Leeds Cycle Superhighway Greenlit

Railways, trams, buses, etc.
WiggyDiggy
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Post by WiggyDiggy »

Greenlight for this scheme announced today: http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/n ... 3438Having moved away I wont get to use this myself, but will get myself into the area to try it. Full plans are here: http://www.wymetro.com/uploadedFiles/WY ... "Ambitious plans to create a £30m ‘super cycleway’ across Leeds have got the green light from the Government.The segregated 14-mile route will run from east Leeds right over to the western edge of the city before continuing into the centre of Bradford.The Department for Transport today agreed to pump £18m into the scheme, with a further £11.2m coming from local sources.It is hoped the cycleway will be up and running as early as March 2015.Civic leaders today hailed the go-ahead for the project as a significant boost for Yorkshire’s efforts to make the most of its role staging the opening of next year’s Tour de France cycle race.Leeds City Council leader Coun Keith Wakefield said: “With the worldwide focus which will come from hosting the Grand Depart, these plans will help ensure a lasting legacy for many years to come.”Coun James Lewis, chairman of West Yorkshire passenger transport authority Metro, called the scheme “exciting and ambitious” and predicted it would be a “highway to success”. The east Leeds section will start at Swarcliffe before following the route of the A64 York Road into the city centre.Heading west, the route will follow the A647 past Stanningley before heading into Bradford via Thornbury and Bradford Moor. Plans also include the construction of a cycle ‘loop’ in Leeds city centre.Leeds and Bradford councils and Metro will supply the local chunk of the funding.Announcing support for the scheme, Transport Minister Norman Baker said: “We want to turn Britain into a cycling nation to rival countries like the Netherlands and Germany.”Mr Baker also revealed details of a study that will explore the potential for a cycleway broadly following the route of the country’s proposed high-speed rail line."

Riponian
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Post by Riponian »

Big question - is there really enough demand from the people who'd be likely to use such a super-cycle-route? I'd suggest there isn't!Looking at what's already there, such as the mess that is Sheepscar, then they'd be better improving routes out of the City along the natural arteries (canal towpath, valleys etc) rather than create a new route no-one wants to use. Maybe this Bradford route is up to Shipley and down the valley.They could always turn the Crossgates - Bardsey old railway line into a cycleway and give a nice route to the country for one suggestion, or several of the other old rail lines round about to give traffic free routes.What use is cycling to Bradford if there's nowhere to park your bike safely at the other end, and besides, the ultimate destination of many of the cyclists is out in the country. How many of the supermarkets actually expect to get customers cycling to them? Just look at what and where the cycle parking is at any you visit and you can see what their priority is.Yes, and we'll be having to cough up locally for this scheme. Spend less and target where a small spend will produce a big return, not a grandiose scheme!
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WiggyDiggy
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Post by WiggyDiggy »

Crossgates - BardsleyThats the Leeds - Wetherby line isnt it? (http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... therby.htm)I'd love to see that as its quite a picturesque area, it'd link up nicely as well with the Spofford - Harrogate line (http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... rogate.htm) cycle route thats up there.SuperhighwayI'm in two minds, if done properly it could be very good, and hopefully attract people onto it. People don't have to do the full length either for it to be of benefit e.g. I used to do Farsley>Leeds and back. But knowing Leeds CC it'll be a mess and the cycle lanes will be constant broken by side roads meaning it'd be quicker to stay cycling on the road than use a stop-start-stop segregated route.

raveydavey
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Post by raveydavey »

