Today (Friday 19th Feb) is the last day to respond to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority's plans to improve cycling in Leeds City Centre.
The survey is very short, so if you have not done so already, please take a few minutes to respond.
In general, the plans are positive, so we would suggest that you support them. There will certainly be others who will noisily be suggesting otherwise!
Like all schemes, they are not perfect and there is opportunity to comment. The plans are still very early stage, so we are hopeful that the comments will be taken on board.
The link to the survey is: https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/leeds-ccci?
To assist, some comments from our members about the different schemes are below, you may wish to use these to inform your response.
Western Gateway
-The bottom section is bad as it is, mostly due to the timing of all of the crossings and motor vehicle priority. The plans obviously don't say anything about priority but it's worth commenting on.
-The connection to Kirkstall road is desperately needed so it's fine I guess but nothing exceptional.
- I'd like to see all of these cycle lanes being two way (not clear if proposed or not).
Southern Gateway
- Crossing priority is a concern again here - the one shown near the golf bar is a lighted crossing and I can see a lot of waiting here in the future if there isn't cycle priority.
- The bit around the bus stop is better than some but as always not ideal. If they have any plans to enclose these stops more then the cycle lane should definitely be set further back to reduce conflict risk.
- The lane along Sovereign St. does not show any connection to the future shared bridge across the Aire that will link to Water lane.
- There's no obvious connection to the NCN route on Water Lane - a massive oversight as this is at present the most popular route and I'd expect it to continue to be so.
Eastern Gateway
- The protected contraflow lane on Lady Lane needs some gaps in the protection to allow right turns.
- I'd like to see a cycle crossing over Vicar Lane to Harrison Street to link up to the traffic free New Briggate and future cycle infrastructure up there.
- The shared use feels like they just gave up, but it's fine I guess with it likely being low traffic volumes.
Holbeck Gateway 1
- Clarity is needed on wheter crossings are siganlised or not. Consideration needs to be made to safety of cyclists an pedestrians crossings Wortley Lane. Even with a signalised crossing, there may still be danger due to traffic seeds and poor visibity. If this danger cannot be mitigated, grade separated options (underpass) should be considered.
- The second crossing on Sydenham St back onto the A643 is better, but at that point people are accelerating and visibility is still bad. This should be narrowed and ideally have a raised grade to ensure that people are driving slowly at the crossing rather than accelerating as they do right now.
- Whitehall Road looks fine but not exceptional. The same bus stop issues as always, and single way cycle lanes on each side, whereas biderectional may be more appropriate
Holbeck Gateway 2
- This is mostly a formalisation of what people already do, with some path widening. It's the largest part of their additions, and where the smallest changes are being made.
- 3m width for such a shared path should be ensured as per LCCs transport SPD documentation.
- It seems mostly OK to me but I'm not familiar with actually riding around here.
Crown Point Road
- This again misses providing a clear connection to/from the NCN route and most popular Royal Armouries/canal connection along Armouries Way.
- The improvements to Black Bull Street look good but there's no mention of the current bus stop
- The Black Bull Street plans fix the cycle crossing that sends anyone travelling North into oncoming traffic right now (seriously look this one up on Google maps if you're not familiar)
- Signal priority should be for cyclists/pedestrians as always, but at the very least they should have a traffic sensor as the crossings currently do not and are on timers alone.