor traffic. If you want to encourage families to cycle then don't design roads where cycling on the pavement is the most attractive option 
The A10 in Dalston Kingsland, described as "an ideal road layout" by a former co-ordinator of the Hackney cycling campaign
The A107 was the next road with the worst bus/bike casualty record with 15 collisions; 6 on Mare Street, 6 on Lower Clapton Road and 3 on Upper Clapton Road. As for the 11 collisions which resulted in serious injuries, 5 of these occurred on the A10. 

 Statistics on the age and sex of all those involved in the collisions is similar to the breakdown of all cycle collisions and is dominated by young men, with two thirds of the casualties male. Nearly half were aged in their twenties with nearly 80% aged between 20 and 39. Five were children; two sixteen year olds, a twelve year old, a ten year old and an eight year old. 

As for the 11 who suffered serious injuries 9 were male and two female. Five were in their twenties, four in their thirties and two aged above 40.

 Following a long campaign by Tom Kearney Transport for London have been publishing details of bus collisions online since 2014. Whilst these reports do not give the exact location of the collision we can extract data that shows where someone cycling has been injured by a bus in Hackney. Three more people were injured after the data above in the second half of 2014, four in 2015, six in 2016 and three in 2017, up to the end of September as Q4 data has still not been published.

 Another issue with cycling in bus lanes is that buses generally travel faster than people cycling but stop often, and so buses and cyclists often leapfrog each other, with people cycling often having to pull out of the bus lanes to overtake them at bus stops. 

There were numerous collisions reported where this happened, which obviously would not have been the case if there were protected cycle lanes available to use, inside of the bus lanes. 

"Serious injury - lorry tried overtaking cycle who was overtaking a bus causing a collision. Old Street / Hoxton Street"
"Slight injury - cyclist overtaking stationary bus is hit from behind by a car which stops but fails to give details. A10 / Arcola Street"
"Slight injury - car overtaking stationary bus when cyclist also attempts to overtake bus causing a collision. Hackney Road / Cremer Street"



 Collisions also occur due to having to share the bus lanes with taxis and motorbikes

"Slight injury - cyclist in bus lane overtaken and clipped by motorcycle. Seven Sisters Road / Blackstock Road"
"Slight injury - taxi pulled into bus lane and failed to observe cyclist. Seven Sisters Road / Amhurst Park"

 Clearly with this level of casualties involving bikes and buses, just in Hackney alone, we should not treat bus lanes as adequate cycling infrastructure and should try to separate the two modes wherever possible. This is especially important if the council is committed to their 2014-2024 cycling plan, with the ultimate aim to "make cycling a normal, safe and attractive choice for travel and recreation for our residents and addressing barriers that prevent other residents from taking up cycling" and to "make Hackney's roads the most attractive and safest in the UK where it is second nature for everyone, no matter what their age, to cycle"

Schoolchildren and buses safely separated in Utrecht, the Netherlands
If Hackney is serious about having 9% of all school children aged 5-15 cycling to school within little over a decade then clearly protected cycle tracks must be built on busy bus corridors, unless they want to hugely increase the level of illegal pavement cycling



Even if Hackney did manage to hit the levels of cycling they are aiming for, with 20% of all journeys and 30% of all journeys to work made by bike, then that would severely slow down the bus network as bus lanes would be swamped with people cycling

Separating people cycling and buses leads to safer cycling conditions and speeds up bus journeys. I also uses buses often in Hackney and want a more efficient bus service as the current average speed of most bus routes in Hackney is around 6 or 7mph
The council rightly puts the safety of people walking and cycling above the speed of buses in their road user hierarchy



But this does not necessarily mean slowing down buses. There are clearly many main roads in the borough that are wide enough for cycle tracks to be accommodated alongside bus lanes

Mare Street
Other measures could also be taken and recently Hackney Council announced that they wanted to install a bus gate on Amhurst Road, along with protected cycle tracks on Mare Street. Making Amhurst Road a through route for buses and cycling only, with access maintained for residents and business deliveries, would mean no need for the westbound bus lane freeing up space for protected cycle tracks

