Saturday 6 June 2020

It's Time To Allow Cycling On Motorways

It's high time we allowed people to cycle along motorways. I'm being completely serious because we're spending all of this money on building road space and yet drivers won't stick to these motorways. Therefore it's time to allow cycling along them.

Now I've got your attention and created outrage amongst the people who don't bother to read the detail, I'll explain myself. In the UK it is against the law to cycle on a motorway (known as special roads in law) as well as there being a ban on walking, horse riding, riding small mopeds and learner drivers and so on; but there are motorways where people are allowed to cycle, even though it's only over short sections.

The Severn Bridge which carries the M48 over River Severn between Bristol and Chepstow allows walking and cycling because it was built wide enough to provide a shared-use cycle track on each side;


The Severn Bridge carries NCN4 across the Severn where it links up with local roads in the communities of Aust and Bulwark. These communities are just under 5km apart which makes it a very easy distance to cycle.

The Grade I listed bridge was built in 1966 and features cantilevered sections on each side of the main structure which carries the shared-use path as can be seen below in this image from the University of Bristol;

As you can see, the cantilevered sections are attached to the main box structure forming the traffic deck and as such, are not part of the load carrying arrangements for the bridge; although the cantilevers in themselves do of course add weight to be carried.

When you think about it, the development of the bridge with shared-use cycle tracks made perfect sense in terms of the distance between settlements and the opportunity for people to cycle. The newer crossing on the diverted M4 to the south (the M4 used to cross the Severn Bridge) is a bit longer between settlements, but no opportunity has been provided for people cycling (or walking, despite the distance).

I've had a dig around and a think and I am not sure there is another motorway which carries a cycle track, but please let me know if you know better because this is an interesting subject. The Forth Road Bridge used to be the A90 and allowed cycling, but since the adjacent Queensferry Crossing was built, it's been reclassified as the A9000 with the new bridge becoming the M90. So near, yet so far! However, it was another product of the 1960s where the UK led the world in bridge design and construction, opening in 1964.


If we go with the Forth Road Bridge and widen this trawl out to trunk roads, then we've the Tamar Road Bridge between Plymouth and Cornwall which opened in 1961 and widened/ strengthened in 1999 with cantilevered decks. It has a walking and cycling link on it's southern cantilever.


Then we've the Humber Bridge between Barton-on-Humber and Hessle which opened in 1981 and which has a shared-use cycle track on each side;


Once we get into 1991 when the QEII bridge at Dartford was built, we have given up adding cycle tracks to major road bridges. The Dartford Tunnel originally had a bus taking people across (including cycles), but now you have to present yourself at the crossing point and wait to be taken across by the crossing control team - it can can 15 minutes until they arrive, it's not a 24-hour a day service and if you are in a group of more than 3 or using a non-standard cycle, you need to speak to the operator in advance.

Of course, there are lots of trunk roads with shared-use cycle tracks next to them, but also many without and it's got me thinking about our policies around major infrastructure schemes. For Highways England schemes, there is a process for Walking, Cycling and Horse Riding Assessment & Review (WCHAR) which should pick up opportunities, although from what I know about the process, the adoption of opportunities is sporadic.

I'm actually thinking around something a bit more specific in that all new infrastructure schemes should have specific requirements to go and find opportunities - maybe anything requiring a Development Consent Order or similar (because of devolved powers) or another trigger point - reviews should also ensure that large projects don't in themselves create new barriers to future walking/ cycling/ horse riding provision.

We should also have a proactive review of existing assets to look for connection opportunities. For example the M25 at Waltham Cross crosses the River Lea and the A121 - could adding a cycle track to the existing motorway bridge provide some east-west connections to NCN1 which runs north-south here (used as an example because I've ridden under it)?


The image above shows the position of a cycle bridge to the south of the M25 with linking paths in purple. Even if the existing structure cannot be added to, there's certainly a pretty clear route for a parallel structure.

Of course, it comes as no surprise that in the Netherlands, adding cycle tracks to major bridge schemes is routine (and it applies to road and rail). In the grand scheme of things, like our great river crossings that I started this post with, this approach is everywhere across the North Sea;


Of course, it doesn't have to be bridges. Any major scheme which creates a connection advantage should be properly explored because with land acquisition and build costs, the extra needed really doesn't dent the budget, especially as haul roads and construction compounds are the norm - space which could be repurposed for connection and maintenance advantages. Mind you with the scrapped cycle route along side HS2, I won't hold my breath.

