Cowley Road Improvement Ideas – 28 people present

Introduction – Dominic Schofield

Ideas for improvements to Cowley Road have been streamlined by a working group thus this meeting of Cyclox focused mainly on street layout.

Clare and Charles from the East Oxford Community Action Group attended the meeting and reported on their findings from the consultation. Approximately 1000 responses to the consultation have now been received from a wide range of Cowley Road users. The following summarises the requests that were made, both by cyclists and non cyclists:

Cycle Paths

Problems with these on Cowley Road at the moment stem from the following:

Parking

Cycle paths aren’t consistent

Bike Stands

11 requests for these were put in, most specifying Sheffield Racks. Clare noted that the racks currently outside Tesco aren’t good ones but that they are only 18 months old

Cyclist Behaviour

Consultees raised concerns over the following:

Ignoring traffic lights

Cycling on the pavement

Cycling without lights

James Styring noted that there was an upcoming Cyclox project working with the police on cyclists’ use of lights.

Parking issues

These were raised over the following areas:

Manzil Way

James Street

Princes Street

Visioning Exercise

Dom set the scene for a visioning exercise to help focus the minds of everyone on Cowley Road and what the ideal result of this work would be.

Layout Options (Richard Mann)

Basic Ideas were presented and discussed - see below.

Layout Options Discussion - Pros & Cons

Botley Road

Pro - No encroachment on cyclists

Con - cycle lane too narrow

Pro - straight

Pro - fast

Pro - traffic doesn’t obstruct opposite direction

Con - too fast (except rush hour!)

Utrecht Pro - discourage cars

Con - squeezed by buses - dangerous

Con - discourage cyclists

Con - drivers may not know where to drive

Con - slower buses

Pro - shorted pedestrian crossing distance

Pro - very slow (& safe)

Neu Beckum

Pro - buses know they have to overtake you

Pro - wider cycle lane - extra protection from parking

Pro - cyclists can overtake one another

Con - too fast

Con - don’t like Pelicans

Con - danger at junctions & pedestrians crossing

Pro - visual narrowing (but lots of green paint)

Con - cars might park in cycle lane

Hennef

Pro - good for pedestrians Con - so many cyclists on Cowley Road that buses would have to crawl

Pro - greenery on islands (?)

Con - buses would tailgate and cut up cyclist

Con - would require driver education (but would be good if that happened)

Con - buses will cut in Con - motorcyclists would zip

in and out

Con - unpredictability gives increased stress

Abingdon Road

Pro - clear run Pro - not really squeezed by buses

Con - will it work with side junctions & parking (unlike Abingdon Road)

Con - not very slow / still quite fast

Con - maybe not enough room for required parking

Con - doubtful whether it can cope with lots of turning moves

Pro - good for pedestrians

Pro - potential for central parking strip (but might be difficult & no ready examples to copy, though would have some advantages..)

Cyclox 1997

Con - Get squeezed at sideways shifts (need to design with care) - ? rumble strip

Pro - Irregularity could slow traffic - but can’t overdo it

Con - harder to turn due to lack of median strip / closeness of refuges to junctions

Pro - cyclists not overly squeezed

There was a wide ranging discussion on all these options with the majority of the group being pro cycle lanes although there was some anti-cycle lane feeling. The conclusion was that the broad majority of the group wished to support the "Cyclox 1997" option, but with wider cycle lanes (1.3m). This provided buses with a lane that was just sufficient for them, so they should

slow down

not encroach on cyclists.