Plans to create ‘shared space’ surfaces in Edinburgh could entail scrapping cycle lanes.
Councillors on the city’s planning committee have asked for more information from officers after considering the responses to a consultation on the draft new standards for streets which entail removing coloured cycle lanes and, on some roads, scrapping cycle lanes altogether.
The city’s executive wanted to follow the lead of cities such as Copenhagen, Malmo and the London borough of Kensington & Chelsea by removing excessive clutter in the revision of the council’s eight-year-old streetscape manual.
Since the consultation, the publication of positive two-year results from London’s Kensington High Street scheme have further emboldened the council.
Despite opposition from the city’s cyclists to revising the standards to remove protection from motorists, officers advised the planning committee last week that Kensington & Chelsea’s approach of encouraging mixed-use road space, rather than segregating cyclists had been vindicated. ‘Cycle use has been maintained and improved,’ they said. Officers proposed retaining existing white line cycle lanes but, in future, apeing Kensington & Chelsea’s streetscape guidance advice that ‘dedicated bicycle lanes can give a false sense of security to cyclists’ in future designs, by implementing legible mixed-use carriageways.
The two-year casualty statistics from the Kensington High Street scheme indicated that ‘innovative change, coupled with careful detailed design, risk assessment and construction, can be achieved outside current guidance and without an adverse impact on road safety’.
Lothian cycle campaign group Spokes believes the plans to scrap cycle lanes are unsafe and unfair. Spokesman Ian Maxwell said: ‘We are not being unreasonable, we can see there is little point in putting cycle lanes on old cobbled streets.
‘We need a compromise where lanes on main roads are kept, while some on less-used routes are taken away.’
A finalised version of the standards could be reported back to the committee later this summer, following fresh deliberations within the council.
Register now for full access
Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.
Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors.
Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.
Already a registered? Login