Whilst I'm pleased to see the development of a dedicated cycle route, I'm aghast at the idea that it's going to cost £30 million to implement. That's over £2 million per mile for the 14 mile route. It's good that the press release states that the route will be segregated for other traffic and it will be interesting to see how thay fit that around the several pinch points on the route - perhaps pushbikes will be allowed in the misguided bus lanes?I'm also unsure how many Swarcliffians will be intending to commute daily to Bradford on their bikes, but I'm sure that the feasibility study must have identified significant numbers. WiggyDiggy wrote: Crossgates - BardsleyThats the Leeds - Wetherby line isnt it? (http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... therby.htm)I'd love to see that as its quite a picturesque area, it'd link up nicely as well with the Spofford - Harrogate line (http://www.lostrailwayswestyorkshire.co ... rogate.htm) cycle route thats up there. Already planned - I posted about it ages ago. I suspect that it's been sidelined forever given that the first part of the former rail line is now set to vanish under the East Leeds Link Road and associated developments - there is a link on a thread on here somewhere but I can't find it at the moment.It would be a shame if it never happened as the cost was minimal (especially compared to the scheme above) and would link into other cycle routes as you say.    
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

WiggyDiggy
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Post by WiggyDiggy »

There's lots of data and so forth in that document I linked about usage predictions, one of the more interesting figures is the physical cost for the works which was originally around £22mil not counting £1.6mil for the canal (comes from Canal/River Trust). I wonder where the other £8mil is now being spent.Trouble is its difficult to judge/compare a cost per mile of cycle schemes to say a road/railway, we've got lots of experience and examples of how much a particular type of road could be but for cycling not so many as so far almost every 'cycleway' (I'll lump em in together for now) built has been to built to its own design.

raveydavey
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Post by raveydavey »

This week, a strip of tarmac has been laid alongside York Road from opposite the Old Red Lion past Sherburn Court to the junction of Stanks Lane North, where a new traffic island has been installed in the mouth of the junction and an even smaller strip of tarmac laid across the verge linking onto the service road in front of the houses that leads up to Pogsons Cottages.The footpath here goes into subways under the A64 / A6120 junction and resurfaces by the Seacroft Gate flats where further works are going on and another layer of tarmac is being laid out alongside the A6120, which then dips through the hedge onto Hansby Drive - this is after crossing one of the busiest road junctions in the area.Is this the first stages of the "super cycle highway"? If it is I'm stupendously underwhelmed. It looks like someone is laying out the most wandering footpath in history. And at a cost of £2 million a mile! The mind boggles.Oh, and just in case you didn't know, some nice lady from Metro was on BBC Radio Leeds the other week extolling the virtues of the scheme/ Apparently there are sections where the road layout isn't wide enough to permit fully seperate cycle lanes in both directions, so speed limits of 20 mph are to be imposed where this happens. She inferred that Stanningley Bottoms will be one such place, with "several more" on the route....
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

WiggyDiggy
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Post by WiggyDiggy »

raveydavey wrote: This week, a strip of tarmac has been laid alongside York Road from opposite the Old Red Lion past Sherburn Court to the junction of Stanks Lane North, where a new traffic island has been installed in the mouth of the junction and an even smaller strip of tarmac laid across the verge linking onto the service road in front of the houses that leads up to Pogsons Cottages.The footpath here goes into subways under the A64 / A6120 junction and resurfaces by the Seacroft Gate flats where further works are going on and another layer of tarmac is being laid out alongside the A6120, which then dips through the hedge onto Hansby Drive - this is after crossing one of the busiest road junctions in the area.Is this the first stages of the "super cycle highway"? If it is I'm stupendously underwhelmed. It looks like someone is laying out the most wandering footpath in history. And at a cost of £2 million a mile! The mind boggles.Oh, and just in case you didn't know, some nice lady from Metro was on BBC Radio Leeds the other week extolling the virtues of the scheme/ Apparently there are sections where the road layout isn't wide enough to permit fully seperate cycle lanes in both directions, so speed limits of 20 mph are to be imposed where this happens. She inferred that Stanningley Bottoms will be one such place, with "several more" on the route.... "here the road layout isn't wide enough to permit fully seperate cycle lanes in both directions"The road is plenty wide enough, they just decided to put more lanes in for motorised traffic - some junctions have 3 or 4 just for traffic. Losing just 1 gives plenty of room to put fully segregated facilities in.

raveydavey
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Post by raveydavey »

