Whiteladies Road Cycle Path: not dead, sleeping -says the council

The whiteladies road uphill path, the one covered over by a build-out for a new pedestrian crossing is not apparently, dead, merely sleeping. Instead some paint will go on the road showing cyclists where to go to end up under a bus. This is called "London-style infrastructure".

Adam Semy sends us a "before" link.



He also sticks up a "now" video


Adam thinks that in the video LS07CFM is beeping at the cyclists. We're not sure -they could be beeping at the BMW that was forced to swing out so as to get past the cyclist heading uphill.

This shows how the addition of build-outs actually makes things worse for drivers: we get held up by bicycles, or have to perform dangerous manoeuvres. Same for pinch points: the fact that they create car/cyclist conflict is as inconvenient for drivers as it is dangerous for cyclists.

Apparently the build-out is so that queueing parents with children and push chairs can wait safely for the lights to change. This shows something important: it's not a zebra crossing, where they wouldn't have to wait, but a pelican crossing where they do.

Presumably BCC and FirstBus didn't want a road and a showcase bus route to be help up by school parents -and if more people were walking to the new school, that is exactly what happened. This is why FirstBus also wanted the zebra crossing from the downs to Blackboy Hill removed -a want that got denied on the basis that "the students would cross anyway".

It's interesting to consider if a new zebra crossing lower down would delay traffic -because on a weekday morning it's a line of cars anyway. The fear of traffic flow impact is enough for a zebra crossing to be omitted, and for a cycle time on the lights long enough that even at school run times parents will have to wait. This is important: anything that hindered motor traffic flow at school run times would penalise school-running parents!

As for the cyclists, well, nobody will miss them. It's not as if they can ask for the money spent in the name of "cycling city" back. They'll see that when BRT2 goes over Prince Street Bridge.

What it does show is this: Clifton is the heart of the Bikelash -the part of the city fighting back against bicycles, one TRO at a time.