Amhurst Road
Kinkerstraat in Amsterdam. When I visited this street in 2016 it was just a normal road with no cycling infrastructure. When I returned a year later cycle lanes had been added with the road only open in one direction to buses and trams
Installing cycle tracks can also be an opportunity to upgrade the entire street and improve the environment for pedestrians as well 
Continuous footway and cycle track past a side road in Amsterdam. This design gives pedestrians and cyclists priority over motor vehicles and slows down motor traffic as it turns into and out of the side road. This type of infrastructure improves safety for all road users
The Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission will meet on Monday to discuss protected cycle tracks in the borough, chaired by labour councillor Sharon Patrick, who recently expressed concerns about floating bus stops
She is right to be concerned about the Wick Road plans where the cycle tracks disappear behind almost all of the bus stops to become a shared space area. It is perfectly possible to create a floating bus stop which does not cause conflict with pedestrians getting on or off buses. 
"In order to increase the borough's cycling levels the borough will need to target currently non-cycling residents that view cycling to be less appealing than other modes of transport." The Hackney Council cycling plan
Floating bus stops are an essential requirement to keep cyclists safe, rather than expecting them to overtake buses within streams of traffic 
A father cycling with his son on CS2 near Whitechapel approaching a floating bus stop. Were it not there he would have to overtake that bus, in front of the lorry
Whilst it is perfectly reasonable for the chair of the Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission to be concerned with pedestrian safety at floating bus stops (and there are plenty of examples available to ease those concerns) I hope she is equally concerned with cycling casualties. 15 cyclists have been killed in Hackney since 2005, with hundreds seriously injured and nearly a hundred injured by bus collisions. I hope all seven Hackney labour councillors on the committee are also concerned by these figures and support protected cycle tracks on the main roads in the borough to help reduce casualties and enable cycling in Hackney to be possible for the many and not the few
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Thursday, 17 March 2016

Stamford Hill

Transport for London are currently consulting on the A10 Stamford Hill junction at Clapton Common with proposals that "aim to make it safer for all road users" as it "has one of the highest collision rates in all of Hackney".

 On approach to the junction from the west the left turn slip lane is to be closed and replaced by a larger pavement.

The pavement here is already very large so not sure why this isn't being replaced by safe space for people cycling instead.

 This would keep people cycling safe from left turning lorries
An example of how to provide safer conditions for people cycling at a crossroads in Rotterdam

 For people turning right from Amhurst Park onto the A10 southbound you are expected to cross over several lanes of traffic and then sit in the middle of the junction waiting to cross three lanes of traffic coming towards you, a maneuver which is not for the faint-hearted.

There is also a continuous footway planned just north of the junction which isn't actually a continuous footway at all
Approaching this junction from the north and the road stays very wide with six lanes retained, although one of these will become a bus lane, which is an improvement for bus users but provides nothing for anyone cycling along here.

A new central reservation is planned so the pedestrian crossing becomes staggered meaning people have to cross in two stages rather than the single direct crossing that is here at present, despite the consultation claiming that the changes "make it quicker and easier for pedestrians to cross the road"

There is nothing at all planned here for people cycling, except for some ASLs.
Still four lanes of traffic to navigate through on a bike

 Again the left turn slip is to be replaced by a widened pavement at the point where a segregated cycle track should go
An example of how to provide safer conditions for people cycling at a crossroads in Amsterdam

 Approaching from the west multiple lanes remain for traffic as well as a left turn slip road

and all people cycling get is a picture of a bike on the road showing exactly where segregated cycle tracks should go.
An example of how to provide safer conditions for people cycling at a crossroads in Utrecht

 A new central island and car parking are other "improvements" planned here
You'll be expected to take the lane right in front of this lorry if you want to turn right onto the A10

 Approaching from the South barely any changes planned at all, with the carriageway remaining an astonishing eight lanes wide

With the pavement also remaining very wide on approach to the junction

Whilst is it always preferable to take space form motor traffic to create cycle tracks there is no reason for the pavement to be as wide as this here, it is ridiculous. It would be very simple to create safe cycle tracks along here that would not cause much disruption to motor traffic during construction. The footway remains very wide from here all the way down to Stoke Newington train station.
A more sensible use of space; cycle track and floating bus stop, from the Cycling Embassy of Great Britain

 The A10 is the worst road by far for cycling casualties within Hackney with 28% of all serious injuries sustained in a cycling collision in the last ten years occurring on it, along with 50% of all cycling fatalities also occurring on the A10 within this period. Hackney council stated in their 2014 cycling plan that they "will continue to lobby TfL and work with them to resolve the cyclist accident problems along the A10 corridor in Hackney" and that "it is inevitable that cyclists will continue to use our busy high streets and strategic roads that carry high volumes of vehicular traffic because often they are the most direct and quickest routes."

