The busiest section of the A224 Orpington by pass used to be 2 lanes in each direction and was busy but not often awful. A year or two ago the powers that be decided to put in cycle lanes despite there being very wide pavements either side of the road largely unused by pedestrians (semi-industrial area) but more often by cyclists. This effectively reduced the carriageway down to one in lane at key points resulting in daily massive congestion due to tailbacks blocking exits/junctions.
Now however the council has decided to put in a bus lane and rather than further erode the space available for cars, they appear to be using some of the considerable unused space in the central reservation and pavements. If so, this would appear to be a very rare example of common sense breaking out! Buses should be able to move more freely and the space available for cars will not be reduced - in fact it looks as though 2 lanes may be restored :-)
It'll be interesting to see how things develop and I'll post an update if I remember when the work's complete in a few months (can't help thinking it could've been done much quicker if they'd had more than 2 navvies working every other day but that's another issue isn't it!).
Anyway, we all knock the planners and engineers but do you have any examples of common sense breaking out in your area ?
|
Common sense from planners in my area -- lets see.
Bus stops actually on roundabouts and blind corners.
Huge infestation of speed bumps on quiet roads.
Banning people from parking on wide verges once they had been dug up from grass and made into hardcore, which now means massive narrowing of the carriageway due to parked cars.
errr no sorry, none in my home town.
|
Dartford one way system has had a bit of a revamp/re-think, by way of making one section two way again, thus allowing people heading west, to avoid the one-way system altogether.
I've seen a few people, stuck in their old habits, wander across lanes, but they soon get the idea when faced with oncoming vehicles.
Its also slowed down the fastest bit of the boy-racer circuit, (or Nova-rgRing) so that can't be too bad.
|
A road in Sheffield which was actually in the middle of no-where, miles away from houses, fields etc, [was actually across a disused pit] and had a 30mph speed limit because there were streetlights [why?!], so learning to drive most people were taken there to see if they'd notice the sign [exit of roundabout] and the streetlights.
now been raised to a 40 area, now it has a roundabout put in it and a supermaket being built.
Is this common sense?
Kev
|
When I started work in Plymouth several years ago, a section of the A386 towards Tavistock had 3 north bound lanes coming up to a roundabout, which worked well, as those going left usually took the left hand lane, those going onto Tavistock had the centre lane and those turning right had the right hand lane.
Apart from the centr lane being fairly well subscribed, this worked well until....
The left hand lane became a bus lane - Oh what fun!
To add to our woes, there was a petrol station on the left and people were forced to cut across the bus lane to get to and from it. The council took a dim view of people using the bus lane to filter in or out.
Then, when there were numerous complaints about erratic driving around the bus lane problem, so the council concede that motorist could use this particular bus lane to filter in and out between petrol station and road.
Then came the complex with McDonalds and Kwik shaft 100yds up from the petrol station, "oh yes you can filter in and out for this as well." said Plymouth City Council.
Then they further conceded that it would be safer to do the same as one approached the round about 400 yds after the petrol station.
Result - very little bus lane left.
More recently the bit that was left between the petrol station and the roundabout was finally lost when a hugh B&Q Superstore together with KFC and Pizza hut appeared on a retail park at that spot.
Result - no bus lane left.
The good news is I'm sure they found somewhere else to really hack the motorists off!
H
|
|
|
|
|
A cycle lane was created on the (little used) pavement of a very busy road into our city and our experienced traffic engineers routed it right through a bus shelter ! However , common sense has prevailed and they have now moved a hedge and built a "by-pass" around the back of the shelter . Mind , it took 6 years .DeeJay.
|
|
My favourite piece of local planning is a roundabout that features a three-lane approach (with no indication of which lane to use depending on intended direction), three lanes around the roundabout itself, and one-lane exits.....
|
|
|
|
![2021 Nissan Qashqai 1.3 DiG-T 160 [157] Acenta Premium 5dr DCT](http://images.honestjohn.co.uk/imagecache/url/crop/90x60/https/assets.heycar.co.uk/t_default-export/f_auto/application_assets/vehicles/pictures/da990225dbcac5ecfadc85d8ad4e2654/690936625217cd1efba5c9cdd4bc42f1.jpg)
