Cambridge Gateway and Hills Road

Coleridge residents will already be aware of the latest works on Hills Road bridge. When the bridge was being restored after the recent guided bus works the opportunity was taken to trial new cycling arrangements over the bridge. Now the Cambridge Gateway project designed to create a new bus, pedestrian and cycle link to the railway station area is in progress and includes a new permanent layout for the bridge with more cycling provision.

There are traffic restrictions in place such as a ban on turns from Hills Road into Brooklands Avenue and no overtaking of cyclists on the bridge in the single lane on the bridge. All the work is expected to finish in February 2011 and work on the bridge is anticipated to be finished by Christmas.



We are anxious that the no overtaking restriction is observed. We previously secured CCTV for this purpose but to doubtful effect. It would be easier to solve the problem if cyclists had the confidence to ride in the middle of the lane in this situation but that rarely seems to happen.

More information is available on the county council website: layout and briefing note.

Personally I think the new layout is far too complicated and would be happier cycling over the bridge without any cycle lanes at all but I accept that is a minority preference. Let's hope when the work is finished that it proves to be worth the money!

Hills Road Bridge Consultation

I visited the County Council's consultation exhibition on the plans for Hills Road bridge last night.

Whilst the trial I think has generally been popular - it is worth pointing out that the plans currently being considered are different to the current trial layout in a number of ways:

Firstly, a new pedestrian crossing is planned for the north part of the bridge, to avoid the problems with pedestrians crossing outside the Earl of Derby pub - this will also provide access for cyclists to the Guided Bus route towards Addenbrokes and Trumpington, so will help to take some traffic off Hills Road completely.

Secondly, the plans are being considered in conjunction with the 'Cambridge Gateway' plans, where funding has been obtained for a new bus and cycle route from the station to Hills Rd joining opposite Brooklands avenue.

But the final change from the trial layout is a proposal to create a wide central cycle lane coming off the bridge towards the City Centre, and guide all cyclists going straight on into this lane (double click on the plans above to see details). This removes the need for the 'straight on' cycle lane at the lights, that many cyclists ignore anyway as it is usually quicker to move into the straight on road lane. There are a number of advantages to this layout (not least it will allow more room for cyclists/cars heading southbound near the Earl of Derby), but I have a couple of potential concerns - firstly in terms of whether less confident cyclists will be happy cycling in a cycle lane in the middle of the road (even if it is a wide cycle lane), and also that it increases the number of crossovers between cars turning left and cyclists going straight ahead.

None of these changes affect the general principles of the scheme, that seem to be working well, but if you are a regular user of the bridge, I would recommend the final County Council consultation exhibition to be held as follows: Mon 30th Nov 5.00 – 7.30pm, Science Lecture Room, Hills Road Sixth Form College, or visit the County Council's website.

Hills Road Bridge Trial

With Guided Bus roadworks finally finishing on Hills Road Bridge, the County Council has been trialling a new road arrangement to help improve the road for cyclists and pedestrians.

Each direction now has a dedicated cycle lane up the bridge, with two lanes for all traffic going down the bridge. This appears to be popular with most road users without hindering car drivers too much, but local Conservatives and the County Council are keen to know your views, and there are consultation events planned as follows:

Tue 24th Nov 5.00 – 7.30pm

The College Hall, Hills Road Sixth Form College

Mon 30th Nov 5.00 – 7.30pm

Science Lecture Room, Hills Road Sixth Form College,

Please let the County Council know you views with their online questionnaire at:

www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/cambridgegateway

Or for further information contact the County Council on 01223 699906

And please let you local Conservative team know your views as well.

Hill Road Bridge to fully reopen Sept 7th

The County Council have confirmed that the Guided Bus works on Hills Road bridge will finally be completed on 6th September. The County Council will then work overnight to implement a trial road layout to help cyclists across the bridge, that will be in place from Monday 7th. From their press release:

The safety trial will segregate cyclists and motorists using the bridge with temporary kerbs and a raised white line, known as a rumble strip. The trial is expected to be in place for up to four months."

Busway contractor, BAM Nuttall, has informed the Council they will finish all the work on the bridge this Sunday. Currently there are around 4,000 cycle trips each day over the bridge and it is hoped the new scheme will help cyclists and motorists as well as encouraging more people to use their bike.

Mike Davies, Programme Manager for Cycle Cambridge, said: "The aim of the trial is to show how the new cycle lanes could improve the safety of this busy route. Each day 4,000 people ride their bike over the bridge and by making it safer even more people will choose to cycle, rather than drive. Less cars on the road means good news for everybody.