 This planned scheme is totally unacceptable and it should be illegal to propose a road layout like this in somewhere like Hackney in 2016. This junction is used by tens of thousands of motor vehicles a day, including nearly a thousand lorries and nearly two thousand buses. There have been several serious collisions here since the consultation opened last month, including one pedestrian fatality with a cyclist also killed here almost exactly a decade ago. 
The proposed layout is totally unsuitable for people to cycle through here "no matter what their age, background or ethnicity". Can you seriously imagine young children using this road waiting in ASLs among multiple lanes of motor traffic? Of course not, there'll be on the pavement, where there is plenty of room for them. This is a huge junction and there is easily the space to fit well designed dedicated cycle infrastructure that would protect people cycling rather than this unambitious and disgraceful proposal which protects the prioritisation of private motor vehicle flow instead.  
An example of how to provide safer conditions for people cycling at a crossroads in Amsterdam

 This consultation is only open for around another 24 hours so please respond and ask TFL not to go ahead with this dangerous plan but instead propose safe cycle tracks, just as they are on their other road junctions nearby and help reduce cycling casualties on the most dangerous road for people on bikes in Hackney.
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Thursday, 26 March 2015

Cycle Superhighway 1

In 2008 TFL first announced they planned to build cycle superhighways and the original map (below) shows that almost all of them were planned to be built on the main roads leading into and out of Greater London. This was following a 12-month study of the most popular roads already used by cyclists.


These were expensive routes despite just being some bright blue paint on the road which offered no protection whatsoever and had cars parked on top of them in many places. After several people died cycling along CS2 on the A11 TFL are now upgrading most of the superhighways that have already been built and making the majority of the routes properly segregated.

Despite the original study showing the A10 is a popular cycle route and therefore where the superhighway should run TFL, under pressure from Hackney Council, relented and agreed to build it on back routes instead. This is despite Hackney council stating in the recent cycling plan that:

"Creating a quality environment for cycling is generally recognised as being concerned with providing accessible, direct and convenient, attractive, safe and comfortable routes for experienced and less experienced cyclists alike to provide access to key destinations such as the borough’s town centres and other key destinations for employment, education and leisure.  Cycling routes need to legible and intuitive, continuous and uninterrupted by barriers or loss of priority.It is inevitable that cyclists will continue to use our busy high streets and strategic roads that carry high volumes of vehicular traffic because often they are the most direct and quickest routes."

 As well as being a very popular cycle route the A10 is also the worst road by far for cycling casualties within Hackney with 28% of all serious injuries sustained in a cycling collision in the last ten years occurring on the A10 and 50% of all cycling fatalties also occurring on the A10 within this period. Hackney council stated in their cycling plan that they "will continue to lobby TfL and work with them to resolve the cyclist accident problems along the A10 corridor in Hackney" but the way they plan to do this is take people off a useful, direct main road and push them onto back roads instead, something which is itself a major barrier to mainstream cycling. It also means that the proposed route is not actually a "superhighway" at all, at least according to the Mayor's vision for cycling:

 "We will offer two clear kinds of branded route: high capacity Superhighways, mostly on main roads, for fast commuters, and slightly slower but still direct Quietways on pleasant, low-traffic side streets for those wanting a more relaxed journey." 

Therefore CS1 should instead be referred to as a quietway as, certainly on the section within Hackney, it runs almost entirely on side streets and not on the main roads. It also isn't a new cycle route either but instead  improvements to the existing parallel LCN+ route. TFL dress it up in the consultation by describing it as an "A10 bypass" forgetting to point out that this also bypasses the town centres, shops, homes and businesses that people need to access in the area. TFL would never propose to amend the bus services from Central London to Tottenham to run along side roads for the simple reason that unless you live on these back roads you generally won't want to visit them. Likewise Hackney Council are not intending to make the pavements along the A10 narrower to try and force pedestrians to use back roads in an attempt to stop them being exposed to pollution or whatever other excuse they're drumming up for moving CS1 off the A10.

Despite the fact that CS1 should run in its entirety along the A10 this, mistakenly, is not an option out for consultation by TFL. Therefore I shall review the consultation for the section of CS1 which is proposed to run through Hackney.

Section 1


It starts off with a sign which highlights this is the start of CS1, which is just as well as without that it would just look like any other car dominated street. It continues north  with car parking remaining on both sides of the road. The cycle lane into Finsbury Square, which is actually part of the ring of steel, needs widening. The route should take priority over Worship Street.

