Friday 25 February 2011

Some feedback

Our claim that the new cycle paths going up between Lockleaze and UWE are something that The Dutch would laugh at are disputed by "david", who says that we have made untrue accusations about an unfinished path, and that we should take our posting down.

To the author of this blog page you have made accusations and assumptions which are incorrect.

Please remove this item or forward your name and address to my email 
Well, reviewing the statements we made, the one that is probably wrong is that this is the work of the S Gloucs cycling team. Having visited the site in the week, this is still Redrow's area, and hence their problems. Please can the S Gloucs team accept our apology for this, which may reduce their reaction to next week's coverage on signs in the middle of other paths.

What cannot be untrue is
  • The current height gap between the two paths. This is demonstrably true by examining the photograph below.There is 50cm of vertical with under 2 metres of horizontal space for correcting it.
  • The fact that the Dutch people who viewed our posting found it funny. This is demonstrably true by reading their comments.


Now, it is still a building site, and it may be that there is a plan to connect the two paths together. But the fact they are on different levels means that whatever junction is done here is fundamentally broken. You will have people descending at speed down to the path where they are meant to give way, and people who are trying to get up from the UWE/Lockleaze path who won't be able to do it as the gradient to climb 50cm vertical in 1.5m horizontal is 1 in 3.

David, if you are involved in this project and have plans to fix this situation, please place them up online, point to them in a comment and we will link to them.

In particular, we would value an explanation of how you intend to address the 50cm height difference between the two paths in a way that results in a junction which is actually usable. We shall be testing whether or not the design is something Dutch people would laugh at by asking them, as well as organising a mountain bike only competition to see who can get up and down here once you consider it "open" to the public.

We can be contacted via twitter, @cyclingfront. All communications may be republished and must not be considered confidential or in any way private.

13 comments:

  1. Maybe the path connection between the two paths is provided as part of a BMX/MTB "skills park" so you're supposed to learn how to "jump" between the two sections. That's my uneducated and sarcastic guess!

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  3. @frank -yes, but explain the pillars in the middle of the one that is in use? Are you by any chance a cycle path engineer with the S. Gloucs council? Because if you want to know what a bike lane can look like, we have some photographs of the Netherlands to share with you...

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  4. @Frank,
    Also, with a fence halfway across the route and a large dropoff, this is still a higher quality path than what exists nearby. No bollards, no pillars round blind corners. It is therefore hard to distinguish "a mess because it is being worked on" and "a mess you are expected to use and feel grateful for".

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  7. Oh dear, I think Frank really has lost the plot..

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  8. No. I think he's taking it personally. Frank, speaking as a professional engineer, it's OK to fuck up from time to time. This is minor and reparable. Same with the pillars. Our job is to publicise these issues before the become, well, fixed in stone.

    Also Frank, assuming you are part of the Redrow team, can we thank for joining in. This is more constructive than any cycle forum meeting S gloucs council have ever held.

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  13. @Frank "Why should something which is not fucked up be repaired.

    I pity your clients even when told your in the wrong you cannot see the solution."

    Well, it doesn't connect with the other path. That means that it not part of the UK road network or the Bristol Cycling Network. I would call that broken.

    Can we also make things clear. We are not path designers with a grudge. We are a number of people who work and live in the area who are fed up with the mediocre bike paths they are building in the area, and the way they are actually making them worse with pillars in the middle of them, unmarked bollards etc. We are the users, and if we are complaining it is because they do not appear functional to us.

    Regarding the spam filter, this blog is new, blogspot hasn't yet worked out what is and isn't spam, and the short ones seem to get dropped. If we wanted to filter you, we'd just turn on moderation. As it is, someone has to go to the comment admin pages every so often and re-enable them. And yes, the one about bollard was funny. Good name.

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