The battle for Hurlingham Road

In the on-going war against motorists, those tax-dodger loving folk at Bristol City Council, led probably by Col. Jon Rodgers, recently permanently blockaded our lovely little rat run, Hurlingham Road, allowing access only for cyclists and pedestrians.

This provocative act of madness unilaterally curtailing our right to tear up the road in the rush hour, watching cyclists, buggy toting parents, cats and dogs scatter in shock & awe, should not go unopposed. Indeed, it did not.

Some of us in the HVF (The Hurlingham Volunteer Force) tried to restore the natural order, very soon after only the kerbstones had been laid, by driving straight over them. This worked for a while, but then the enemy cemented in black bollards. So, as my 2IC reports, some of us had to resort to driving half on the pavement and half over the kerbstones.

It was fun, while that lasted, seeing the untermensch taken out of their comfort zone and only avoiding becoming collateral damage by walking in the centre of the road - the confusion in their eyes so touching.

However, the enemy counter-attacked by sinking in wooden poles adjacent to the bollards. Now, with their barricades are fully built, there is no way we can get through. However, this particular battle may be lost but with proper guerrilla tactics we can still disrupt the real enemy: the cyclist.

 

One of our soldiers, who for operational reasons will only be known as White Van Man (Rank: Superior, Number: KV08WDZ) deserves special mention in this dispatch. Using all of his field skills, he has blocked any two-wheeler from accessing their little apology for a rat run. Cleverly he has left a little gap on the left to make it appear as if there is room to get through, but when the hapless cyclist gets close he'll realise that there is no room to cycle straight through. Priceless. The fightback continues ...

(photos and text from "BK")

Traffic Calming the suspension bridge

Sunday morning is always good for a ride, be it an MTB one over in Ashton Court, or an on-road trip Portishead and then the coast road south. Both routes start with a crossing of the suspension bridge, which can be a source of car/bike conflict. As far as the cyclists are concerned, the lower speed limit and narrow roads means that they have the right to occupy a lane -as far as the cars are concerned there are bikes in the way.

Today, no conflict. Not because there's no traffic -there's a queue behind the camera.
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The cars, however, are waiting patiently for this car in front, which appears to be parked, to somehow park in a way that isn't making it impossible for the cars to get past. As it just appears to be sitting there, the cars can't move and so the road is free for cyclists only to get out of town.

It was a very pleasant crossing -so much so that we believe this car N954NMW should be invited back every sunday morning, to create a traffic free bike route out of the city. No need for expensive cycle-city infrastructure, no need for mixed bike/pedestrian pavements, just park one or two cars at key road-closure points and and Bristol could become traffic free for a morning.

St Michael's Hill: road closed

The police are advising only people with urgent needs to go out in their cars. St Michael's Hill is closed at Tyndall's Avenue, and again at the bottom and on Horfield Road; the through routes are all blocked off. Technically, the city is now partitioned.

Only people with urgent needs are driving, and, given the adverse weather conditions, these priority drivers are taking the police signs into account

To ignore the road closed sign and head down a 1 in 6 hill without a "winterized" vehicle would be reckless, and the kind of thing that your car insurance company would take into account as and when you have any accident.

It is times like this when our drivers show their years of winter experience, their knowledge of which roads are too dangerous to use in fresh snow, rather than blindly drive round town on the same routes they normally use.

To even imply anything else would be to impune the competence and behaviour of the drivers of cars like HT08BZS, BN04HLV, and WN57ZXP.

Clifton Bridge Closed

Clifton Bridge is closed to cars; open to pedestrians only.

A big sign tells the cyclists to get off their bikes

Which is important to do, as if you get on your bike at the end, even at 7pm when there are no pedestrians around, someone will come out of the gatehouse and harangue you "I could fine you 30 pounds". Best not to cause trouble.

What you do get to see is the tarmac peeled back and the dark secret of the bridge, a secret that all the climbers on Suspension Bridge Buttress know and fear: the bridge is made out of wood. Old, 200 year old wood. Which, considering the life of oak beams is about 200 years, is kind of disconcerting. Here we have a bridge built at the dawn of industrial era civil engineering, when the best practises evolved by the Romans were discarded in favour of new techniques (suspension) and materials (iron bolts), and the early bridges were effectively wide-beta tests of the ideas. Wide beta tests built on the assumption that the primary traffic would be pedestrian and horse and cart, not a transit van full of alcohol bought on a trip to France. We are lucky that so far they have been shown to have designed well, and now the wood is being replaced in a timely manner.

With the 2cm of tarmac pulled back, you can look through the gaps of the 10cm wood beams, to see the ground 70m below. Think about that the next time you go over it in a heavy car.

Somerset Street is closed

Somerset Street, Kingsdown is closed to cars. Not just with 'road closed' signs, but a car stopping cars from sneaking past ensures it really is closed. The roadworks arrived between 09:30 and 18:30 today , so the Renault was probably there all day.


What it does mean is that the number of parked cars on the road was dropping; maybe soon the road will be traffic free, which would be interesting to see.

With no through traffic, and the cobbles shiny and wet, this street will be fun little sprint, somewhere to train for the Paris-Roubaix, or do some MTB work without getting your bike dirty. Nice.

The Cotham Brow traffic free zone

The experiment in making Cotham Brow nearly 100% traffic free continues. When these photos were taken, it was blocked to everyone but buses, locals and taxis in a hurry.

As a result, the whole of Cotham is much quieter. By blocking the main route through the area, you can see that most traffic is through traffic, not local.


And interestingly, people walk on the street. It becomes somewhere pleasant to be, somewhere you can cycle without worrying about pulling out in front of the taxi or the oncoming bus.



It is a lovely place to visit. Enjoy it while it lasts. It looks like the traffic calming is moving South towards Horfield Road next.

More buses on Cotham Brow

People who complain that Bristol's public transport system is bad have missed an obvious fact: all vehicles are buses. Why else would all of these be going through a road-closed area that is blocked off to everything but buses?

Buses Only on Cotham Brow

Cotham Brow is closed for road works; they are slowly moving up the hill. Until completed, the road is closed to everything but buses.
Therefore, this Saab P402 FRX is a bus.

As is this Bristol Taxi and the AA van going the other way.

And these two cars.
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Being down to one lane, Cotham Brow is very narrow now. Which is why it was closed to all but buses. But nobody is bothering to enforce it. Why not? Are the drivers trusted? Is enforcement of traffic regulations no longer something the council bothers to do?

Maybe its because the buses get to enforce the rules themselves. Here is the #20 bus forcing a golf to reverse

When the next bus came along, the cars gave up and turned back up Archfield road.

Conclusion: buses make the best enforcers of bus-lane rules.

Unsuitable for Vehicles

The sign on the entrance to Spring Hill says "Unsuitable for Wide Vehicles". You cant even drive all the way up and down along the kerb, as there are some steps at the top. So to park on the pavement here, you have to drive up from the downhill end, from Somerset Street. Which is what these cars have done.

This may be viewed as a selfish act -blocking off a road and a pavement so that the car owners can park near their work or house. And it does block off the road: here is a Ford Focus -hardly a wide vehicle-, having to retreat.

There was also a taxi on Somerset street that seemed unhappy that their option for exiting that street was gone. Yes, many people would call it selfish.

But think about this. By blocking car access to the road, downgrading it to a footpath, this road is being returned to its original eighteenth-century state. They are creating car-free zones within the inner city -without having to wait for legislative support. If only they could do this at weekends too, when the kids are back from school!