infrastructure

Old Rail Bridge at Northbrook Street

Northbrook St rail tunnel works

At the end of the Harborne Walkway there is an old railway bridge under Northbrook Street which linked up to a rail bridge over the canal to take the trains to New Street Station. This railway bridge has been bricked up and buried for many years, but recently AMEY have uncovered the buried end to undertake strengthening works on the brickwork. Coincidentally, the Birmingham Cycle Revolution local connections scheme is widening a pathway next to this location to improve the connection between Summerfield Park and the canal access steps at Northbrook Street.

Motorcycle Barriers on Canals

Motorcycle barriers on canal towpaths and on off-road cycle routes around Birmingham are an issue that causes frustration for Push Bikes members and campaigners. They cause a lot of inconvenience to people riding common cycles, and are often impassable to people riding tricycles or recumbents, or towing a trailer. At the bi-annual Canal and River Trust (CRT) West Midlands Users group meeting, on 21st April 2015, we heard from Ian Darby who works for CRT and is running a Motorcycle Barrier Project.

Why do I campaign?

This blog post really is just an excuse to post up the picture above. I took this photo yesterday, as I cycled past families doing the school run. The ring road was blocked up with cars, and I had to filter past a line of cars waiting to join the ring road so that I could reach the Belgrave Middleway crossing. As I joined the cycle track, I saw these two children on their bicycles, cycling ahead of their parents, and I was reminded of the children I had seen in the Netherlands of the same age, doing the same thing.

How Long Does it Take to Remove a Bollard?

Cheddar Road

Within a week of writing this the bollard was removed (and replaced with another), and the chicanes fitted with reflective wands, attracting the attention of LS on Birmingham Cyclist. I've stopped the clock on my timer. Whilst this is an improvement, the new bollard is also obstructive to cyclists because the path is very narrow, and the new bollard takes up a significant proportion of the width.

Building Blocks

Cargo trike

Think of transport infrastructure as a house. The component parts are items such as bricks, windows, and tiles. The quality of the finished product will be dependent not just on the quality of the components, but also how they are put together. This article will describe some of the important component parts of Dutch system infrastructure that are relevant to cycling, but not how the component parts are put together.

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