Cycling the city’s new lanes
HAS IT BEEN WORTH ALL THAT GREEN PAINT?
THEY’VE been with us for a while now. So are the new-look cycle lanes in and around the city centre worth all that green paint?
The big changes implemented recently along Freetown Way, Ferensway and Spring Bank certainly would not have happened so quickly had it not been for a certain global pandemic.
Lockdown took traffic off the roads and gave cyclists the chance to enjoy making safe, stress-free journeys on certain routes that would have been unimaginable only a few months earlier.
The Government also noticed this and, to its credit, stumped up the cash for local councils to turn projects in the pipeline into reality within a matter of weeks.
Fortuitously, Hull had a recently approved cycling strategy ready and waiting for extra funding.
As a result, the council secured £1.4m to roll out new cycling schemes on condition they were up and running within a few weeks.
That inevitably meant consultation was limited, but the rules of the game were being dictated by Whitehall rather than the Guildhall. As a result, the first strips of green paint started appearing relatively quickly.
It is also worth pointing out the three schemes completed so far are experimental. Whether they stay or go very much depends on feedback from all road users as well as businesses and residents.
Freetown Way
Chosen as the first project simply because it was the easiest route to implement changes. The dual carriageway skirting the city centre is now a single carriage with physically separated cycle lanes courtesy of lines of black bollards.
As a cyclist, the new lanes are easy to negotiate and, thanks to the bollards, now come with a sense of safe enclosure.
As a driver, I’ve noticed big queues at peak times heading towards the Ferensway junction because of the overall reduction in road space. I’ve also seen a couple of ambulances struggling to get through the congested traffic.
Overall, I would say Freetown Way has been a success if the aim was to make it safer for cyclists.
It’s also fair to point out that traffic volumes are only just getting back to pre-lockdown levels and those congestion issues at the Ferensway end are only going to get worse.
Ferensway
Not the most obvious place for cycling at the best of times, with a regular stream of buses heading in and out of the interchange, but the green lanes are now in place.
They are meant to provide a route between Spring Bank and Anlaby Road, but on a bike you still need the iron will of a Tour de France rider to complete this particular sprint.
A face mask is also advisable as exhaust fume emissions here only rival those experienced on nearby Castle Street.
Like Freetown Way, cyclists now have priority at key junctions, but this still leads to general confusion among motorists, particularly at that pesky junction with Spring Bank and Beverley Road where the northbound green lane veers across the previous line taken by drivers.
With my cycle helmet on, I would say steer clear unless you really have to ride this route.
Spring Bank
Initially, I had my about this one.
After all, driving down prelockdown Spring Bank was usually a mix of Wacky Races and the Indy 500 at the best of times.
Nonetheless, the new cycle lanes seem to have put the brakes on some of the wilder driving down there.
Like Freetown Way, the reduced road space appears to have had a subconscious impact on motorists.
From my recent experiences behind the wheel on Spring Bank, most motorists are taking things a bit more sensibly, not least because of the need to judge where the new-look bus lanes actually operate as their markings on the road are not immediately obvious.
In fact, the merry mix of multiple markings in different colours along the entire route from Princes Avenue to Ferensway must resemble an explosion in a paint factory from above.
As a cyclist, sharing a lane with a bus, or a taxi for that matter, isn’t ideal, but at least the previous squeeze along Spring Bank has been eased.
Council contractors have also rectified their mistake of repainting several parking bays across one of the cycle lanes, which caused a weekend of confusion.
As on Ferensway, but even more so here, junctions remain a hazard even with cyclists now enjoying priority over motorists.
That rule will take some getting used to among all road users.
It’s still a very busy route, but so far I think the cycle lanes here are working well. reservations