New cycle lane project a transformation for city
THIS is how Leicester’s London Road will look after a £2.9 million project to install ‘Dutch-style’ cycle lanes has been completed. THE city council has released artists’ impressions of the planned transformation between the railway station and the Mayflower Road roundabout.
The authority says it wants to create a safer and more appealing route for pedestrians and cyclists by introducing ‘Dutch-style’ lanes which channel cyclists behind bus stops
New off-road cycle lanes will be created – one inbound and one outbound – on either side of the road between Granby Street and Victoria Park.
The outbound bus lane will be removed to provide space for the new cycle lanes and retain the width of the pavements, which will be reconstructed with bonded gravel.
Two lanes for traffic will be retained in both directions.
The revamped pavements and new cycle lanes will continue in front of the railway station, where options for a busonly lane or a drop-off point for motorists are still being considered.
Officials say the central reservation here will be re-modelled to provide a safer crossing for pedestrians and cyclists.
Side roads off London Road will be raised to pavement level at their junctions to help give priority to pedestrians and cyclists, and signal schemes at major junctions will be redesigned to give cyclists a head-start and avoid any con- flict with traffic turning left.
The council says sections of off-peak pay-and-display parking will be kept along both sides of the road, which will also be resurfaced as part of the scheme.
A new two-way cycle track is also proposed alongside Victoria Park to provide a continuous link to existing cycle lanes from Mayfield Road Roundabout.
This could require the removal of up to 18 trees on the very edge of the park, but the council says it would plant new trees nearby to compensate for any lost as part of the scheme.
The major scheme is part of the wider Connecting Leicester project, which is improving routes through the city centre for pedestrians and cyclists, while making it more attractive to investors and developers.
City Mayor Peter Soulsby said: “We’re proposing a fairly radical revamp of London Road which will bring about major improvements.
“It’s an ambitious scheme but there really is no easy solution here.
“London Road is a busy route and the area in front of the railway station is an important public transport interchange.
“This presents some real challenges, and opportunities to do things a bit differently.
“We will be very interested to hear people’s thoughts on options to introduce a bus only lane, or use this space as drop-off point for car passengers.”
Deputy city mayor and executive lead on health and environment councillor Adam Clarke, said: “It has taken a long time, a lot of hard work and some invaluable feedback to develop this plan and we are looking forward to hearing the public’s views on the potential transformation of London Road.
“Following the tragic accident last year, it is entirely understandable that this has heightened people’s safety concerns and this has been at the forefront of our minds.
“By reallocating a relatively small amount of road space, we can introduce wider pavements, improved crossings, better bus stops and new dedicated offroad cycle lanes.
“This will create a much safer and more appealing route for cyclists and pedestrians and help make London Road a more attractive environment for everyone.”
The scheme comes after lobbying from cycling groups who said London Road was unsafe for people on bikes pushing them to use the pedestrianised New Walk.
The designs have been drawn up in consultation with the family of cyclist Sam Boulton, who was killed outside the station when he was ‘ car-doored’ by a taxi passenger into knocked into the path of a van.
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