Section 2


The very poor contraflow cycle lane remains and continues to run outside of the parking spaces so cars need to cross the cycle lane to park with the threat of 'dooring' remaining. A lot of car parking remains although this is restricted between 7am-9am and 4pm-7pm which doesn't help people like me as I tend to cycle to work after 9am. Also people park on double yellow lines here all the time (forcing cars to drive into the contraflow cycle lane) as there is no enforcement so I can't see the new parking times being enforced either 





Leonard Circus could be a nice public space but it is dominated by motor vehicles. Some do slow down and move through quietly whilst others speed through the area, indeed one of the fences around the trees has had to be replaced already as a vehicle crashed into it at high speed. A lot of lorries and vans travel through here as it's a very busy rat run, especially for people trying to avoid the Old Street Roundabout - only expect this to get worse when works start on improving the roundabout. Many of the streets in the area here bounded by Great Eastern Street / City Road / London Wall / Bishopsgate need filtering.

Section 3


The road that links Tabernacle Street to Paul Street is to be turned into "shared space for motor vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians". Sounds lovely.



This should be closed to motor vehicles and returned to a motor free Square. There should be a clearly marked cycle path from both Tabernacle Street and Paul Street to the crossing at Apex Corner, ideally a different colour from the rest of the street surface and at a different level, even by an inch or so to avoid any cycle / pedestrian collisions. The planned 7-9am and 4-7pm restrictions on parking will be probably be as enforced as the double yellow lines in front of the current cycle track entrance are at the moment


Section 4



 The artists impressions of the plans above for Apex Junction is what TFL use first in the various press releases about this scheme for a good reason - this is where it actually looks like a proper cycle route!  
I strongly welcome the closing of Pitfield street although worth noting that traffic that can't currently access Pitfield Street from Old Street westbound mostly uses Boot Street and therefore both Boot Street and Coronet Street should also be filtered to stop this from happening.
I like the segregated track eastbound on Old Street approaching Pitfield Street and it is great to finally see the mistakes that were made of providing no cycle tracks when the Shoreditch one way system was returned to two way in 2002 are now being corrected. I'm pleased the large amount of cyclists travelling from the Old Street Roundabout towards Hackney Road or the A10 now get some dedicated space but disapointed to see nothing for people cycling westbound towards the Old Street Roundabout. Brian Jones came up with a decent rough sketch so I'm sure TFLs engneers can do better. The Loading bay on the eastbound carriageway should be outside the cycle lane, ideally with a "loading bay bypass".

Section 5 


Pitfield Street is to be restored for two way traffic but I can't see how that is an improvement for people cycling at all. Simply turning a one way street into two way does not automatically make it an improvement for people cycling and I've never understood why the Hackney cycling campaign say that they want ALL roads in Hackney to be returned to two way. Keeping roads one way for motor vehicles can help to reduce the amount of motor traffic in the area whilst leaving more room for cycling infrastructure. Mark Treasure has covered this in a very good blog post and the image below is just one example that we could use to base similar treatment of Pitfield Street on.


The side roads along here get "raised tables" and below is an example of a side road off Queensbridge Road that has recently been upgraded by Hackney Council

Whilst this is a definite improvement it is still designed to appear that the pedestrian gives way to the car so I  would much prefer continuous pavements on these side roads instead.


A recent example of this in London, via The Ranty Highwayman
A Dutch example, via The Cycling Embassy of Great Britain

Section 6


Well this is just insane. The entire area below is to be ripped up, turned into two way for all vehicles yet to be rebuilt as a narrow road with no space whatsoever for people cycling; you're just expected to man up and take the lane 

How is this in any way a proposed cycle superhighway when with such a large amount of space available to reallocate and don't give an inch of it to people cycling? Expect motor vehicles to continue with close passes as the car is doing in the picture below


 Whilst the removal of the roundabout will make cycling through here a lot safer keeping roads such as Bevenden Street and Fanshaw Street open is only going to either keep traffic levels high in this area or perhaps even increase them, due to making Pitfield Street two way.

Section 7


This section of Pitfield Street and Whitmore Road is currently an unpleasant road to cycle along and it is such a disappointment to see hardly any measures whatsoever to change this. Motor traffic, and white vans in particular, dominate this street and race through it at high speeds; this is a road where we should be concentrating our efforts on getting enforcement of the current 30mph speed limit before pushing for 20mph. 


Is it any wonder only 2% of children cycle to school in Hackney when you look at the picture above, this is cycle superhighway 1 right outside St John the Baptist primary school (where nearly 10% of children arrive at school by car). There are no plans for this stretch of road in the consultation beyond resurfacing. 


