The Birmingham Cycle Revolution (BCR) has paid for many new routes in Birmingham's green spaces, but Push Bikes has not always been impressed with the design choices made and with the results at the end. The infamous Le Col des Ackers is the worst example, but other routes have also had their issues, such as Merritts Brook.
The Dutch have taken a holistic approach to infrastructure. The obvious signs of this will be apparent to anyone arriving by plane at Schiphol. The large, modern train station is directly below the airport, and since the trains are electric, unlike Birmingham New Street the environment is quiet and free of diesel fumes. On every other door of each train there will be a bicycle symbol, because it is expected that people will arrive at stations on a bike and may want to take that bike with them for their onward journey at the train's destination.
Sometimes it is just the little details that can make a difference to the feel of residential streets, and this is one such situation. As part of the Local Sustainable Transport Funds (LSTF) works along Pershore Road, the junction where Ribblesdale Road, Warwards Lane and Pershore Road meet has had an central island built to prevent motor traffic from turning right out of Ribblesdale Road onto Pershore Road.
Back in June we reported that planning applications for student accommodation in Birmingham were saying that Birmingham City Council (BCC) planning officers were permitting them to provide fewer cycle parking spaces than BCC planning guidelines called for.
Chris and I recently took a trip to Leicester to see for ourselves what is going on there. My attention had been drawn to it by a series of blog posts by the Ranty Highwayman. Leicester has been attracting the attention of cycling campaigners because the city council is getting on with the job of building proper cycling infrastructure. It has done so without any Cycling Ambition Grant funding.
Leicester has been attracting the attention of cycling campaigners because the city council is getting on with the job of building proper cycling infrastructure. It has done so without any Cycling Ambition Grant funding, and the city council has shown itself willing to take space away from motor vehicles. They have already used techniques most commonly seen in the Netherlands to make the city centre people-centric, and now they are extending that good practice outwards, where it is connected with whatever was built in the past.
Diglis Bridge is a shared use bridge over the river Severn in Worcester, built to increase connectivity for pedestrians and cycle users in the south of Worcester. There was a rumour I heard that Diglis Bridge was the one piece of cycle infrastructure in the West Midlands to go forward for an award for high quality cycle infrastructure this year (2015), I decided to head over and have a look at it.
There are some British cities that are moving ahead and have built infrastructure that is of good quality. As Push Bikes members travel around the UK, we'll report on the good examples here, and if you have any examples of your own, please do let us know.
