Cycle Forum Subgroup - 17/08/2016

This month's Cycle Forum Subgroup focused on CityConnect 2.

Martin Stanley attended on behalf of the Campaign.

We looked at detailed, but not final, plans for the Northern section of the city centre loop, running from Wellington Street to Eastgate roundabout. A full overview of the route can be found on the CityConnect pages here

The route is all protected bidirectional tracks, except on Park Square which is with motor vehicles as the volumes are very low. It largely follows the loop road, and while it does not remove any traffic lanes (2 remain) they have been narrowed and  space is being taken from parking, central hatching, and turning lanes. To keep costs down and to preserve pedestrian space, existing kerblines are (mostly) being retained and space for the cycleway is coming from the carriageway. It is 3m in most places, going down to a minimum of 2.5m in some areas. 

An interesting aside, it turns out that in the city centre, opposition to parking space removal does not come from businesses, but from the Council's own parking services, who generate a large amount of income from on street parking. A case of the tail wagging the dog?

The route seems pretty much set except for two areas. There is a choice between using Oxford Place and Great George Street or the Headrow and Cookridge Street. My preferred option would be to use Oxford Place and Great George Street as the junction treatments appeared to be better.

The second choice is the use of Merrion Street and Templar or New York Road. The choice here is pretty clear with Merrion Street being a much better environment and desirable location. There will be work to do to ensure that adequate space is left on Merrion Street as it is used for outdoor dining and drinking.

Overall it was encouraging. General arrangement drawings should be available for the general public soon. In the meantime, please do fill out the consultation here.

If you would like to be added to the subgroup mailing list to be informed of future meetings please email Russell.Oakes2@leeds.gov.uk

Date: 
Wednesday, 17 August, 2016
Start time: 
17:00
End time: 
19:00