On Tuesday Afternoon the State government released the plan for the upgraded Samford Rd Wardell St intersection at Enoggera. Some might say big deal but within this design shows some worrying developments in what the Queensland State Government have in store for cycling in the next three years.
Lets first look at the intersection. Samford Road is the main corridor for people from the North West to access the city. Wardell Street is a main North - South suburban road and as such is very busy. While neither road is partitually attractive they are very import as corridors. While most people do avoid these roads some people do and making them safe and allowing for growth of cycling is crucial for encouraging more people to ride bikes.
As I said in a past post the cycling policy that was brought in under the pervious Goverment was now under review according to the Brisbane Times. By the Looks of the new plans for the interection that review may of already happened. Plans can be found here.
While the proposal is an improvement on July 2011 it is certainly not up to a standard that one would wish for people to begin riding a bike. As I understand the policy cycling provision has to be actively included inside the project unless it could be provided along another corridor that is in close proximity. This means bike lanes need to be provided for the full lenght of the project!
The first thing I note is there is no bike lane provided along Wardell street at all. Not even inside the intersection. This is extemely strange as this has been common practice for some time now and it is very common such as other intersection upgrades on Samford Road. To my great surprise there is not even Bike Boxes to allow bike to legally filter through the traffic and get a jump on queueing vehicles. While in most cases I am not a fan of filtering it will be happening and it is legal so it makes the most sense to cater for it. This is very disappointing.
That all said Samford Road has faired a little better. At all the intersections bikelanes have been provided even though some look as short as ten meters or so (see Imbros St). The outbound along Samford has also been provided with a lane for the uphill climb from Wardell St at least just not all the way to the crest of the climb forcing any cyclist back in to gerenal traffic which has already reached road speed (60kmph). Parelling that bike lane is one in the inbound direction. This is welcome as it will allow a person on a bike to skip 20 queued cars. The only problem with this is the lane finishes 30 after Wardell street on an uphill climb. Once again vehicles have reached road speed (60kmph) by the time bikes have to remerge back in with general traffic. What is also of concern is that the bike lanes stop line are not ahead of the general traffic stop lines. Placing Bike stop lines ahead at intersections is about making a bike rider visible. Then there is the combined left turn/straight ahead lanes, these are never a comfortable place to be. This is where a bike box comes in handy as it allow the person on a bike to be easily seen but it also allows them to get ahead if a vehicle that is indeed turning.
Samford Road as part of the upgrade at ferny Grove recieved bike lanes what about this one! All in all the intersection is an improvement on the preivous plans but still not something that should be crowwed about.
No comments:
Post a Comment