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news
Chorlton Cycleway Wilbraham Road junction (Manchester City Council)Plans unveiled for £13.4m Manchester to Chorlton Beeline cycle route
Cyclists and pedestrians will be given priority over cars in some key areas if proposals for the Manchester to Chorlton Beeline are approved. Plans were unveiled for the flagship cycle route today with a public consultation due to run until January 11.
In June, Greater Manchester announced plans to create the largest cycling and walking network in the UK, comprising 1,000 miles of routes, including 75 miles of Dutch-style segregated cycle lanes.
The individual routes will be known as Beelines, taking their name and logo from the worker bee that is one of the emblems of the city.
“It’s not really about people using bikes and walking,” explained Greater Manchester’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner Chris Boardman at the time. “It’s about making better places to live and work by giving people a real choice about how they travel. In doing so, we’ll make the city region healthier and more prosperous.”
Running along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Chorlton Road, the 5km Chorlton Beeline route is the most significant announced so far.
It will be a mix of segregated, hybrid and marked cycle lanes with significant changes to major junctions, such as at Barlow Moor Road/Wilbraham Road where controlled cycling and walking crossings will be introduced.
Detailed designs for the Metrolink bridge road option on Manchester Road and the junction at Stretford Road/Chorlton Road are still being worked on. Plans for these aspects will be published in the New Year.
Boardman, commented: “We want to make cycling and walking the natural choice for short journeys, giving people the freedom not to have to drive. That means creating world-class streets where people want to socialise and relax. Some of the junction designs proposed are the most advanced yet that we’ve seen in the UK.
“Manchester City Council and Trafford Council deserve full credit for coming up with such an ambitious and appealing cycling and walking route.”
Manchester City Council's Executive Member for the Environment, Planning and Transport, Councillor Angeliki Stogia, said: “We are excited to have Chris Boardman's input on creating world-class walking and cycling infrastructure in Manchester. Lots of people have said that they want to walk and cycle more in Manchester and we present this scheme for consultation, as part of our ambition and absolute determination to create a new network of high-quality, safe cycling routes across Manchester. We would like as many people as possible to have their say on the plans.
“This is already a very busy corridor for cyclists, but the proposed upgrade will make the route much safer and more appealing, encouraging many more people to adopt cycling and walking as their preferred modes of transport
“Developing better cycling and walking routes is key to our aims of improving local air quality, reducing traffic congestion and encouraging more active travel choices.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
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Incredibly bone-headed.
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They were running Oracle, probably couldn't get out of the contract. Also work in IT.
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20 comments
Not even the most pressing need in the area. Fix the crumbling roads, and get cars out of the bike lanes. I live five minutes from that junction.
Absolutely agree. The money would be much better spent filling in pot holes.
I used to commute occasionally from Bolton to Salford Quays, alongside the Croal to NCN 6. Decent CX ride.
Getting in from the North West of Manchester is a right pain in the arse, but that takes you through some very poor neighbourhoods, so yeah, good luck getting anything useful done out there.
Have a look at the following map, and tell me which area in NW manchester doesn't have a load of yellow lines:
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/incoming/article14930896.ece/BIN...
Like it or not, these are the busiest cycling routes in the city. Should they spunk a load of money on infrastrcuture where not many people cycle?
This is all fine & dandy, but reinforces the idea that cycle commuting is purely for the chattering classes: millions and millions are spent so Sophie and Giles can commute in from Chorlton and Didsbury safely; meanwhile, there are no decent routes into the city centre from anywhere else in Greater Manchester.
Harrumph.
So what about the improvements on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, or that this planned route will be accessible from Sale Moor (via footbridge @ Jackson's Boat - improvements planned here too) or from Northern Moor via Kenworthy Woods?
The route also passes through Hulme - hardly a Sophie/Giles kind of place.
It's just one piece of a much bigger jigsaw.
As pictured, surely that car will just advance up to the red light, especially after dark and in poor visibility? Not at all clear that drivers should wait where shown ...
Shouldn't the lights be by the solid white line just in front of the car?
For those unfamilar with the area, here's the same junction in the image as it is now:
https://goo.gl/maps/g2RSVp6vSby
The plans look good, but note that at the city-centre end, they dump you by that annoying Mancunion way roundabout - getting from there into Deansgate or other areas of the city centre isn't easy. It needs to be joined up into a full route stretching into the middle of Manchester city centre.
Looks like some good news but that road layout is going to blow drivers' minds.
Some people have difficulty following 'normal' road layouts so this will be a challenge and a half.
Which I suspect may be part of the scheme, as confused drivers slow down, and drivers who are absolutely certain about things go very fast indeed.
My first thoughts when I saw the image were how confusing it looks and how it places pedestrians in the middle of what may be a busy junction. If it is aimed at confusing drivers in the hope they will slow down then that is quite a gamble to take with peoples lives. I don't think we should be confusing motorists, some drivers may slow down but it ony takes one not to.
Is the diagram one of those magic eye things?
I can see a really obvious stop line and really obvious traffic lights on red, with cyclists and peds crossing in their own lanes, but some posters are getting a Hieronymous Bosch-style orgy of chaos and confusion and I'd rather see that.
That's exactly what is said about shared use schemes, where there are no discrete areas for different users, but their safety record is excellent, and the evidence shows that unsure drivers do slow down and safety improves.
It only takes one dangerous, inconsiderate driver to kill someone now, so slowing down the majority is a significant improvement.
I went to a meeting of the Transport Planning Society on Tuesday, and several of the people who spoke said that they fully supported cycling, but that more research and data were needed, to which my response was "NO WE BLOODY WELL DON'T". We know what works, we've known for thirty years, we just need to get on and do it like this scheme does.
I hope this gets done soon and the overwhelming benefits of providing for cyclists and pedestrians over drivers is demonstrated yet again, and hopefully the people demanding more research will finally shut up and we can just get on and do it.
If you like it, up-vote it on the consultations survey (very short!) ...
https://secure.manchester.gov.uk/forms/form/1601/en/chorlton_proposed_cy...
"Cyclists to be given priority over c̶a̶r̶s̶ drivers at key junctions".
This can only be good news. Lets us hope they get it right!