This whole area needs a lot of road closures, not just on Pitfield Street but also on the side roads so it can no longer be used as a through route between New North Road, Hoxton Street and the A10. This also includes the re-routing of bus route 394; you can't promote a road as a "cycle superhighway" run it along back streets and then continue to run bus services along these back routes and keep them open to the large amount of rat running traffic that already uses it. It is ludicrous.

Just look at the amount of space available below as it turns into Whitmore Road yet the consultation here calls for nothing more than "carriageway resurfacing, "cycling wayfinding" and "speed bumps rebuilt with smoother shape" with not an inch of car parking removed as far as the eye can see, and way beyond
This is about as far from 8 to 80 cycling as you can get, and keeps cycling in Hackney firmly in the 18 to 38 category. Absolutely no chance of children or the elderly cycling here in comfort and safety and not a place where it is, to quote from the Hackney Council Cycling plan, "second nature for everyone, no matter what their age, background or ethnicity to cycle"

As I took these pictures the bully in the van below revved his engine and beeped his horn as he overtook two people cycling obscured from view.



A horrendous place to ride a bike and the type of road which makes people give up cycling once they get to a certain age, or after a certain number of close passes. It is nothing short of a scandal that no dedicated cycling provision or removal of motor traffic is being offered here, on what is meant to be a "cycling superhighway"

As we cross the Regents Canal over the Georgian Whitmore Bridge the road narrows so you have to take the lane. An option of painted cycle lanes on either side of the road with cars giving way to each other through the centre would be a good addition here



Meanwhile the next bridge along on the canal, the Georgian Kingsland Road Bridge which carries the A10 over the canal also narrows meaning no room for bus lanes. Even though this fails the Hackney test it does just mean the bus lanes stop for a short section but then continue immediately after, rather than using that as an excuse to not build any bus lanes on the A10 whatsoever



As Whitmore Road turns into De Beauvoir Road it continues to be dominated by car parking along both sides of the carriageway and is an unpleasant place to cycle. It also doesn't feel like the safest place to be after dark so best follow the advice of the Hackney cycling campaign here as "busy main roads are the safest bet for personal security after dark". The A10 runs parallel to the cycle superhighway here so just a short diversion is needed after 4pm in the winter, it is just a shame that the A10 is narrow here so just does not have the space for cycle tracks



Section 8


As we turn into Northchurch Terrace we're round the corner from my old flat. I've written about De Beauvoir town and how much I like it before so I won't repeat myself again. Interesting to note there is some 'filtered permeability' here on Northchurch Terrace (installed 40 years ago), the first road closure we've encountered on the superhighway since at Old Street, over a mile away. Culford Road should take priority over Englefield Road as this could cause a lengthy delay for people cycling the route at peak times; Englefield Road is not a quiet road by any stretch of the imagination. The closure of Ardleigh Road outside my old local is a positive proposal however as it is a busy road for rat runners and with no closures planned for Culford Road I worry that this will just push even more motor traffic onto the cycle superhighway. Another four way closure should happen at the crossroads just north of the Scolts Head but the only improvement at where I took the photo below is to remove the traffic island I'm stood on and extend car parking on both sides of the road


Section 9



 Balls Pond Road is a busy road used by approximately 100 buses an hour at peak times (including bus route 38 which is London's busiest bus route by frequency with 35 buses heading this way from 7am to 8am on weekdays), as well as many other motor vehicles and is clearly no place for someone to share the road whilst on a bike. It is three lanes wide with one of these lanes an eastbound bus lane, TFL state that 90% of buses do not use it; not a single vehicle bar bicycles used it for the ten minutes I was stood here.  

It therefore makes sense for this space to be reallocated to bikes instead. Option A offers no protection whatsover and therefore Option B should be installed but with a feeder lane for people already cycling eastbound to access the cycle track at the crossing instead of the enlarged pavement.

Section 10


 Boleyn road is far too busy to be used as a cycle route unless you install cycle tracks on it or close it to through motor traffic. I used to use this road a lot when I lived in Dalston to travel towards Newington Green and it is a busy road, there is easily space here to add provision for people cycling




Section 11


Wordsworth road is a busy rat run and whilst the closure of the southern end of the road may help reduce this, traffic can still use it as a through route from the A10. Therefore Bennett Road should also be closed to ensure this can no longer be used as a through route. The roundabout should also be removed



Nevill road is far too busy to be classed as a cycle route and needs many road closures due to the high volume of motor traffic using this as a through route




Section 12


Defoe Road and Nevill Road are lined with cars on both sides of the carriageway so there is only just enough room for a car and cycle to pass with little room for error.




