Glasgow to make park drive carpark, restrict Kelvin Way for cyclists

[Thanks to a tip-off from Go Bike, http://www.gobike.org/]
[Urgent action required: deadline Monday, 10 April 2006]

Glasgow City Council is planning to effectively dedicate Kelvin Way, a
beautiful tree-lined avenue through the city's famous Kelvingrove Park
to cars by converting the east side of the currently broad avenue,
well-used as a core cycle commuter route[1], into diagonal car parking,
considerably increasing the presence of cars in the park (at present,
only parallel parking is permitted) over the ~0.5 km length.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&hl...9,0.016651&t=h

[marked as "Greenlaw Crescent" as one of Google Maps' extremely strange
and unnerving hellmouth-like concentration of trapstreets in Glasgow]


Presumably, this increase in parking is to service visitors to the
Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, but this is already well-served by
a large number of frequent city buses past its back door, and is less
than 10 minutes walk from Kelvinhall Subway station. There is no need
for car parking other than for a limited number of special needs spaces.

In order to accommodate this intrusion into this 'carriage drive'[2],
the City Council plan to make Kelvin way one-way northbound, between
Sauchiehall Street and University Avenue[^], cutting off this key route
for cyclists in one direction, and increasing danger as it is well-known
that motor traffic on one-way streets tends to travel faster, with
drivers giving less care and attention to their surroundings.

^ = "Chewton Way" according to those zany dudes at Google


Only a short section of 'contra-flow' cycle lane is to be provided for
southbound cyclists between University Avenue and the first entrance to
Kelvingrove Park, requiring cyclists to travel through the park on a
moderately less direct, less fast route with a couple of rises (compared
to the fairly level road).

Paths through Kelvingrove Park are not lit at night (a major
consideration during evening travel or winter commuting when it is only
light between about 09:00 and 15:00), and the park has an at least
partly-justified perception of lack of safety at night, which is
extremely likely to make a significant number of people (men and women
alike) feel unsafe, and therefore very very unlikely to use such a
route, effectively entirely closing a key link between city
neighbourhoods (alternative road diversions would be at least 1.5 - 2 km
longer and considerably hillier, as Kelvin Way is in a flat area
between two hills).


ACTION NEEDED:

To object to this proposal:
"Glasgow City Council (Kelvin Way) Traffic Regulation Order"
please write, stating the reasons for objection, to:

The Chief Executive Department,
Glasgow City Council,
Room 84,
City Chambers,
Glasgow
G2 1DU

or email: anne-marie.mcguire AT ced.glasgow.gov.uk

by Monday, 10 April 2006.


Possible reasons for objection include:

o At night the park is not lit and some cyclists will not travel through
the park for safety reasons.

o The lengthy (and hilly/busy) diversion routes for southbound cyclists,
if not going through the park.

o The excessive dedication of roadspace to car parking (the west side
is to retain car parking parallel to the kerb but the east side is to
get diagonal car parking).

o Council policy says that contra-flow cycle facilities will be
introduced wherever it is safe to do so (like here).

o Kelvin Way is a popular route with cyclists (if a little bumpy) and
links the Kelvinbridge area to the National Cycle Network, including the
Glasgow-Loch Lomond cycle route.

o Kelvin Way has existing council cycle route signs pointing cyclists
along Kelvin Way to destinations via Haugh Road, so is an official
cycle route.

o One-way streets increase motor-traffic speeds, and hence danger to
cyclists and others.

o A contra-flow cycle facility could easily be provided at this
location.



[1] Kelvin Way is the most direct and level 24-hour route between the
Southside (via Bell's Bridge/SEC), Sandyford/Yorkhill and Glasgow
University, Hillhead, Kelvinbridge and Woodlands. Because of its spinal
nature, broad roadway and relatively quiet traffic, this route is
extremely well-used by cyclists.

[2] I am fairly sure that I have heard somewhere that Kelvin Way isn't
actually legally a road in the "highway" sense, and is actually a park
roadway upon which motor vehicles have been given special permission to
drive. Can anybody confirm or deny this?

If Kelvin Way is not a road, then this may give further grounds for
objection along the lines of an illegal attempt to withdraw Access
Rights from cyclists to what is effectively a Core Path?


--
David M. -- Edinburgh, Scotland.--[en, fr, (de)]--[reply-to valid 365d]
Please trim quotes & interleave reply for readability, don't be lazy
Please feel free to help me by correcting my foreign language errors

David M wrote:
[Thanks to a tip-off from Go Bike, http://www.gobike.org/]
[Urgent action required: deadline Monday, 10 April 2006]

Snip

Only a short section of 'contra-flow' cycle lane is to be provided for
southbound cyclists ...

snip

--
David M. -- Edinburgh, Scotland.--[en, fr, (de)]--[reply-to valid 365d]
Please trim quotes & interleave reply for readability, don't be lazy
Please feel free to help me by correcting my foreign language errors

There is a contra flow cycle lane on what used to be my commute home
from work in Edinburgh, by Eyre Place. Its no longer on my route
following a number of close calls.... usually with drivers on their
mobile phones. They are a BAD THING in my experience.

thanks for the heads-up,
M.