"During the trial we will assess traffic flows at the junctions at either end of the bridge, queue lengths and driver behaviour before making a decision whether to make the cycle lanes permanent."

During the trial the bridge will return to two lanes in each direction, however the uphill sections will be reserved for cyclists only. We do not envisage the set-up of the trial causing any delays as we will be doing this overnight and the bridge will remain open.

If the trial is successful, the new cycle lanes could be made permanent as early as next year to coincide with the Cambridge Gateway construction, a £3 million project to improve public transport and safety for pedestrians and cyclists travelling to and from the station area.

Anyone with comments on the Hills Road Bridge cycle lane trial and the Cambridge Gateway project is encouraged to attend one of the consultation events. These are being held on Tuesday 8 September at Hills Road Sixth Form College, from 5.30pm to 7.30pm, and Thursday 10 September at St Paul's Church (Lower Hall), Hills Road, from 4.30pm to 7pm.

Further information on both projects, including a plan of the layout of the new cycle lane and a feedback form, is available by logging on to www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/transport/cambridgegateway

I hope this trial is a success - it is excellent news for the many cyclists on the bridge, and indirectly for pedestrians who are less likely to encounter cyclists on the pavements, and car drivers who could benefit from fewer cars if more people cycle! I am also particularly pleased that the County Council has arranged for the trial to go in immediately rather than having another separate set of works shortly after the Guided Bus works finished - this was something I had been asking for for a long while, and should give the trial the best possible chance of success.

Guided Bus Update

There was an update meeting this evening for the Guided Bus project. The main cause of delays in the Southern section (Station - Addenbrookes - Trumpington Park and Ride) remains the gas main in the Trumpington cutting, where getting agreement with the gas company over what (if anything) needs to be done to protect the gas main has proved tricky.

The rest of the southern section is now progressing, and is expected to be completed around the end of January/February next year. There is some possibility that the route from the station to Addenbrookes can open prior to the Trumpington cutting work being completed (which could be Feb/March time).

All dates are still provisional, but the really exciting news is that they on the final phase of Hills Road bridge work - reinstating the road as it was - and it could be fully re-opened without any traffic management by the end of this week. Fingers crossed...

Spot the camera

The problems are continuing on Hills Road bridge. The hope of the single lane working finishing by Mon 18th has been dashed by technical problems and the weather. The hope had been to place 10 piles into the bridge in 5 days. Unfortunately the first pile took four days, after the steel reinforcement cage got stuck in the concrete and had to be drilled out. There was more progress last weekend with 4 piles placed, but high winds stopped the rig being used on Monday (so the road stayed open in both directions). The work may be finished by the end of the week, subject to no further delays.

The mobile CCTV that had been asked for for the duration of single lane working has been even more of a Saga. The intention when I requested this was to deter dangerous driving, and look out for dangerous traffic infringements to encourage more effective policing of the situation. 

On Monday 11th, the promised CCTV hadn't been put in place. Despite months of reminders and specific assurances I received only a week earlier that is was in hand, nobody from the County Council had spoken to CCTV at the City Council. A few phone calls later and this was fixed. Its tempting to say they shouldn't have bothered. In terms of deterrent, here is the photo from a similar angle to that for a driver from Cherry Hinton Road, about to turn right and mow down a bike on the bridge. The little yellow sign is the only warning that they are caught on camera (assuming they hadn't noticed the camera itself higher up the lamppost).

There are two cameras, at each end of the bridge. These may or may not be able to spot problems on the bridge - we may never know. The City Council CCTV operators don't believe that dangerous overtaking (or doubtless anything short of a serious injury accident) is a problem worthy of police involvement, and they are currently refusing to allow anyone to look at the tapes to understand what incidents of a lesser nature are occurring, so there is no prospect of using the cameras to help drive an enhanced police response to the problems. Not impressed, I just hope nobody is seriously injured during the rest of these works...

Hills Road Single Lane working to start Monday

The Guided Bus team have confirmed that the final stage of single lane working on Hills Road bridge on Monday, saying:

"Cambridge Water Company have completed their water main diversion as planned. BAM Nuttall are now preparing for the piling which will start on Monday 11th May as previously discussed.

Single lane working will be introduced from Monday morning.  BNL will be probing to check for obstructions on Monday. The Piling rig will be delivered on Monday evening after 7pm and will be set up on Tuesday with a view to starting piling on Tuesday afternoon. BNL plan to finish on Monday 18th May and will work through the weekend if required. The traffic management will be as before albeit on the opposite side of the bridge."