Updates



11 comments:

  1. Poor example in Hatfield at A1M junction 3. The roundabout used to have a pavement which I used to walk along to get to work at the University. Then the junction was upgraded and this route removed. It is now a 1.5 mile diversion for pedestrians via the Galleria to do the previous half mile walk. Hertfordshire even has a plan for a several million pound cycling and walking bridge replacement to link the uni campuses. But only if development funds it....

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  2. I noticed when I was on holiday in Oz a few years ago, that Motorways M1 and M2 in South Australia have parallel bidirectional cycle tracks alongside them. These consist of purpose-built segregated tracks, or using the line of the original road if its still there. Given the general hostility to cycling in Oz this was a surprise. You can see them on Google Maps alongside the M1 Southeastern Freeway, M2 Southern Expressway, and M2 Northern Expressway. They appear to have been constructed at the same time as these roads.

    This seems entirely doable everywhere in Britain, it would be a start for a national network, and the gradients on motorways are very gentle which would be great for cycling. The cost of construction would be a tiny fraction of the annual roads budget.

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  3. Very good article.
    Fyi There is a cycle track alongside the m25 where it crosses the Thames at Egham. Its narrow with poor surface.
    a major missing link on a heavily used route is the A40 leaving London just before it becomes motorway. Travelling west, there is a cycle path until swakeleys roundabout, then nothing until the next roundabout at Denham, where the m40,and country roads, start.

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  4. There are pedestrian routes across the top of Scammonden Reservoir on either side of the M62. I'm not sure whether cycles can use them. Having walked there, it is not a pleasant environment because of traffic noise. Having said that, I do support providing cycle links across major estuary crossings or other locations like the Medway bridge where there is no convenient alternative. Simon D

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  5. The M2 also has a parallel walking/cycling path on the hill between Ebbsfleet International and Blue Water, which is a part of NCN1.

    Between Junctions 12 and 13 of the M20 an undedicated gravel footpath runs in between the motorway embankment and the Eurotunnel security fence.

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  6. I was really enthusiastic when the Walking, Cycling and Horse Riding Assessment & Review replaced NMU Audits, with a fanfare from Highways England that this would mean a step-change in how pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians were to be treated.

    Unfortunately, like a great many engineering practices it's only been as good (or as ambitious) as the person carrying out the assessment and review.

    And despite the list of experience and competencies supposedly required of the Lead Assessor, including;
    "Knowledge of the needs of each user group: pedestrians; cyclists; equestrians; and the various sub-groups of these";
    "Knowledge of current best practice in infrastructure design for all user groups" and;
    "Knowledge of potential issues created by facilities that provide for a combination of users", many authors/assessors either do not have this knowledge or, if they do, frankly don't care.

    AndyR

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  7. I've seen what can happen when a cyclist meets a lorry on a motorway, he didn't die straight away, he lasted 3 days before he died. Never gained consciousness, never said goodbye to his relatives.

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    1. I mean that's an awful thing to happen, but you did read the post didn't you? You realise that I am not *actually* advocating for cycling *on* motorways?

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  8. Avonmouth Bridge on the M5 has a cycleway.

    I've also done the Ebbsfleet one already mentioned, which is an experience I guess.

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  9. Erskine bridge taking the M8 over the Clyde west of Glasgow has separate foot and cycleways on both sides. Makes for a fun leisure outing rather than actual transport. Access on the northern side is via a leafy dell (getting ever steeper), across the local road from the Forth and Clyde canal path. The southern end dumps out into roundabout hell... - though not that far from an eastward heading riverside path.

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  10. I cycled from Rome to Birmingham and the UK was pretty much the worst leg of the journey, Italy not far behind though.

    In Holland drivers would yield to me even if I was 20meters away and they had to cross my path, say to turn into a side road. Get to the UK and you find give way lines on the cycle paths to give priority to a homeowner accessing their drive way

    Also noticed a brand new bypass in Preston has been put in without even a footpath never mind cycle lane

    Long distance dedicated cycle routes get a lot of use in other countries, they just don't exist over here, you're too often just thrown onto the carriage way with lorry's passing within a meter of you

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