On Sun, 2 Apr 2006, Colin Rosenstiel wrote:
In article ,
(Peter Frimberly) wrote:
On Wed, 29 Mar 2006 12:09 +0100 (BST), (Colin
Rosenstiel) wrote:
In a wide main road like Euston Road, a bendi-bus pulls in regardless
of cyclists riding where they should, close to the kerb. They are then
almost impossible to pass safely. I suggest you try it sometime
instead of pontificating.
Arguably anyone cycling along the Euston Road is asking for trouble,
given the bendy buses that use that road and the car and white vans
weaving about all over the place. There are plenty of much quieter
parallel roads to choose from for any cyclist that values their life,
even if a couple more junctions are involved and it takes a few
minuites extra!
Why on earth should we have to? The roads are as much ours as anyone's.
Not between King's Cross station and Judd Street.
This is quite true. If there was a way to get from the Caledonian Road
into town that didn't involve some bit of Euston Road or similar, and that
wasn't a massive detour, i'd gladly take it.
Now, if Argyle St (I thin that's the name) allowed two way cycling and a
cycle route across the Euston Road were signalled it would be easier but
it would be too complicated for Camden to provide cycling facilities
that work in two directions, apparently.
I think this is going to get a lot better when Midland Road is reopened -
there'll be a route round the back of King's Cross, via Goods Way /
Pancras Road, then Midland Road, then straight across to Judd Street. This
all hinges on Midland Road being two-way, or at least having a contraflow
cycle lane, of course, and i've no idea if that will be the case.
I have to say, this whole area is mind-buggeringly awful for cyclists.
Pretty much all the way from Copenhagen Street to Tavistock Place is badly
laid out and in an absolute state. I can only hope that much of it is to
do with the King's Cross works, and that things will get better soon. Off
the top of my head, things that need doing:
- I'd like lights or a mini-roundabout at the Copenhagen Street / York Way
junction, but that's mostly selfishness.
- The junction of York Way and the little side road before Goods Way (just
a depot access road, i think) needs (a) remodelling, so that the
right-hand southbound lane is an ahead-or-right filter instead of a right
filter, as there's bugger all traffic turning right there, which means
either everyone piles into the left-hand lane, or everyone breaks the
rules and goes ahead from the right-hand lane, both of which are exciting
ways to lose if you're on a bike, (b) retiming, so there isn't so much
time spent waiting for the nonexistent side-road traffic to go through (c)
removal or rearrangement of the bus stop, which routinely blocks the
left-hand lane, perhaps to beyond the lights and (d) resurfacing, to get
rid of the ****ing great big rut across the road.
- The junction of York Way and Goods Way needs some resurfacing - there's
a big pothole on the Goods Way side, and chunks of cement on the road (or
is that gone now?).
- A pipe-dream, but access from the canal towpath to Goods Way / Pancras
Road / Midland Road would be nice, since these are key bike routes in the
area. The trouble is that the towpath is on the north side of the canal. A
good option would be a crossing at the St Pancras lock, giving access to
Camley Street between the nature park and the marina, from where you could
go along Camley Street under the railway, then take a new route along the
edge of that blob of green (Coronation Court?) to Pancras Road, from where
you could get to Midland Road. In a super-ideal world, the bridge would
cross both the canal and Camley Street, and lead to a bidirectional
segregated cycle lane on the south side of Camley Street, so you could get
from towpath to Pancras Road without ever having to face a car.
Alternatively, there are some bridges across the canal next to the depot,
which i think are disused; one of those could be requisitioned as a bike-
and foot-path across to Goods Way.
- If Midland Road isn't going to become a useful option, proper signing
and lighting (and, sadly, de-cobbling) of Haul Road / Battle Bridge Road,
so you can get from Goods Way to Pancras Road without having to go through
the junction at the railway viaduct. In fact, could the loop round the
gasometer become a gyratory? Would that be a good idea? The pair of bus
stops on Pancras Road south of the junction at the viaduct frequently case
the road to be blocked both ways; this would avoid that, although i don't
know where you'd put a bus stop on Battle Bridge Road.
- The south end of Pancras Road needs sorting, as everyone knows. Since
this is a major route for both vehicles and pedestrians, there needs to be
a grade-separated pedestrian crossing. Is this in the plan? In principle,
it would be straightforward to extend the subway that leads down to the
tube station at King's Cross under the road to St Pancras; not so nice for
the pedestrians, though. Is the future St Pancras still going to be up in
the air like it is now, or is that temporary? If it's staying up there, an
elevated walkway would be the obvious solution here.
- Sorting of Midland Road. I don't know what the master plan is here, but
bikes need to be able to get from the Euston Road to Goods Way along it.
- A bright spot: the bit of Euston Road right at the junction with Pancras
Road had its massive pothole filled in a few months ago.
- That junction still needs work, though - it's not uncommon for the
lights to change to let you out of Pancras Road when the Euston Road ahead
of you is solid with traffic, and if you do make it out, you're instantly
sat at the red light of a pedestrian crossing. Re-timing of the lights and
maybe making it a box junction should do it; there's going to be a
pedestrian subway here too, although i don't know how much that will help.
- The bus stop just before Judd Street should probably move to just after
Judd Street, so it doesn't bugger everything up at the junction.
- Consider unbanning the right turn at Judd Street x Tavistock Place; all
it does is force me to turn one road earlier, where i still fall foul of
traffic coming the other way. I think this is dependent on some roadwork
down there getting finished, though.
- If we can get all the above, free beer, pizza and flying pigs all round
should also be doable.
tom
--
You have to give up