Following my request, supported by other local Councillors, the City Council is making available CCTV to cover the works, so if any cyclists etc are involved in incidents on the bridge, please be in touch if you would like me to ask the Council to review tapes. Fingers crossed that this work will finish on time, and the traffic nightmare will finally be behind us.

Closed Post Office to Become Takeaway

Wednesday's planning committee meeting approved the "Conversion from confectionary to hot food takeaway" of 164 Hills Road, the former St John's Post Office, in spite of an officer recommendation to refuse permission.

It is a real shame that the Post Office had to go because of Labour's Post Office closure programme. Clearly the character of this area is changing and we shall need to keep an eye on developments. Do let us know what you think.

Should we punish risk or consequence?

Just been listening to Lord Ahmed's solicitor criticising the 12 week jail sentence handed down today to his client who was found to have been using a mobile phone while, claiming he was a scapegoat. My understanding is that whilst the police investigated a collision involving Lord Ahmed, it was discovered that he had been using his mobile phone to text over a long period of time earlier in the journey, although this wasn’t a factor in the accident that later occurred.

When someone drives after drinking, or if you text whilst driving, or choose to drive in any other way that significantly increases accident risk, there is a good chance that you won’t cause an accident, let alone leave someone killed or injured. But there is also a significant chance that drink driving or texting whilst driving will result in the death or serious injury of an innocent party.

If Lord Ahmed’s texting had resulted in a death or serious injury, the prosecutors and victims family would doubtless have rightly expected a very significant jail sentence, far in excess of 12 weeks - a quick search of BBC news reveals a number of tragic examples. I think there is a case to be made that if we want to reduce the death toll on our roads further, perhaps we need to punish more based on how recklessly risky the behaviour of the driver was, regardless of the seriousness of the consequences, as once a risk has been taken, the consequences are ultimately just a matter of good or bad luck. So personally I think Lord Ahmed has got away lightly – the message needs to be sent that texting while driving is not acceptable under any circumstances.

There isn't much relevance of this to Coleridge, except that I can't help thinking about how the police have chosen to police the Hills Road Bridge roadworks, where recklessly dangerous overtaking manoeuvres have been all but ignored for the purposes of law enforcement, and how different this approach would be if one of these manoeuvres, that are completely unacceptable, was unfortunate enough to result in the death or serious injury of a cyclist.

Scores on the doors

The police were out this morning from 8.15 to 9.30 policing the traffic situation around the Hills Road bridge roadworks. Scores on the doors for tickets issued:

6 cyclists on the pavement,
2 cyclists contravening a red light,
8 vehicles turning right Brooklands Ave on to Hills Road.
No vehicles turned from Hills Road to Brooklands Ave although 10 cyclists were seen to commit this offence and given advice where possible.

I wonder what was observed with regard to overtaking on the bridge...

Hills Road Bridge updates

Courtesy of Trumpington e-cops (bizarrely I don't think it has made it to Coleridge e-cops UPDATE: Has now been sent out on Coleridge e-cops as well), the police are finally taking action on the Hills Road Bridge situation:

"On the 12th & 13th of November 2008 we will be enforcing traffic regulations at the Hills Road / Cherry Hinton Road junction, between the hours of 17:00 -21:30. This is due to concerns from members of the public that motorists are ignoring the NO RIGHT TURN onto Cherry Hinton Road and carrying out inappropriate manoeuvres through the road works on Hills Road Bridge.
There are also concerns for cyclists who are cycling on the pavement and cycling without lights during the hours of darkness (sunset is around 4.10pm. You will need your bike lights on from then).
Our ultimate aim is to ensure the safety of motorists and cyclists and to ensure they are driving and cycling to the correct traffic regulations."

No news yet on when the final phase of single lane working will happen - except that it won't be before Christmas!

Warning: Guided Bus works this weekend

Just had this from the Guided Bus team:

"We have received a request from the Guided Busway Contractor, BAM Nuttall, for single lane working this Saturday and Sunday over Hills Road Bridge to enable them to remove temporary supports to the excavation in the centre of the road. Having looked into what is involved it will be extremely difficult and very time consuming for this work to be done from within the works area, but very simple and straightforward to complete if done from the road side. We have therefore agreed to their request.

The work will be carried out on Saturday and Sunday (18 and 19 October) starting at 7am and finishing by 4pm. One lane at a time will be closed to allow a wheeled excavator access to remove temporary steel sheet piles. While this is going on traffic will use the other lane controlled by traffic signals."