WiggyDiggy wrote: raveydavey wrote: This week, a strip of tarmac has been laid alongside York Road from opposite the Old Red Lion past Sherburn Court to the junction of Stanks Lane North, where a new traffic island has been installed in the mouth of the junction and an even smaller strip of tarmac laid across the verge linking onto the service road in front of the houses that leads up to Pogsons Cottages.The footpath here goes into subways under the A64 / A6120 junction and resurfaces by the Seacroft Gate flats where further works are going on and another layer of tarmac is being laid out alongside the A6120, which then dips through the hedge onto Hansby Drive - this is after crossing one of the busiest road junctions in the area.Is this the first stages of the "super cycle highway"? If it is I'm stupendously underwhelmed. It looks like someone is laying out the most wandering footpath in history. And at a cost of £2 million a mile! The mind boggles.Oh, and just in case you didn't know, some nice lady from Metro was on BBC Radio Leeds the other week extolling the virtues of the scheme/ Apparently there are sections where the road layout isn't wide enough to permit fully seperate cycle lanes in both directions, so speed limits of 20 mph are to be imposed where this happens. She inferred that Stanningley Bottoms will be one such place, with "several more" on the route.... "here the road layout isn't wide enough to permit fully seperate cycle lanes in both directions"The road is plenty wide enough, they just decided to put more lanes in for motorised traffic - some junctions have 3 or 4 just for traffic. Losing just 1 gives plenty of room to put fully segregated facilities in. I have no problem with provision for cyclists - I used to cycle to and from work every day until a change of jobs made it impossible. If the cyclists journeys are made safer, that is a good thing.What I do have a problem with is profligate use of public funds (the costs of this cycle super highway are on a par with the cost of building a motorway at over £2 million a mile for what appears to be a narrow strip of tarmac) and what appears to be the deliberate stealth engineering of yet more congestion into the roads of our city. It seems every new scheme from the misguided busway on York Road through to this makes the situation worse for the overwhelming number of travellers. How can that be right?    
Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act – George Orwell

jonleeds
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Post by jonleeds »

Sorry if this sounds cynical but I have a strong feeling that all these pots of money awarded to 'cycling' or 'supertrams' etc are just syphoned off into bank accounts in the Cayman islands for MP's / councillors etc to retire off the back of. This disgusting embezzlement is disguised by bent accountants getting paid vast backhanders to look like the money was spent on 'consultation' etc. Having a strip of cycle lane to show for having spent £20 million is just enough to get a picture in the paper and convince joe public that the money was well spent. Its a rotten world and its going to the dogs fast - best thing you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Dont doubt a word of this, I happen to know a dodgy accountant, ex-Leeds resident who does quite a bit of work with the 'local authority' and he is also involved in quite a few government schemes where money is juggled around, where does this very wealthy guy now live...? Jersey! Get the idea?
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cnosni
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Post by cnosni »

jonleeds wrote: Sorry if this sounds cynical but I have a strong feeling that all these pots of money awarded to 'cycling' or 'supertrams' etc are just syphoned off into bank accounts in the Cayman islands for MP's / councillors etc to retire off the back of. This disgusting embezzlement is disguised by bent accountants getting paid vast backhanders to look like the money was spent on 'consultation' etc. Having a strip of cycle lane to show for having spent £20 million is just enough to get a picture in the paper and convince joe public that the money was well spent. Its a rotten world and its going to the dogs fast - best thing you can do is sit back and enjoy the ride. Dont doubt a word of this, I happen to know a dodgy accountant, ex-Leeds resident who does quite a bit of work with the 'local authority' and he is also involved in quite a few government schemes where money is juggled around, where does this very wealthy guy now live...? Jersey! Get the idea? Im sure if i was in your position and had information that proved the MP's and councillors were syphoning off money into bank accounts through a dogy accountant i knew then i would report it to the police, otherwise id be as bad as them.Unless of course the police and the judiciary were getting a slice of course.
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