The southbound cycle crossing on the A38 cycleway outside Elmhurst ballet school has been endlessly problematic. Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't. It was reported many times by different people, but sometimes Kier just chose to kick the problem down the road (to judge by the emailed responses I got to my reports, along with its continued lack of functionality). One evening after it had be non-functional for a long time, I arrived at the crossing to find it blocked off by the police, who were investigating a collision with a hire bike.

Is It Finally Fixed?

But as I approached it yesterday I noticed the sensor had been moved from the right-hand side of the aspect box (which partially blocked its view) to right on top of it. It detected my approach, and the lights changed to allow me to cross. I was very pleased to see Kier had finally done something salient to fix it, but why did it take them so long to make this simple change? Anyhow, the proof will be in the eating (it may need need some minor tweaking, for example), so don't hesitate to report it if it is still causing problems.

Has the "Red Wave" been Made Less Painful?

Meanwhile, there appears to have been a change to the crossing outside the university sports centre, which has a "red wave" feature. Basically you get a green for the first stage just as the second stage a few metres further on changes to red. This was particularly galling when the second stage (particularly the southern-most crossing) held you on red for a very long time for no carriageway traffic, and so consequently the red cycle light was widely ignored by people (including me). Just recently, heading south, I've noticed that whilst there is still a "red wave", the second stage only spends a short time on red. I've even managed to squeek through with both lights on green (a "green wave"). Judging by what's missing on Street View, a sensor has been added. So that's good news too, and another improvement to keep an eye on.