This is likely to cause significant disruption on Hills Road this weekend, but will also give a chance to add in cycle lane markings that will hopefully reduce problems for cyclists from aggressive car drivers. The Guided Bus works on Hills Road are currently significantly behind schedule - this will allow some catching up and reduce the total time the roadworks are operating. I've responded to the Guided Bus team:

If we are allowing this, can we please ensure that the time of the single lane working is kept to an absolute minimum by planning to work to minimise the disruption as a first priority and ensuring such a plan is appropriately resourced.

Call for Roadworks CCTV

Following the meeting on Tuesday with the police to discuss safety issues at the Hills Road bridge Guided Bus works, I am calling for the City Council to deploy some of its mobile CCTV cameras to cover the Hills Road bridge and junctions, particularly during the final two weeks of single lane working.

Due to technical issues with the works it isn't yet clear when this final period of single lane working will occur, it was originally scheduled for the start of October, but is likley to be delayed.

The problems of the roadworks have been widely reported to Councillors, the Police, the Guided Bus team and other organisations such as Cambridge Cycle campaign, and include:
- Aggressive following and dangerous overtaking of cyclists on the bridge - which I think is the main risk.
- Illegal turning manoeuvres, particularly relating to right turns banned during the works.
- Obstruction and box marking violations at the Cherry Hinton Road junction.
- Cycling on the pavement.
- Inappropriate speed and poor control driving through junctions.

I'm hoping CCTV can highlight the nature and scope of problems to the police and the Guided bus team allowing measures to be taken and resources allocated to target specific problems, and with some publicity deter some of the more extreme dangerous actions.

I've already had support from other Councillors in Coleridge and Queen Ediths, so hopefully the Council will look favourably on the request.

Police Meeting nearly arranged

After huge numbers of complaints about the lack of policing of the traffic during the single lane working on Hills Road bridge, it looks like arrangements are nearly in place for a meeting between an Inspector Hutchinson from Parkside, local Councillors and other interested parties. It is hoped the meeting will take place in September before the next (and hopefully final) period of single lane working due for late September.

Both the County Council and myself personally asked the police to undertake traffic enforcement against the huge numbers of dangerous manoeuvres carried out by drivers during these works. The chaos was obvious to anyone looking at the Hills Rd/Cherry Hinton Road junction during periods of single lane working.

Personally I think that if nothing changes, there is a real risk of a cyclist of pedestrian being killed or seriously injured during these works - I will certainly want to know where the chain of communication broke down such that the police didn't seem to want to act appropriately.

Please let me know if you have any views on the specific police enforcement actions that would be appropriate.

Local Politicians Working Together Shocker

For those of you who think local politicians spend all their time criticising each other, I bring news of the Guided Bus southern liaison meeting last week, when Councillors and residents got to grill the heads of the Guided Bus project from the County Council and from the contractors Nuttells. I attended, along with one of our three Labour Councillors (and it always seems to be the same one at these types of meetings - where are the other two? Ooops, I digress...). It has to be said, we again found ourselves in agreement about the management of the Roadworks on Hills Road.

We shared significant concerns about the way Hills Road roadworks are being managed, particularly at the times of single lane working.

The message back was that this operation had been reviewed, they were trying to manage the traffic as best they can, and nothing more can be done. The problem is a health and safety risk raised at a late stage by the piling contractors - despite protection of the equipment, there is a risk of material from the drilling falling onto vehicles on the neighbouring carriageway when drilling is taking place, so at these times the bridge has to be reduced to single lane working.

Local Councillors are heavily dependent on the advice of experts in this situation, but looking at the traffic chaos that occurs at the Cherry Hinton Road junction when there is single lane working, the illegal and dangerous turning manouevres in Homerton Street and the unequal traffic flows from Hills Road and Cherry Hinton Road, we just weren't convinced that more couldn't be done. I'm also sceptical that the overall approach to risk management is very sensible - focusing on a minute risk with limited damage if it goes wrong and causing choas as a result, and ignoring the dangerous pothole in the middle of the Brooklands Avenue junction that has been reported repeatedly for weeks and the crazy driving by some people.

As a result of the meeting:

• The officers are going to look again at traffic management during single lane working.
• We are going to request a meeting with a senior police officer to find out why repeated requests for police enforcement action have been ignored.

