A Tram To Trafford

Earlier this week I was in Manchester for a conference. I didn't have time for a proper look around at what's new, but I did manage to jump on a tram to Stretford before it got dark on the day I arrived.

Why Stretford? Well, in a previous job, I became aware of a project planned for Kingsway which is part of the wider regeneration of the Stretford Mall Shopping centre and surrounding area. Dom Cycling has a good history of the development works including Kingsway from earlier this year.

The A5145 Kingsway flanks the northern side of the shopping centre and connects to the A56 Chester Road to the east (which forms the eastern flank to the shopping centre) and then on as Edge Lane towards Chorlton-cum-Hardy, where a branch of my family was from, and then Stockport. Sabre Roads has a little on the history.

Kingsway itself was a dual carriageway with two traffic lanes in each direction with a large junction serving the shopping centre. It really was a huge barrier between the community to the north, the shopping centre and the surrounding area. A classic example of how many urban places were trashed to enable more road capacity (above).

This road is now a very much a street and I was pleased to have squeezed in a quick visit as part of my trip. I would have like to have cycled around, but this time I was on foot. The work on Kingsway runs for about 450 metres and includes the junction with Urmston Lane/ Barton Road to the west, but stops short of the the A56 junction which is wrapped up in other studies and work (the progress of which I have no idea).

The general design approach provides a single carriageway flanked by planted rain garden buffers, a pair of with flow cycle tracks, footways and a various laybys for bus stops and loading (above), all with a 20mph speed limit.

Despite being within the project, the Urmston Road/ Barton Road junction was somewhat disappointing. It had been redesigned and made smaller with a slip road between Barton Road and Kingsway removed, but from a cycling perspective, advanced stop lines is all that's provided and the westbound transition from Kingsway is going to be hard to turn right from (above).

While I am at it, I'll also have a whinge about the eastbound transition from the junction into the Kingsway cycle track (above). Access is provided via a dropped kerb which is in line with the general kerbline of the realigned carriageway. The trouble is, the angle that people will join the cycle track at is perfect for wheels to be caught on this kerb - this should have been an asphalt to asphalt tie-in.

The overall look and feel of the new street is one of high quality and a real push to to include landscape. The cycle tracks should have been much wider given the huge amount of space there was to play with, but they are of a fairly decent quality (they're a bit less than 2 metres wide from my unscientific pacing).

I was very pleased to see forgiving kerbs being used for the cycle track (above). This means that people can cycle the full width of the space and where they need to join and leave they cycle track, that is safe and possible at a lower speed - especially useful for those who cannot dismount. 

The kerbs are actually Dutch as supplied by the folks at Hardscape from their Active Travel Kerb range. The little connectors at each end of the kerbs are called "hol-en-dol" (hollow and round), a detail that helps in both installation and adding strength.

At the eastern end there is a transition to light segregation before the A56 and while the junction is out of scope for this project, people are not thrown right into traffic, although the A56 crossing is pretty awful for everyone not driving!

About half way along there is an "implied" roundabout (above) which provides a vehicular access to the shopping centre car park which drivers seemed to be coping with. I don't know how busy it will be in final operation, but there is no set-back where people walk and cycle across the side road.

Here's a different view just showing the cycle crossing (above). It would have been nice if this were a continuous treatment or maybe a parallel crossing depending on the expected traffic flow at the side road.

There are a couple of toucan crossings on the link (one either side of the implied roundabout). They are well-positioned to connect residents to the shopping centre and the bus stops on the street from Bennet Street and Pinnington Lane. The problem is that if you want to use the toucan crossings from the cycle tracks, it isn't clear how you actually do so. It would have been better to have parallel signalised crossings for local coherence such as can be found in Waltham Forest, London.

The bus stops are floating (because why wouldn't there be) and there is a decent passenger island width (above). The bus shelters have solid panels in them which is a little problematic in terms of masking people crossing the cycle track, although as can be seen in the photograph, visibility is still reasonably good. 

My personal preference for the crossings would have been zebra crossings, but they are on very gentle humps to provide a flat crossing point (above). I think the "look left/ look right" markings are overkill and the white lines across the line of travel are not permitted road markings.

Walking is no longer constrained to narrow footways behind guardrail. There is plenty of space, landscaping to enjoy and a decent buffer from the traffic (above). 

The other little notable feature are "Stretford's Iconic Sun Loungers" (above) which have attracted confected outrage from the usual suspects in the media, but which create fun and interest in the street along with a whole range of seating. The northern side of the project really does create a new place for the residents that live there.

Above is the view the other side of the loungers, some incidental play in the street in an area well away from the road giving children the chance to be themselves, perhaps as part of a trip to the shopping centre.

Despite some of the detailing issues I noticed, it's of course a really good redesign of the street. While it doesn't provide connections elsewhere, it does set a high standard for whatever is taken forward on the A56 and beyond and it is is always helpful to have somewhere that can be used as a local reference point. I'll leave you with another kerb photo (above) and this is a transition from forgiving kerb to flush kerb. Because this is the Dutch system, this is designed specifically for edging cycle tracks and all power to the designers for using it.