This might be adequate if both streets had several closures to ensure they could only ever be used by residents of the properties here but as these streets are currently used as through routes for traffic I fear the road will only be used by the type of people who already cycle in Hackney. We need to make roads like this feel safe for people of all ages if we want to see an increase in cycling



Stoke Newington Church Street is a very busy street carrying a lot of fast motor traffic, including about 70 buses an hour at peak times with several cycle KSI collisions occurring here in recent years. The road is wide enough for cycle tracks and these are needed, just as they are on Balls Pond Road


Without them people will either continue to cycle along the pavement here or not cycle at all


Section 13 onwards


More of the same really, car lined residential streets mixed with main roads with no proposals for cycle infrastructure



None of these roads should be in the consultation as he A10 is more than wide enough north of Stoke Newington station for cycle tracks



The A10 before it became one way in the 1970s via @HistoryOfStokey
So that's the "not very super highway that has very little cycling provision 1". In a way it is almost a shame that TFL didn't stick some blue paint down on the A10 a few years ago as we now might be getting money spent on upgrading cycling facilities on the A10, just as they are currently doing along the A11 in Tower Hamlets.

CS1 might be a decent cycle route for you if you live on or just off the route, you've generally confident cycling among motor traffic and want a route from somewhere like Stoke Newington Church Street to De Beauvoir Town (as long as it is before nightfall). However it does nothing whatsoever for people who live and work to the east of the A10, such as in Haggerston or Clapton. Likewise if you're a driver then you shouldn't be inconvenienced too much as you can still access the vast majority of it and I'm sure the clever cabbie will still be recommending people to use the majority of route, as he or she already does with other sections of LCN+.

There should really be no need to have this consultation; improvements such as the closures of Pitfield Street and Wordsworth Street should be standard highway improvements that local councils carry out continually. Large investments and lengthy consultations should consist of schemes such as the East-West Superhighway; High Quality cycle tracks on main roads. Any other city in the world planning CS1 would reallocate space on the A10 for it; either do it properly or not at all.

Hackney Council needs to stop ignoring the main roads and move away from using the hierarchy of provision on all of the boroughs roads. Reducing the impact of motor traffic on the back roads is always welcome and Hackney Council can be applauded for some of their schemes to close roads to through motor traffic, although there is nowhere near enough of it in this consultation for my liking. However lorries, buses, vans and cars all need to use the main roads in the borough to access shops, business and homes just as people on bikes do. Hackney  Council and TFL need to allocate proper protected space for people cycling here (which does not mean 4.5m wide roads, such as in Dalston Kingsland). The reason CS1 is no longer planned to run down the A10 is due to a political decision, not one based on technical reasons. In the last ten years 65% of all serious injuries and 80% of deaths in cycle collisions within Hackney happened on the main roads and these are the roads that need to be improved to make them safe for cycling for all. The Council themselves even committed to this in the 2014-2024 cycling plan:

The Council recognises that cyclists use a combination of routes depending upon their levels of confidence and the fact that is often difficult to avoid busier principal roads to reach your destination. Busier principal roads with heavier traffic flows also tend to be faster and more direct than quieter routes and are often used by more confident commuter cyclists.   The previous chapter established that the majority of cyclist accidents in the borough occur on the busier principal roads. Therefore in addition to completing our network of Quietway routes on quieter roads that are ideal for less confident cyclists we will also look to develop and improve conditions for cyclists on our principal routes.

The A10 is a busy route for all types of motor traffic but that is because it is a place where people live, work and want to visit and is the most direct route both connecting and leading directly through the centre of Tottenham, Stamford Hill, Stoke Newington, Dalston, Haggerston, Hoxton, Shoreditch and the City. This is the same reason that the A10 is a popular cycle route. The one thing we don't need is even more buses ploughing down the A10, we need a reduction in bus journeys and active travel promoted as a safe and serious alternative. Improvements to back roads and filtered permeability are great improvements for the local community as a whole and are vital if we want people to cycle from their homes to their school or place of work. Improvements such as this are needed throughout London but only if it is in addition to clear, safe and direct cycle routes on the main roads so people can ride wherever they like, just as they do in the Netherlands. If Hackney is to continue to deliver cycling improvements yet none of these include clear protected space on the main roads then I fear the 93% will stick to using alternative methods of transport and roads such as the A10 will continue to be the biggest graveyards for people on bikes in Hackney. 

 The CS1 consultation is open until Sunday 29th March. Please respond here.
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