There are two more spells of single lane working - one from now for a few days, and a further period of 10-14 days towards the end of September. Work on the station forecourt will begin in Autumn 2008 - this could cause some problems there as the short stay car parking will need to be moved. Roll on completion of the project in 2009!

One of the benefits of electing a Conservative Councillor in May was that Labour Councillors are having to raise their game from the complacency of the last 20 years, so it should be a good time for residents to get things done around the ward. Whilst I think many of Labour's policies generally are a disaster for Coleridge (like forcing housing targets and planning policies on us, and trying to blackmail the County Council into accepting congestion charging), there are a number of local ward issues where Coleridge Councillors from different parties agree - lets hope we can continue to work together for local residents in these cases.

Hills Road Roadworks - Update

I've had some information back from the Guided Bus team following the myriad of complaints about the effect of the single lane working:

"The single lane operation has been introduced to provide a safety zone around the piling rig. The piling rig is in effect a very large drill. Although there are devices to prevent this happening there is a risk of material sticking to the drill and falling off from a considerable height. The closure of the extra lane and the footpath are to ensure that if this happens it doesn't land on a member of the public. I appreciate that it may appear that the lane is not being used, or only used to park vehicles, but this is not in fact the case. The lane is re-opened as soon as possible after piling operations are concluded.

The first phase of piling should have been completed yesterday. So there will be a respite for a week or so while the road surface istemporarily re-instated and the traffic management re-organised to allowus to pile the central section. There are fewer piles in this section so it should be done more quickly."

And while I remember, I did get an explanation from the police as to why they were targetting cyclists on the pavements on the Hills Road Bridge earlier:

"the ticketing of cyclists on the pavement there was at the request of the South area committee in response to complaints by pedestrians and was part of agreed action on priorities".

In case you are interested, members of the South Area Committee can be contacted as follows:

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/councillors/cherry-hinton-ward.en

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/councillors/queen-ediths-ward.en

http://www.cambridge.gov.uk/ccm/content/council-and-democracy/councillors/trumpington-ward.en

Hills Road Bridge Update

Just had this back from the Guided Bus team which sounds promising:

"Regarding car drivers dangerously overtaking cyclists on Hills Road bridge, we are going to put up further signage.

We have also been speaking to the police about two matters, which are cars dangerously overtaking cyclists on the bridge and dangerously U-turning on Hills Road (some do this to avoid a banned right turn). We asked the police, if they could enforce these two matters, but didn't ask them to enforce no cycling on the footpaths."

Fortunately these signs below have now been removed - not sure what the intention of them was, but many drivers certainly interpreted them as an indication that cycling wasn't permitted on the bridge at all...

Hills Road Bridge Guided Bus works

Just been speaking to the Guided Bus team about a number of issues with the Guided Bus works on Hills Road. The local press have presented this as a traffic nightmare causing complete chaos, I'm not sure it is quite as bad as all that, and the disruption needs to be put into the context of a major improvement to the public transport and cycling infrastructure in South Cambridge.

However:

On the issue of the narrow traffic lanes - these have apparantly been designed such that cars should not be overtaking cyclists. At the moment there is a choice for cyclists between keeping close to the left and making an invitable dodgy overtaking manouvre as safe as possible, and cycling in the middle of the carriageway and risking the ire of impatient motorists. In view of my conversation, I think the latter is the best approach, and I hope that signage or other measures can be taken to ensure cars, taxis and buses understand the situation. For very slow cyclists, I think walking up the pavement might be a sensible second best solution. The signs on the southbound approach concerning cyclists also appear very misleading in view of the advice, so hopefully these can be looked at.

I have also reported the area of new tarmc in the middle of the Brooklands Av/Hills Rd junction, as the hole + ridge combination could be dangerous for cyclists coming off the bridge - hopefully this can be fixed.

I confirmed the working hours - the generally permitted hours are 7am to 7pm Mon-Fri + Sat morning, with some late night/Sunday working by arrangement. I have to say on some of the times I've crossed the bridge recently there hasn't appeared to have been a lot of work going on (although it could be all happening under the bridge...). In view of the disruption, it would be nice to think everything possible was being done to reduce the time taken.

Finally, for a project like this where road conditions change rapidly and there are lots of concerns, I think the Council's standard 2 week response time for emails is just too slow - I hope this can be speeded up in future...

UPDATE: Just seen what looked like a couple of PCSO's stopping people for cycling on the pavement over Hills Road bridge, so to re-iterate this isn't an acceptable option, although I can't help feeling the risk to cyclists on the road from other vehicles is the key safety problem here! The misleading signs also appear to have been taken down.