Otley Road Cycleway Phase 1 Review: Detailed Analysis – Harlow Chase to Cold Bath Road
Harlow Moor Road Junction
The space on the north west corner of Otley Road and Harlow Moor Road is very restricted – 1m50, which is woefully inadequate. It’s half the minimum width in the guidance. It should be looked at in the context, too, of Summary Principle 5 of the guidance, which states that schemes should be designed for thousands of cyclists a day.
North Yorkshire are negotiating to buy a corner of land from Yorkshire Water, to remedy the problem. It should never have come to this. If there had been consideration of the interests of those on foot and on bikes during the design, it would never have come to this.
Current Design
The design here for eastbound cyclists is a Toucan crossing, but it will involve a long delay as the lion’s share of the green time is for motor vehicles.
A Better Design
As indicated on the previous page, a better design would be to take back all the extra space allocated to motor vehicles, and create a kerb-protected cycle track, with green at the same time as motor vehicles, and a painted cycle lane across the junction to indicate priority over left-turning vehicles. See the example from the Leeds-Bradford Cycle Superhighway below.
Harlow Moor Road to Harlow Oval
East of Harlow Moor Road, it appears to be shared use. The width starts at 3m20, so there is space to segregate pedestrians and cyclists. (The width does gradually diminish).
A substantial bus stop creates a pinch point. The bus stop should have been replaced with a different design that would take less space.
Cyclists have priority over traffic turning into or out of Harlow Oval.
The way it rejoins the footway is better here than at side roads on the other side of Otley Road.
Harlow Oval to Manor Drive
There’s another pinchpoint at Charlies Place café bar.
Current Design
We understand the sensitivity here, especially at a hard time for hospitality businesses, but leaving only a metre for walking and cycling is unacceptably poor.
A Better Design
A better design would have been to create a separate cycle track instead of the parking and grass verge. This has not been done, and is another instance of a refusal to take space from motor vehicles, whether moving or parked.
The separate cycle track would get a green signal at the same time as motor vehicles at the traffic lights at Manor Drive.
Manor Drive and the Coop
There’s a raised table at Manor Drive. No line painting has been done, but it seems likely that motor vehicles will have priority.
The width of the footway in front of the Coop is 4m75, so there is ample space for a separate footway and cycle track, ideally at different levels.
Cyclists have priority over the exit from the Coop car park, but are given just 1m23. Why so little space, lower than the Absolute Minimum in the guidance?
Approaching Cold Bath Road
Current Design
Approaching Cold Bath Road, the design is another unsatisfactory ‘caught between two stools’ effort. It looks as though cyclists can choose to stay on the footway, or use the lead-in lane to an Advanced Stop Zone.
The ramp down to the lead-in lane is just 93cm wide!
A Better Design
It would be far better to commit to one quality design, rather than asking cyclists to choose between safe or convenient.
A kerb-protected cycle track between the footway and the carriageway is what’s needed. There could be an early release for cyclists at the lights, and a painted cycle track across the junction to give priority for straight-on cyclists over turning traffic.
The next page has a summary of the minor and major issues raised in the analysis.
Agree with the analysis – what a mess and waste of money
Hi Imran,
Thanks for the comment. It’s just disappointing that the design is so poor and car-focused.
If the other sections can be built to a better design, including a cycle track out to new housing beyond Harlow Carr, it could still end up as a useful route.
Totally agree, well done for the analysis.
Fundamentally it seems to me that NYCC do not see cyclists as commuters on a valid form of transport, simply as leisure riders prepared to dawdle over journeys on a sunny weekend. Their refusal to even cycle the route says it all
On a purely practical level, surely they should see their mish-mash of styles and inconveniences to cyclists and pedestrians as unsatisfactory ?
No doubt NYCC will be hailing their ‘progess’ as proof of green ambitions, when it could have been so much more. We all need to keep pushing.
I agree. Let’s hope the next phase can be built to a better design.
Have taken a ride round on my trike this morning – starting from Harlow Moor Road shared cycle path. Generally agree with the comprehensive analysis. Pointing out though that the Cyclists Dismount sign before Harlow Chase has been taken down – perhaps because I pointed out the equality implications for inclusive cycling. Will be tweeting this and other points with photos as seems to be no way of including here.
The traffic lights for the left and right turning lanes on Otley Road, at the Harlow Moor Road junction, could surely have been used to allow traffic going straight-on to continue and for cyclist to cross Harlow Moor Road at the same time? It was practically impossible for me to reach the Toucan crossing button when waiting to cross northwards there given that I cannot stand and manipulate my trike. Again an equality failure.
I walked along Otley Road several times during November, December and January as construction was taking place. I started off feeling optimistic that at last we were going to get the long awaited Cycleway, but then optimism turned to pessimism as the construction progressed and I saw more and more improvements taking place to the road, with little evidence of new cycle paths on either side. Your excellent analysis of the end result confirms my feelings. I doubt if I will be using the new Cycleway, as cycling on Otley Road will be much quicker especially when the shared pavements in the vicinity of Harrogate Grammar School are overcrowded with pupils at the start and end of the school day.
When I attended public meetings in Harrogate Grammar School 4 years ago, and discussed the plans with councillors, I was aware the Cycleway was going to be a mixture of cycle lanes and shared usage pavements, but I was under the impression we were going to have something much better than what has been delivered: something that would look like a cycle path! I feel that the funding has been used primarily to improve Otley Road for motor vehicles by widening various junctions, and improving road surfaces, and by getting cyclists out of the way. What has been delivered for cyclists is completely substandard and inadequate as your analysis shows. Have NYCC used the funding exactly as planned, or have their plans been modified once the funding was obtained? Dare I ask: has funding been misappropriated?
I know this is just Phase 1, and we are being urged to reserve judgement until the full Cycleway route is completed, but sadly I have no confidence NYCC will deliver anything better in later phases unless they are called to account over the delivery of Phase 1, which seems to break all of the Cycle Infrastucture Design Guidelines.
Hi Eric, Thanks for your comment. I agree the key thing now is to learn lessons so as to build to a better design in future phases.